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A very special 1966 Special Mint Set
WingedLiberty1957
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I set out to find one of each SMS coin for the year 1966, but colorfully toned. All the coins below are PCGS graded, and the grades are shown below each obverse. I was successful except I could not for the life of me find a colorfully toned 1966 SMS Nickel -- I had no idea they were/are so rare. I mocked up a digital version of the original SMS packaging in Photoshop and all the coins are PCGS TrueView photos resized to their correct aspect ratios. It turned out pretty cool looking IMHO.
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Now try to find toned versions of the same coins but have them be Cameo or DCAM 1966 SMS coins. Such a set would look even better.
Nice:
I wonder how much you would pay for a nice toned nickel now?
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The dime is nice, but the quarter takes the prize, IMHO.
Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.
WS
Nice toners though.
I find it frustratingly amazing that some of these SMS coins tone and others do not. None of them are in Air Tight Capsules and all are subject to the same exposure to the cardboard box that contains them. But some turn. and others just do not.
The name is LEE!
Yes, my rendition of the SMS set packaging is slightly different from the original. Mine is a bit wider. I just thought it looked better (more balanced) that way.
The Washington Quarter really has some great color and pop. I had to roll the dice on that as I bought it off a dealer's text listing (no photo).
The rose-colored Roosie is a stunning coin. It's nearly as close to perfect and beautiful as they come. There are only 367 PCGS-slabbed SP68's 1966 SMS dimes (probably not that many with color), and only 4 graded higher.
And don't forget the toned Lincoln -- that is actually a rarity. There are only 2 PCGS slabbed BN SMS Lincolns for the year 1966. One a SP65 and one an SP66. I happened to luck into the SP66 coin, with as much color as you'll probably ever see on an SMS Lincoln of any year.
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and it sets us apart from practitioners and consultants. Gregor
I am not 100% sure of this, but I recall hearing that the discontinuation of the proof sets in going from 1964 to 1965 had something to do with the great small change shortage of 1964, that was blamed on collectors. That also caused the mint to drop mintmarks in 1965. So the mint scaled back their collector products. I am not sure why the mint would want to produce a collector set that they thought would be in less demand. So this whole line of thinking by our government (mint) seems flawed to me. I think it's pretty clear now the the shortage of small change was due to the dropping or scaling back of silver content in coins going from 1964 to 1965, so people were hoarding silver coins. If anyone has any more (or corrected) info on the Special Mint Sets, please post. My anecdotal information could very well be flawed.
OGP for the SMS sets in 1965 (top), 1966 (middle), and 1967 (bottom) ...
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My Toned Lincoln Registry Set
Given the price of silver nowadays, I sure wish I had bought them all for $10 a piece.
Empty Nest Collection
<< <i>the dime is the winner >>
+1
That is the nicest Roosevelt dime that I have ever seen. A 68 and Roosevelt actually appears to be smiling. I love it and I am not big fan of toning!!
<< <i>DHeath, yes, the SMS sets were interesting. Most people don't know that the original govt packaging changed from 65 to 66/67. In 65, the SMS sets were in a cello flat packs more like the 64 proof set. In 66/67, the mint created the blue hard plastic holders. I was also interested to learn that the quality of the SMS coins in 65 was not as good as the latter years. The mint improved their techniques each year and by 67 the strike and finish was the best. So finding high grade well stuck 1965 SMS coins is by far the most difficult.
I am not 100% sure of this, but I recall hearing that the discontinuation of the proof sets in going from 1964 to 1965 had something to do with the great small change shortage of 1964, that was blamed on collectors. That also caused the mint to drop mintmarks in 1965. So the mint scaled back their collector products. I am not sure why the mint would want to produce a collector set that they thought would be in less demand. So this whole line of thinking by our government (mint) seems flawed to me. I think it's pretty clear now the the shortage of small change was due to the dropping or scaling back of silver content in coins going from 1964 to 1965, so people were hoarding silver coins. If anyone has any more (or corrected) info on the Special Mint Sets, please post. My anecdotal information could very well be flawed.
>>
It is a nice set. Since the coins can be rearranged in these Whitman holders it's relatively
easy to assemble Gem sets. The last owner probably just took the best or most colorful
coins from several sets to make it. Finding a better set in original sealed packaging wouldn't
be overly difficult but few will have more toning.
There was a huge outcry from many quarters when the mint announced that there would
be no proof or mint sets in 1965. The stated reason was that they were too busy making
coins to alleviate the shortage to "bother" with collector coins. The date freeze was still in
effect so even collectors didn't see any rush to have mint or proof sets but they finally re-
lented to the demand and announced the SMS to replace both the proof and mint sets. These
are a sort of hybrid set. In '65 they were experimenting with all sorts of procedures and pro-
cesses for production so quality falls in a very broad range but most coins are toward the
bottom of the range. Light cameos are actually easier for some coins like the quarter but
quality is very often quite poor and this doesn't apply to the '66 and '67 sets.
The date freezes and other mint actions pretty much killed the modern coin market in 1964
when it began tanking. A few people went ahead and set aside the new clads but most of
these were spent over the next few years because no demand existed. It even killed the
penny and nickel markets despite there being no change in them; most cent and nickel col-
lections simply end at 1965. They did so many things to kill these markets that it's unlikely
that the effect of cessation of mint and proof sets were was very important. The markets were
completely gutted by mid-'65 before the new clads were even yet issued. If memory serves
the SMS wasn't announced until toward the end of the year.
Hoard the keys.
U.S. Type Set
Very nice looking set you have put together.
Chris' Complete Lincoln Variety Set 1909-date