Late 1950's Early 60's Proof Sets

direwolf1972 · January 27, 2007 11:30PM

I have a question I was wondering about. I was doing some reading and noticed that baseball cards seem to be resealed on a regular basis and sold as unopened by unscrupulous eBay sellers.... does this ever happen with the 1950/60's proof sets? I have been itching to try my luck at some unopened sets and see if I can hit a DC or at least a CA coin. Ever the dreamer of opening one and seeing a Franklin with FB and DC but I've been nervous about buying them off eBay thinking they may have already been opened and resealed. I would feel better about buying one of the "boxed" style sets (since they seem like they would be impossible to reseal) like they sold in the fourties and early fifties but they seem to be a lot higher in price and my budget wouldnt allow me to buy more than maybe one of the boxed sets. Anyone have an opinion either way on this.

RYK · January 27, 2007 11:33PM

Cool, another Dead Head.

Welcome.

I am not a proof set collector, but from what I have read here in the past, you are correct. There are resealed proof sets sold as never before opened. Hopefully, one of the experts will chime in to confirm.

speety · January 27, 2007 11:58PM

Proof sets are sealed in new envelopes which can be bought for a couple bucks. This happens all the time on ebay so i'd stay clear of buying 'original' proof sets there.

RickMilauskas · January 28, 2007 12:21AM

From what I have learned and been told original proof sets were never "sealed."

Any sealing that exists have either been purposely done or has happen accidentally
by moisture contacting the adhesive flap.

jmski52 · January 28, 2007 12:28AM

Original sets are out there, but I can't really tell you how to know if they have never been opened. I simply cannot remember whether or not they were shipped sealed or unsealed. It seems like they might have been shipped unsealed, because I have recollections of seeing the envelope flaps with un-used gum adhesive, and sometimes the flaps would get dog-eared. Maybe they were only slightly sealed?

badger · January 28, 2007 12:37AM

I've had some success with unopened proofs, but it is mainly the box sets. I've bought some later unopened sets from board members who related that they were original owners.

Box sets seem less easy to reseal. I wouldn't pay big premiums regardless. It is tough to recover the premiums.

Badger

100proof1957 · January 28, 2007 1:02AM

i believe the Proofs were sealed and the Mint sets un sealed

In any case,the likelyhood of getting them on EBAY un-searched is virtually NIL.

Coxe · January 28, 2007 1:07AM

Unsealed early proof sets are like unsearch wheat cent rolls on eBay. They don't exist. Unless you know the source and it is like some old guy who ordered them originally and set them aside, the trust issue is crazy. I can't see why buyers assume they have an advantage in those kinds of sales when that has got to be preposterous. Everybody wants a big score and thinks it will fall into their lap. Coins of value and potential cost money attendant with that. It's about selection. Sealed envelopes are as far from proper selection as you can get.

CarlWohlforth · January 28, 2007 1:11AM

Replica envelopes are frequently for sale on eBay. So it is very, very easy to put a proof set into a replica envelope, seal it and say it was never opened.

badger · January 28, 2007 1:16AM

I just remembered that I ahve bought the big 100 proof packs in the original shipper. These did appear to be unopened. I opened them in sequence and could see the transition from good to less good on cameo. I didn't score big, but got a few cameos and had some fun.

Badger

garsmith · January 28, 2007 1:42AM

Beware, always make sure there is a good return policy, even box sets can have the seal steam opened and the box resealed after searching!

airedale · January 28, 2007 1:49AM

<< I have a question I was wondering about. I was doing some reading and noticed that baseball cards seem to be resealed on a regular basis and sold as unopened by unscrupulous eBay sellers.... does this ever happen with the 1950/60's proof sets? I have been itching to try my luck at some unopened sets and see if I can hit a DC or at least a CA coin. Ever the dreamer of opening one and seeing a Franklin with FB and DC but I've been nervous about buying them off eBay thinking they may have already been opened and resealed. I would feel better about buying one of the "boxed" style sets (since they seem like they would be impossible to reseal) like they sold in the fourties and early fifties but they seem to be a lot higher in price and my budget wouldnt allow me to buy more than maybe one of the boxed sets. Anyone have an opinion either way on this. >>

I do not believe FBL ( FB ) is a factor in proof Franklin's. Being proof they are just expected to be FBL. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

Russ · January 28, 2007 3:39AM

<< From what I have learned and been told original proof sets were never "sealed." >>

Proof sets of the 1950's and early 1960's were, indeed, shipped sealed.

