United States Unc Mint sets 2006

ctgreatone

How or when does someone who wants to order from the first minting (pressing) of these sets go about placeing ones order? I have heard that being in on the first 200,000 is needed to give you a chance of getting the best minting, and therefore the best chance of the highest grades. Is that right or is there another way?

CaptHenway

The Mint normally makes up several hundred thousand sets and places them in storage prior to accepting orders. Then, when the orders come in, the sets are sent out in random order of mintage. Telemarketers who tell you otherwise will lie about other things as well.
Tom D.

Mercury

If you want a early order, and I'm not sure there is any advantage to this, order a subscription to whatever product you desire. The subscription orders seem to be processed before regular orders. However, I can not say that this leads to any advantage towards quality. I would say that quality is pot luck and your order placement has little to do with it. IMHO

Mercury

Bochiman

Not only what was already said but also that it isn't just 1 die doing the minting. There are multiples. So, you might have a new die halfway through...or later. New dies are where the best ones are at.

cladking

Dies are swapped out after about 30,000 strikes so coins from brand new dies are
used right up until all the coins are made. Up until the mid-'80's it was possible to
chase down the gems because they were filled by zip code. This meant most of the
gems for a particular issue could end up in a localized area. This no longer seems to
be the case or there is a more complicated pattern to the distribution.

One of the more effective methods for most people is to just order a few sets and
cross your fingers. These sets can then be traded off for gem sets as they are located.

fishcooker

Some years the mint churns out poor quality, people complain, and then the later sets are better. It is like a lottery when one orders from the mint.

LanLord

If you have a reasonable coin store nearby your place of residence, go and ask if you can search through what they have in stock. If you have built up a decent amount of trust by being a regular customer, he/she should be willing to help you out in finding the best looking set(s) in what they have available.

Your chances there are better than the crapshoot you'd have in getting a first-strike from the mint.

ricko

Subscription sets seem to be very nice. At least I have had great fortune so far. I have only returned one ASE... for an obvious scratch on the obverse. It was quickly replaced with no discussion. That being said, some subscription sets have stood out more than the others. Cheers, RickO

ellewood

I'm with Ricko. I started a subscription for 10 mints sets back in 2004 and the sets that I got last year (2005) were phenomenal. Let's just say that I sent in just 4 of the lincolns and got 3 69's and a 68 back. The quality of all the coins overall was incredible as well. I can't say that I was "in the front of the line" as it might have just been luck that I got such a good batch. I will let you know in a few weeks when my 10 sets of 2006's arrive. If the quality is really good, maybe someone is on to something????? Who the heck knows with the US Mint. They are so unpredictable!

19Lyds

I'm with CaptHenway in that before distribution, hundreds of thousands of sets have been produced and stored away and its a complete crapshoot on whether or not you'll get a primo set. Additionally, I think, and I've been wrong before, that the coins are produced, then bagged, then sent for processing into mint sets.

By the way, what's a Henway?

BigTom

I have a question in the same vain as the original poster, so I hope someone can/will answer it in this thread.

I saw a Proof GAE on ebay that was in an NGC holder with a "First Strike" notation on the label. I knew you could get quarters/nickels with first strike covers, but I never saw that option for GAE's. So my question is, "Is that something NGC designated based on strike quality, or was did that designation come from the mint?" If the latter, how?

holadude

NGC will put First Strike on the proof eagles that they grade before January 31 of the year. That's what their web site says.

Conder101

As far as I know you can only get the First Strike labels for the bullion eagle coins. You can;t get them for the quarters, nickels etc.

The subscriptions route probably doesn't help you et to the front of the line either. There have constantly been threads here on the forum whenever something new comes out from people who have subscriptions and are still waiting for their coins, while people who ordered several days after the coins went on sale have already received theirs.

BigTom

Thx. I did not know that about NGC and 1st strikes. Not worth the hugh premium that the coin in question is currently receiving, IMO.

Good perspective Condor. I've just started buying various modern sets from the mint and as you pointed out, when I order within a day or two of opening dates, my pkg arrives soon after.

drjules

<< <i>there is a more complicated pattern to the distribution. >>



A bunch of high school students grab pack at random and send them out

Dr J

ctgreatone

thanks, I always get good advice from this Forum. I have set up the subscription and will see what happens. Thanks again to all of you who took the time to teach me!!

Greg

aficionado

Either through a subscription or ordering on the first few days might give you an advantage because no sets have been sent back yet.

If 1 in 10 gets sent back and you order after a few months of the coins being available, I think you have a higher probablity of getting a messed up set.

Also, everytime I've sent a set back, I've gotten a perfect set in return. Maybe they have sets on the side to resend; sets they know are better. Either way, the ones I've sent back probably are sent out to the next sucker.