I saw some strange proof set packaging at the Santa Clara show.

SanctionII

I dealer from So. Cal. that has a large supply of proof sets showed me some early sets (1950 -1954) that were in the "Flat Pack" packaging used for mid 1955-1964. The coins were obviously inserted into packaging materials (newly made cello and envelopes that had the printed year, i.e., "1960" altered by hand with an ink pen to read "1950").

I looked at these sets. The coins were actually nice, clean coins, but the packaging was a joke. Not so much of a joke however that the 1952 set did not sell quickly.

Would these bogus packaging materials alone cause you to pass on buying the proof sets (even if the coins in the set were very nice)? Or would you not care about the packaging and care only about picking up quality coins?

For me, I would not care about the packaging if the coins were nice and I wanted them.

Cameonut

I would scrutinize the coins closely and make my decision from there. (the 'buy the coin' mantra)
But I would be extremely careful - the dealer ought to know the packaging is not original and should not represent it as such.

WoodenJefferson

I would have questioned the dealer about how he came to own these for re-sale. If he got them "as-is" and sold them as such, I would not have a problem with looking them over and selecting what I felt was OK. On the other hand if the seller was being evasive, I would wonder just what they are attempting to hide, if anything.

COALPORTER

I imagine the sets were picked through for coins that had a shot at top pop grades then repackaged as "junk". ?

I would make a mental note of the dealer and never buy anything from them.

Mowgli

It could be the dealer knows how many people care about the packaging more than the coins.
Yesterday I tried to sell two mint sets and a proof set and all the dealer would say is that the envelopes were torn/yellow and the proof packaging wasn't pristine - while acknowledging that the coins were beautiful.