As for eBay, "mint sealed" sets is second only to "unsearched" hoards on the scam list. There are a lot of bidders getting ripped off by the slimeballs hawking these sets.

Russ, NCNE

Coxe · January 28, 2007 3:42AM

<< 

<< From what I have learned and been told original proof sets were never "sealed." >>

Proof sets of the 1950's and early 1960's were, indeed, shipped sealed.

As for eBay, "mint sealed" sets is second only to "unsearched" hoards on the scam list. There are a lot of bidders getting ripped off by the slimeballs hawking these sets.

Russ, NCNE >>

Whew! At least those Dealer Dream lots are on the level......

Russ · January 28, 2007 3:48AM

It's funny. When I first started hunting this stuff about five years ago, around 20% of the listings were "sealed". Now, about 20% are opened. Even though common sense dictates that this stuff is bogus, bidders are still driving it to stupid premiums.

Russ, NCNE

RichieURich · January 28, 2007 4:06AM

<< It's funny. When I first started hunting this stuff about five years ago, around 20% of the listings were "sealed". Now, about 20% are opened. Even though common sense dictates that this stuff is bogus, bidders are still driving it to stupid premiums.

Russ, NCNE >>

I was buying silver proof sets in the 1970's as a silver investment. I NEVER saw a sealed envelope silver proof set anytime in the 1970's or 1980's.

garsmith · January 28, 2007 4:31AM

<<It's funny. When I first started hunting this stuff about five years ago, around 20% of the listings were "sealed". Now, about 20% are opened. Even though common sense dictates that this stuff is bogus, bidders are still driving it to stupid premiums.>>

That is because the 20% that bought the "sealed" stuff are selling the junk they got when they opened them

ziggy29 · January 28, 2007 4:36AM

I have a small number of sealed sets from the late '50s which I know are "original" and unopened, since they've been in the family since they were made. I wouldn't expect a random buyer to take my word for it, though.

Mercury10c · January 28, 2007 12:11PM

<< I have been itching to try my luck at some unopened sets and see if I can hit a DC or at least a CA coin. >>

Don't bother. Probably about 90% of all proof sets of that era have already been searched by others looking for the same thing, and you will be wasting your time looking at proof sets that have already been searched 20 or 30 times. Almost all of the DC and CA coins in existence are already on the market.

<< I do not believe FBL ( FB ) is a factor in proof Franklin's. Being proof they are just expected to be FBL. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. >>

100% correct.

direwolf1972 · January 29, 2007 12:19AM

Thanks all for the replies. As you can probably tell I am somewhat new to proof collecting. I have a small collection of already slabbed coins and some coins that I have had since I was a kid. I have had a growing interest in coins recently (sent a few sets of the 20th anni eagles in and they came back with a couple beautiful rev PR70's in there) and since then I've been hooked lol.

MadMarty · January 29, 2007 12:34AM

<< From what I have learned and been told original proof sets were never "sealed."

Any sealing that exists have either been purposely done or has happen accidentally
by moisture contacting the adhesive flap. >>

Every sealed BOX I have opened the proof sets inside were sealed. The only ones I have gotten that were not sealed were 1965 SMS sets.

keets · January 29, 2007 1:09AM

i would suggest that if you're trying to find gems in the 1950's through early 1960's Proof Sets that you avoid venues such as eBay and anything online which involves buying something sight-unseen and relying on the hype to make the judgement. certainly you can score in that fashion but it can be risky at best and expensive at worst.

a more practical approach and without a doubt a more educational and fun approach is to search at shows and shops for "Low Hanging Fruit" which may either be in original unbroken sets or in repackaged sets in Capital type holders. while the door is slowly closing on the number of gems available to a collector, there are stil many, many, many dealers who view these sets as a commodity and trade them back and forth as such. often, the only thing that's checked is to make sure all the coins are there and the date is the correct one.

Late 1950's Early 60's Proof Sets

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