Mixed proofs and circulation strikes
tradedollarnut
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From the "about Eliasberg" writeup:
Note that prior to the 1980s, most collectors mixed proofs and circulation strikes. So the Eliasberg collection features circulation strikes for the branch mints and proofs for most of the Philadelphia mint issues. This was how collectors built sets at the time and a collection was considered "complete" if it had one example from each date and mint, regardless of whether the examples were circulation strikes or proofs.
I'm curious as to what happened in the 1980's to change the thinking of what was complete. Any thoughts? Collectors collected this way for hundreds of years - what changed? Is the new thinking a passing fad or something permanent?
Does anyone out there collect the 'old' way? Why or why not?
Note that prior to the 1980s, most collectors mixed proofs and circulation strikes. So the Eliasberg collection features circulation strikes for the branch mints and proofs for most of the Philadelphia mint issues. This was how collectors built sets at the time and a collection was considered "complete" if it had one example from each date and mint, regardless of whether the examples were circulation strikes or proofs.
I'm curious as to what happened in the 1980's to change the thinking of what was complete. Any thoughts? Collectors collected this way for hundreds of years - what changed? Is the new thinking a passing fad or something permanent?
Does anyone out there collect the 'old' way? Why or why not?
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Comments
<< <i>I'm curious as to what happened in the 1980's to change the thinking of what was complete. Any thoughts? Collectors collected this way for hundreds of years - what changed? >>
Marketing would be my guess. If you can change collectors habits by suggesting a new collecting alternative, you can sell more coins.
Edited to add: An example would be the 20th Century Type Sets. In one set you can mix proof and circ. strike coins. There are also circulated only and proof only sets. This offers flexibility to collectors.
I like the mixing of proofs and business strikes in the 20th Century Type sets.
While I prefer the proofs some (such as the Morgan) are a high multiple of the price of a MS coin
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and Proof coins are clearly two distinct products with two distinct intended purposes.
Perhaps Eliasberg's goal was to obtain the finest technical example of each issue, and
thus included proof coins where available.
As far as the historical trends go, I don't know that you can put a date like 1980 as being
the point at which people changed their collecting habits. Rather, it is probably an
evolution towards more sophisticated collecting. I believe that the earliest US Coin
collectors also made no distinction between the various mints; with one example of each
year constituting a complete set!
Ken