Coins pulled from circulation vs Mint sets

pendrak

Hi Guys-
I am new to the PCGS certification game. I have a stupid question about submitting recent uncirculated coins (2000-2004) that maybe one of you can answer for me. Does PCGS treat coins pulled from circulation the same as those that are pulled from mint sets? The mint says “These coins are minted on special presses and are struck with greater force than circulating coins producing a sharp intricately detailed image.”
Thanks for your help-

Hoot

PCGS or any other TPG will treat the coin identically to any other coin of the same issue. I have pulled moderns from bank rolls and had them graded. The only considerations worth mentioning are if the coin is a specimen or SMS issue, then the TPG will note the coin as such.

Hoot

clackamas

There is no difference between mint set coins and the ones you get at the bank. Many times the bank rolls can provide nicer examples. If the mint set is a "Special mint Set - SMS" then PCGS will treat it diffenent but not the "uncirculated sets".

cladking

It's not possible to tell the difference between two coins struck from identically
prepared dies. It would be if there were no variation in the minting process, but
this is not the case. While new dies are used in the production of mint set coins
and are retired after only around 30,000 strikes, all production dies begin as new
dies also (except retired mint set dies). The mint set dies are installed in single
presses so they tend to be better alligned but they aren't always perfect and the
quad presses sometimes are. Mint set coins are struck at lower speed so the de-
sign is more likely to come up, but again some coins struck at high speed will be
fully struck. The coins for mint sets are washed and sometimes are handled no
more carefully than regular issues. With the huge numbers of regular issue coins
usually produced it is often possible to find choice and gem examples of them. To
convince yourself of this just look at the varieties. Most of these do not appear in
mint sets yet many of these are known in gem condition.

While it's easy enoght to tell if a small sample of coins is from mint sets or is regular
issue, it's impossible to prove any individual coin is.

BurritoGrande

I did not realize the Mint took any special care to make the mint set coins.


My personal experience has been that it's easier to find gem coins in rolls from the bank, or even in change, than in mint sets.

MSD61

I lot of mint set coins are just terrible

cladking

Since 1987 it's been getting increasingly difficult to find mint set coins that aren't
all banged up (mostly scratches). Also as the mint has been lowering the relief
on all the circulating issues, those made for circulation have been getting increas-
ingly more fully struck. Dies have been made of stronger and stronger steel to
strike lower and lower relief so costs to replace worn dies have plummeted. This
has resulted in dies being retired from production before striking vast numbers of
inferior coins.

It's probably true that those who find the circulation issues superior are either con-
centrating on the later date issues or are more concerned with marking than strike
or both apply. It should always be remembered that perspective with these coins is
critical: It is very difficult to make such comparisons with many moderns simply be-
cause some are virtually unavailable except from mint sets. This also results in many
rolls being assembled from mint sets.