proof sets on ebay

[MikeKing]

I was looking at some unopened proof sets on ebay.

How do I know they're really unopened??

Any experience here?

Thanks

Mike

[gmarguli]

You don't for the "sealed envelope" sets.

 

Your best bet is to buy a box of sets where the shipping box was sealed by the mint and the post office stamped the outside of it. I have purchased several of these with mixed results. Some have had nice stuff, some average, and a few junk.

 

With a little searching you can find boxes of 100 sets from 1955-1964. However, they will likely cost you quite a premium if you buy them from a dealer.

[BillJones]

This issue has been hashed over time after time.

 

"Unsearch" Proof sets makes about as much sense as "unsearched" bags of wheat cents. Most everything has been reviewed at some point. In addition unopened and unsearched does not mean pretty and pristine. I know that you are looking for cameo coins and the like, but from a preservation standpoint, you don't know where the coins have been stored. For example if the coins were kept in somebody's attic with temperatures that ranged from 0 to 120 degress F for a number of years, the coins could look like heck. Ditto if they have been stored in a damp basement.

 

You shold also realize that half of the 1954 and all of the 1955 box sets were packaged in plastic wrappers that imparted ugly brown tarnish on many of the coins. The resulted regardless of where the coins were stored. Box sets in that the coins housed in cellophane wrappers fared much better during the years.

 

There is also the possibility of fraud. Back when "mint sealed" Proof sets were the rage in the 1960s, some crooks upped their profit margins by replacing the coins with sheets of zinc for the flat pack sets and nut and bolts for the box sets.

 

The world of mint sealed Proof sets can be a source for surprise gems, but it can also be a minefield.