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Uncirculated? Yes. MS70? Not Even MS61: a Tale of U.S Mint Sets
ChuckC
Posts: 1,600
I couldn't take it anymore, so I cut my uncirc mint set 93 and 94 coins out of the cellophane wrappers...talk about nicks and overall disgusting appearance. How does the U.S. mint handle the coins that make it into a set? Are they minted, but in bags, tossed around, and then picked out and put into cellophane? Oh well, some are nicer looking than the ones I have in Whitman folders, so they'll be replacements. I'll return the rest to circulation...maybe even some of these so-called uncirculated coins
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dies are far better than regular production runs. The coins are reported by some to
be tumbled in a machine with cornmeal to dry them. This seems quite plausible and
is consistent with observations. Some coins are apparently also damaged in the ma-
chinery which fills the sets. There are hoppers which feed these which also may impart
some marking. Some coins like 1980-D halfs in mint sets almost always have some
shallow scratches. Some of the finest '85-D dimes from sets all have a scratch right in
front of the portrait, apparently caused by damage while being ejected from the die.
There is a small percentage of all mint set coins which will be gem. How these coins es-
caped marking is difficult to know but .25% to 5% of all mint set coins will be either very
choice or gem. While this may sound pretty tough, it's like shooting fish in a barrel com-
pared to searching rolls.
I'm not surprised your mint set quality is poor. That's the rule, not the exception. And if you find a premium business strike (i.e. a true conditional rarity), hold on to it, otherwise it'll cost you a lot more once it's in a slab.
a new Grand Canyon. Most of these coins also have at least small strike defic-
iencies. A few like '69 and '71 quarters and most of the Ikes have planchet scratches
which weren't struck out. Some of the coins have severe damage inflicted by the
packaging machines. The thin four layers of plastic which protect these coins is of-
ten compromised and the coins will have severe corrosion. Some of the dates will
just corrode right in good packaging (there may be no unspotted '68 cents left).
But nice coins do abound in these sets. As a rule of thumb about two sets out of
three will contain at least one nice choice or gem coin (or better). For some dates
as many as 75% of the coins will be in beautiful collectible condition. '72-D quarters,
for instance, run very nice in the set. Gems are nearly common and most of the non-
gem coins are very attractive with satiny surfaces. Those which aren't choice usually
have strike problems.
There are some coins that will drive you nuts trying to find them in the sets and there
are even some where you're better off looking in rolls. '74 Ikes, '89 quarters and sev-
eral coins from the '90's are so frustrating that rolls might be a better bet. In fact, if
you prefer clean surfaces to good strikes the list of dates which are easier to find in
rolls lenghtens considerably. If you want varieties then you're again left with rolls be-
cause very few varieties appear in mint sets at all. Those which do appear tend to be
much more common simply because the mintages of these sets is so high. Even if only
0.5% of a mint set coin is a variety that still means that 10,000 or so will exist which
is bigger than the collector base except for the most popular or widely known issues.
It should be remembered, too, that many of the post 1964 coins are virtually impossible
to find in rolls at all! The few rolls which are encountered of many of these are almost
invariably assembled from mint sets. Nobody is going to sit down and check '69 quarter
rolls or '73-D dime rolls and the like, simply because these rolls are not available. I look-
ed at these rolls back when they were current and for most it is no loss. While it's a
shame that some varieties no longer exist in unc, the coins in the rolls were mostly very
poor quality.
There are some rolls of all the clad coins but in many cases it's just a few bags from the
same three or four sources. Since they are from the same sources even common varieties
may not be represented. Finding rolls from none of these sources is an enormous task.
One almost never sees a clad roll in an estate and when one is seen it will be the half
or dollar rolls. If dimes or quarters are seen, they'll be '65, 6 or 7, and the ubiquitous bi-
centennial rolls. Any other date will be a mint set roll or possibly a roll from one of the
few "sources". But people didn't just set aside a roll of dimes or quarters from the bank
each year. No one set aside bags or rolls for investment or nostalgia. People just didn't
save these coins.
Suffice it to say that collectors today are left with few options for seeking coins. They can
put together unc sets from whereever they find the coins (mostly mint sets) or they can
put together sets from circulation. But there are many surprises no matter which is attemp-
ted and there will be stoppers no matter what grade. These coins also make extremely
good entry level collections since circulated sets of the regular issues are quite doable yet
challenging enough to be fun.