Set The First Commorative Coins Of America

[Iku]

Set The First Commorative Coins Of America

Wooden box set

 

½ Dollar Columbus 1892

1/4 Dollar Isabella 1893

1 Dollar Lafayette 1900

----------------------------------------------------

Who made this crazy set and are all the coins in this set real ?

Coinmanage 2009 prices

Isabella 600$ for example in XF-condition

Lafayette also about 600$ for example in XF.

 

So these sets are worth at least 1000$ ? (or did they only put bad grade coins in to these sets like: about good-fine)

 

How much did these sets originally cost ?

Anyone has these sets...? opinions and so on...

 

[TomB]

While the coins may very well be genuine, they were never issued as a set together from the US Mint. The Isabella quarter and Columbian half were sold in conjunction with the Columbian World's Fair and Exposition of 1892-1893 while the Lafayette dollar was sold in 1901. The image pretty clearly shows that the coins look to be circulated and polished, which would make this after-market set worth little. However, the makers are correct about these being the first US Mint issued commems from each denomination shown, though one might argue that the CAL quarter eagles are the first US Mint commems ever produced.

 

The sets were likely put together by a marketer who targeted either a magazine or television audience and who sold them at multiples of their true value. I would not only run away as fast as I could from a set like this, but I would not even spend someone else's money to obtain the set. This is a certain money pit.

[Iku]

Thanks. I'm not a fan of commoratives so I might pass...

Auction price now 110e->163$ closes 27.10.2009

 

Here's the link(finnish auction site)

http://www.huuto.net/fi/showitem.php3?itemid=117456584

[James_OldeTowne]

Looks like junk. If the coins are genuine, they have been mangled, and together might be worth $200. That's IF they are even real!

[MunkyMan95]

The coins have been polished or whizzed to make them look more "presentable"

 

PASS.

[BillJones]

Here a set of these coins in Mint State.

 

1892 Columbian half dollar was sold for $1 each. They were not popular at that price and at the end some of them released a face value. There was also an 1893 Columbian half dollar. This piece is very conservatively graded by PCGS as an MS-63,

 

 

The 1893 Isabella quarter was sold by the Board of Lady Managers. The price was $1 which most people thought was too high. Both the Board of Lady Managers and the Board of Gentlement Managers got a $10,000 stipend from Congress. The Lady Managers took their stipend in the form of 40,000 Isabella quarters, which they hoped to sell for a profit. Ultimately some of the coins sold for as little 35 cents. In the end many of the coins went back for melting. One of the Lady Managers, saved 10,000 of the coins, which makes them a little more common today. This is a very nice MS-64 example.

 

 

The entire mintage of the Lafayette Dollar was struck on December 15, 1899. Proceeds from the sale of the coins were used to finance a Lafayette stature in Paris. The original issue price was $2 each, and the coins did not sell well. This coin is a very nice MS-63. This is about as good you will find this coin for the grade.

 

[CRO-migration]

Nice, well matched set Bill.

[Iku]

Seller's pics

 

[BillJones]

Those coins are badly cleaned and would be real eye sores for most collectors. Don’t even think about buying them unless the price is ridiculously below the catalog values shown in the lowest listed grades. The coins are really messed up.

[MunkyMan95]

The coins are ruined, and there's no way to salvage them.

 

Unless you got these for a song (I assume you already purchased them), you got taken. While the prices you quoted in the original post are valid for problem-free coins in various grades, these coins would be heavily discounted due to the abuse they've taken.