What 's so special about SMS coins?
ER
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Serious question. I 'm asking 'cause I don 't know. Thanks.
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better struck than the normal business strikes.
I guess thats what makes them `speciial`? Not exactly sure myself.
it is true that circulation strikes are made on standard planchets with a single strike.
Proof coins are multi strikes by polished dies on polished planchets.
The SMS dies did recieve some of the steps that proof dies recieve. The fields are
very flat which is not typical for circulation issues. The SMS's were struck at higher
pressure than circulation strikes (likely higher than most proofs). These coins were
then specially handled including being washed and dried. The SMS coins almost always
look far superior than even the best circulation strikes. Many of them are virtually in-
distinguishable from proofs. The mint did a lot of experimenting with dies and planchets
for these sets starting with the 1964. There were at least some polished clad planchets
used in these sets.
They were called "special" by the mint just to differentiate them from the other mint sets
they had been making for years but they truly were special.
These sets were virtually ignored even by modern collectors until the last few years. Col-
lectors who like the proof sets considered these coins too inferior to be proof and those
who collect mint sets found them to be too special, too proofy. There were only a few peo-
ple with any interest in them and mostly they were looking for frosted coins. While all these
coins appear frosted, some are exceedingly rare with just a few known examples.
Mintages of the sets was much lower than the proof sets of preceeding and subsequent
years. Attrition has been extremely high due to many years of low prices resulting from
anemic demand.
the government in 1964? decided too many coin collectors where hoarding their coins they minted for circulation - so they did away with proof sets and did away with mintmarks for 3 years to discourage this - they must have decided to change their policy and charge lots more so they could make LOTS of money selling proof and mint sets to collectors
If you find a DCAM - any denomination, you're in the $$$
I am not positive of those numbers but you get the idea
the same thing happened in the early 1980's with the value of copper and pennies
and it sets us apart from practitioners and consultants. Gregor
Joeyuk; In 1964 the US was having a severe coin shortage because of people
hoarding silver coin for the metallic value, and the rapid growth in the use of vend-
ing machines. There was also a very vibrant and robust segment of coin collecting
that was buying and selling rolls and bags of current and recent date coins. This
was a booming market at the time and got a lot of attention at a very bad time. Con-
gress blamed coin collectors for the shortage and a bill was introduced to ban coin
collecting. Also a date freeze was instituted which mandated the use of the 1964
date indefinitely and these coins were actually produced well into 1965. Then the
Coin act of 1965 was passed which changed the metal in the coins and the date, but
did not lift the date freeze. It originally appeared that the 1965 date would last for-
ever. In addition mintmarks were removed. Perhaps the biggest thing they did to
discourage coin collectors wasn't even intentional. In order to get coins out in greater
number they began overusing the dies. The new cu/ni clad was much harder than the
silver and wore the dies out much faster yet they just kept using them. Most of the coins
were very unattractive and collectors didn't need an act of Congress not to collect them.
Mint set and proof set production were both stopped. The mint issued a warning in '65
that if people collected these coins they'd maintain the 1965 date forever. It was well
into 1967 before the mint returned to normal dating and announced that there was no
evidence of any hording in the new coins so mint marks and normal dating would be re-
stored.
In the early days there was no reason even for contrarians to be interested in the new coins.
The mint and fed would put all the coins into storage haphazardly so that bags of brand new
coin would sit undisturbed for years and then be released. In 1972 they began rotating coins
in storage as a result of a changeover to FIFO accounting practices and by 1975 all older coin
had been released and would never again sit in storage for protracted periods.
There was something of an outcry when mint and proof set production was halted. While this
came mainly from the proof set collectors there were people who had collected mint sets for
many years. To appease these people the SMS's were invented. Most of the experimentation
with these coins was probably done between the summer of '65 and the autumn of '66. The '64
coins were still in production until Nov '65. The official reason for the issuance of the SMS's was
that the mint was too busy to bother with mint and proof set production.
There are significant numbers of trial runs of various methods to make these coins. Apparently
all except the '64's were issued as regular SMS's.
last two paragraphs added
This one's for you. MS67 Ucam NGC, MS67 Dcam PCGS.
and it sets us apart from practitioners and consultants. Gregor
Regular business strike Jefferson Nickel-1956 P
Regular proof struck Jeffeson Nickel-1969 S
SMS issue with truly rare Deep Cameo surfaces-1967sms
That sms is not a typical occurance for sms coins, I would say less than on tenth of on percent of the sms coins issued look like that.
Here is a typical sms issue...1966 sms Lincoln-MS67RD
hope this helps
morris <><
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addressed
Superb coins and info.
Brian.
Casey