Original packaging-----1936-1942 Proof issues.
keets
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Through my years at the forum there has been the occasional thread dedicated towards the true nature of packaging used by the U.S. Mint to ship Proof coins or complete Proof Sets for the era of 1936-1942. To my recollection nothing has been definitively proven as "original" to date and nothing has been found in archives, records or other official documents which allude to any standard packaging which was used. Can anyone provide an update or additional information, both in general and specifically to the most recent supposed packaging from several months ago.
FWIW, I have yet to be convinced that any standard packaging was ever used. Thanks in advance.
Al H.
FWIW, I have yet to be convinced that any standard packaging was ever used. Thanks in advance.
Al H.
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The address was ripped off for security reasons, but you can see that "from the U.S. mint" is in the left corner and the remnants of the post mark show "DEC 23 ...2."
The only other pieces of evidence I have are from items I never owned or no longer have. Back in the 1970s I bought a 1942 Proof set from an old dealer. The coins were cellophane sleeves just like the ones that were used in the early 1950s. They were not stapled together and the coins were totally original with the usual haze that forms on the silver Proof coins of that era. The deal also included a 1950 Proof set in the sleeves stapled together. There was no box for either set.
A few years ago a collector asked me to look at his collection. It was very large and included many Proof sets in the boxes from 1936 to the mid 1950s. The collector told me that he had tried very hard to get the sets in their original boxes from dealers. The sets from 1936 to 1942 were all in the same type of gray boxes that house the sets from 1950 to 1955.
I know that dealers did have counterfeit boxes of that type. I know because I own one. I really had no way of knowing if his boxes were real or not. He had a lot of coins, and I didn't have the time to really spend with the Proof sets. I would have bought the Proof sets from him for my collection, but he insisted that he had to sell the entire collection intact. That would have involved a major investment in a lot of lower grade coins in series that I did not collect. I had to pass on that one. I would had followed up on the mint packaging issue, but without the sets I had no where to start.
I hope this helps in the research.
Missing image restored.
In a different collection we bought a 1936 Proof set in its original box, and those cellophane sleeves were stapled together.
Remember, the cellophane sleeves and cardboard boxes were just shipping materials as far as the Mint was concerned. The Mint assumed that any collector advanced enough to buy Proof coins would get them and then put them in his or her collection in whatever medium he or she stored his or her other coins in! If a set or various single coins got sent out without a staple, it didn't matter!
TD
<< <i>I don't know if this is true or not but I have heard that the 1936 -1942 Proof coins were not sold in set but as individual coins. That is the reason that they are not stapled together. >>
From what I've read you had to buy a complete Proof set. Then you could buy all the single coins your wanted. This policy may have come about toward the end of the 1936-42 series.
I thinght that at the beginning one could buy since coins even it was only a cent or a nickel. It was the Great Depression after all, and people had very little money to "waste" on things like Proof coins. Of course the postage on a tiny order might well have equaled or exceeded the selling price of Proof coins in it.
Sometime around 1957 or so, my grandfather showed us one of his proof sets that he had bought years earlier in the typical square box, and I remember him saying that the coins were sold individually at individual prices. That doesn't conflict with anything that Bill Jones has indicated, and it's just something I remember. The policy on purchases may have changed during that period from 1936 to 1942.
I knew it would happen.
K
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
what I have read and been told is that during this time the Mint sold Proof issues as individual coins, meaning that you could buy one coin or a complete Set. I have never been told that there was a "Set" price, just a single coin price for each denomination. judging from what others have said, the use of a "staple" may have been simple by choice of the Mint employee packaging the Set or by an owner(s) at some point. similarly, the packaging seems to be inconsistent; my inference is that the Mint may have packaged things in accordance with the order size and what materials they had at their discretion. in short, there was apparently no conformity such as what we see when Proof Set production was resumed in 1950.
my hope with this thread is to establish what was probably taking place and it seems that we may be getting close but aren't quite there yet.
<< <i>all observations are anecdotal................ >>
Unless you got a Wayback Machine, just what in the heck were you expecting??????
it would be nice to know with a degree of certainty if packaging is genuine, not that it might be/could be/looks like it is/appears to be/or so-and-so said it is.
