What to do with mint sets??

[Calypso]

I'm curious what you guys do with your mint sets? I have a few and I'm *really* tempted to open them to put in something like Cap Plastic holders. It doesn't seem worth it to send them in for grading and I don't want to break them up. I plan on keeping them for many years and figure if any of the coins become valuable in the future I can grade them later. Just curious???

 

Liz

[midwest]

feed them to the dog or cat

[cladking]

Hmmm.

 

Most of them are nothing special or they have some great coins and some mediocre coins. These are cut up and the good coins go into a safety deposit box. Usually these are stabilized in acetone first but some coins seem to be nearly inert and these will be allowed to stay right in the cello which was cut away from the rest of the set.

 

Once in a while a really great set will turn up. These go into the box intact. The only rule is that there has to be at least one superb gem in it and all of them have to be at least gems. Such sets can be as common as about 1% for the '72 Denver package or so rare I've yet to see one for the '80-D package. There are some very nice '80-D's, just none that are all gem.

[BankNote1]

Nothing. I don't bother to own own any.

[Oldtrader3]

I buy (2) sets; one to cut up for Dansco albums and one to put away in a box for?

[gmarguli]

What dates are they? My answer would be different for different dates.

[a2labmom]

I just add them to the drawer with all the rest of my mint and proof sets.

[etexmike]

The only mint sets that I own go thru 1958.

 

And, I look for nice original tone with nice colors.

 

I don't waste my time or money on the newer stuff.

 

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

 

etexmike

[cladking]

The only mint sets that I own go thru 1958.

 

And, I look for nice original tone with nice colors.

 

I don't waste my time or money on the newer stuff.

 

 

Everyone is well aware of what a total waste of space the newer mint sets are and how it is impossible to enjoy collecting the coins or to ever have a chance of recouping your money from them much less making a profit. Indeed this is so well known that some of the mint sets have actually achieved their rightful value of less than face value. The 1980 set for instance is less than worthless not only because it contains no coins with precious metals but all the coins are truly only token issues since even the cent has only .992c worth of metal in it. These coins weren't saved by the people at the time so it certainly makes no sense to worry about them now. If new collectors want to them than that's their folly and there's certainly no need for real collectors to pay them any mind.

 

Those who might think they can get rich cutting up the sets to capture the discount to face value have another think coming. It costs a lot of money to ship or buy these sets and takes a lot of effort to disassemble them to put in the CoinStar machines. By the time you factor in all these costs you're actually losing substantial amounts of money in the attempt.

 

Remember it is the widespread knowledge that these modern coins are worthless which has driven the price under face value. It is also this widespread knowledge which has assured that the coins have been ignored for generations and that they will never be collectible.

 

 

[Leothelion]

My advice is, for all of you to cut out ALL the nickels and send them to me!

Without picking through them, of course! I pay 12 to 15 cents a piece! I'll know if you have cherrypicked through them so don't try to sell your crrap to me, I'll know!

 

Thank you,

 

Leo

[scroll]

How about we just trade even, nickels for the silver dimes.

[TomB]

I don't own that many US Mint Sets, and those that I do own are from the pre-1959 era. The sets from that era have cardboard holders that allow the replacement of coins with relative ease, therefore, I carefully take the coins out of the cardboard and place them into Capital Plastics holders. I then store the cardboard so that if I want to I can always put the coins back into their original places. As for sets that would have been issued in cellophane, I would think you may want to take special care with the truly nice coins, as cladking has already mentioned, and then carefully store the remainder. These cellophane sets appear to me to not take up much space, so if you have the room, I would save the sets intact.

 

What years do you collect?

[EZ_E]

I'm curious what you guys do with your mint sets? I have a few and I'm *really* tempted to open them to put in something like Cap Plastic holders. It doesn't seem worth it to send them in for grading and I don't want to break them up. I plan on keeping them for many years and figure if any of the coins become valuable in the future I can grade them later. Just curious???

 

Liz

 

Liz, I will eventually acquire all of the modern mint sets and will house them in the Eagle Album designed for that purpose. This is how I have my proof sets housed. IMO, this is the best method for storage and presentation of the complete set. You will see them advertised in most numismatic publications.

 

p.s. Remember that although no mint sets were manufactured in 1982 and 1983, their equilvalents do exist in the form of US Mint Souvenier sets from both mints. They are packaged nearly the same, are much rarer (c. 50,000 sets a piece) and sell in the $50 range for the P and D sets for each year. Compare that to the 2004 mint set with a mintage of 844,000 which sell for c. $70/set.

 

I would not break the coins out of the packaging unless you desire to get the coins graded but I see not point in that. Most mint sets are still great values for the price. Who knows when they will increase in value like the state quarter sets but, IMO, they have no where to go but up.

[Calypso]

Hi,

 

I have '62 and '63 unc mint sets given to me in my childhood so there is a strong sentimental attachment. I also have a new '04 silver proof set. The '63 has a nice nickel, FS in 65/66. The rest are average. I have decided to put the new set in a capital 11 slot display holder.

 

Say what you will, the new coins are refreshing (I want new obverses!!!) and relatively inexpensive.Our coinage had been absolutely dreadful and stale for decades. There should have been a complete redesign in 1976 instead of those silly reverses. I'll admit to pulling state quarters out of circulation to put in a Whitman folder, I'm a coin geek and can't help it.

Any other thougths?

 

[Oldtrader3]

I pull the Kennedies and the State Quarters out of one set each year for Dansco Albums. They look much nicer toned in the albums.