I forget the name of the poster now. But there were multiple postes and images of the heir's inheritance.
Pics would definitely help this thread!
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BONGO HURTLES ALONG THE RAIN SODDEN HIGHWAY OF LIFE ON UNDERINFLATED BALD RETREAD TIRES
Linky
'41 Proof set is about half way down the page. Darth5oh. Inherited his Grandfather's collection when his father passed.
Some great coins in his collection!
Cheers!
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BONGO HURTLES ALONG THE RAIN SODDEN HIGHWAY OF LIFE ON UNDERINFLATED BALD RETREAD TIRES
Just scroll down a bit. Great image!
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BONGO HURTLES ALONG THE RAIN SODDEN HIGHWAY OF LIFE ON UNDERINFLATED BALD RETREAD TIRES
Lot's of images on this page. The '41 set is about 80% down toward the bottom so keep on scrolling. Lot's of individuals pics of this set. Another "Awesome", IMO.
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BONGO HURTLES ALONG THE RAIN SODDEN HIGHWAY OF LIFE ON UNDERINFLATED BALD RETREAD TIRES
About 10 months ago I bought a set on ebay that was sold as a mint set........it was a proof set, these coins arrived in what I think were the original unstapled sleeves.....
link
the ebay listing
About 3/4 down the page.
I'm no expert and the purpose of the OP was to discuss what you think passes for OGP. Or was the packaging of these early Proof sets so inconsistent as to discount any possibility that they were OGP or secondary market packaging.
I've linke a number of Sets/images of what I think are OGP but from one collection. It'd be interesting to see if any sharp eyes out there can find any consistency or discrepancies among the various years "cellophane" coin slips?
Cheers!
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BONGO HURTLES ALONG THE RAIN SODDEN HIGHWAY OF LIFE ON UNDERINFLATED BALD RETREAD TIRES
<< <i>Capt, I was referring to my observations: "what I have read and been told" and not what has been stated by others. what I am hoping for is documentation of some sort --or-- a few instances which tend to suggest some consistent packaging. as it is, what we have is inconsistent. experiences from yourself and long time dealers such as Bill Jones should go a long way towards solving the riddle, we just need more of them by a larger group. in the end we may be left with no possible assertion of true "Original Mint Packaging" from the era simply because anything/everything might qualify. that would be disappointing because monetary value aside, the packaging adds something that I believe most collectors appreciate.
it would be nice to know with a degree of certainty if packaging is genuine, not that it might be/could be/looks like it is/appears to be/or so-and-so said it is. >>
Have you tried paging through either The Numismatist or The Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine for 1936-1942 to see if you can find a contemporary description of the packaging? I would suggest that you do The Numismatist first, as the arrival of a new set in 1936 might have been covered as news.
<< <i>1937 Proof set pic.
Just scroll down a bit. Great image! >>
The packaging for that 1937 set looks like the 1942 set I bought many years ago ... no staples, no box ... just the coins in cellophane sleeves.
Just a thought. If anyone knows Eric P. Newman, he might know the answer. He would be only person alive I know who might have been buying Proof sets back then.
<< <i>
<< <i>1937 Proof set pic.
Just scroll down a bit. Great image! >>
The packaging for that 1937 set looks like the 1942 set I bought many years ago ... no staples, no box ... just the coins in cellophane sleeves.
Just a thought. If anyone knows Eric P. Newman, he might know the answer. He would be only person alive I know who might have been buying Proof sets back then. >>
Excellent suggestion!
"Each 1936 Proof coin was packaged individually in its own cellophane sleeve, then stapled together with any other coins from the same order. The coins were then wrapped in tissue and shipped in a variety of boxes or envelopes, sized to fit the order."
I believe David Lange's book A Guide Book of Modern United States Proof Coin Sets says the same thing.
Here is an image of a box that is certainly period.
Stamps and post marks confirm it originality and authenticity.
If not, someone went through a lot of trouble to fake this.
Here’s an article from August 1936. Says the proof coins will be sold individually or in sets. Start from the bottom picture and read up. Sorry that the pictures are out of order.
