Eisenhower Dollars

@Cc, you can't hi-jack the thread while my ikes aren't posted. This post was to tell about my ikes then later show them but were not at that point yet. It's not done yet so going off topic isn't bad.


From what your saying is, do you mean just buy the coin you know you're getting?

I think part of the reason that these sets are priced so low is that there is a common perception that the sets are picked over on the market. This is mostly just not true. There are a few batches you see around that are slightly to heavily picked over but these are the exceptions. Most sets traded at wholesale have only been checked for major varieties and a few specific high grades like cameos. Where it used to take a hundred sets to find a Gem it would now take 120.

The mint sets do seem to be just disappearing and fewer and fewer are seen. The price doesn't change because there are more sets than buyers.

The biggest reason for the current low prices is the recession of '08 which strained many peoples' finances and forced them to liquidate and slow their buying. Maybe if the economy turned around with some vigor it would be enough to trigger a price increase since it would improve demand slightly and reduce supply dramatically.

while we are waiting on the pics can I hijack the hijack and I was wondering what years would be good to skwerl away
the years I like are 70,87,96

I personally like just about every date. But the important thing isn't as much about the date or the number of sets you can find as it is the quality of the individual coins. This especially applies to dates that generally come poor such as all the Ike dates other than the '77 and '78.

I'd suggest that if you set aside just the nice coins from the sets that can be bought at close to face value your expenditure will be low and you'll have trading stock to acquire the coins from the more expensive sets.

Thank you! I have been saying this for years. People, including many here, keep pounding that tired broken drum of "mint sets are not worth a darn. Too many out there. Picked over wah waah wah wah"

If there were a way to truly find out, I would be willing to bet that at least half of the mint sets issued through the 90's are no longer there. They have been cut up. That does not mean that the remainder are junk. Far from it. As mentioned there are plenty of hoards in estates and the like out there. The stash my dad had was impressive even after my sister stole who knows how much of it for drug money.

So yeah, you guys keep thinking that and keeping the price down. Just gives me the opportunity to snag as many as I can before the truth overwhelms the BS out there and the prices go up.

Now I know some might be wondering why I posted the barber. But that's just the bonus coin I got for buying the ike.
Was 22 dollars for a silver proof ike and the Barber half dollar.

Thanks @jbuck!

Now I'm trying to catch up on the conversation you guys are having, lol.

One thing I did notice is the ikes aren't easy to find in high grades without marks on them.
Some of the ones I placed inside my album were so nice but they would only grade like ms-64 or 63.

I figure the most heavily destroyed sets like the '69 is getting over about 65% gone. The '86 would be one of the least destroyed and about 35% gone.

A lot of people have always told me my estimates are too high but in the last year a few dealers have suggested there are actually more destroyed sets. It's very difficult to get a good feel for this but there have been periods in the past that almost no sets were destroyed because almost no one collected the coins and the sets were worth more as sets than individual coins.

One way to see is to just count the number of nice fresh original 1969 mint sets that come into shops and the percentyage of '69 sets in each deal. Back in the '80's there would be lots of these and 3% of the sets would be '69. Now a shop can buy several batches of mint sets without a single '69 being included because most have already been sold onto the market and destroyed. Of course a few of these sets are being pulled off the market by people like me and you but the vast majority are being carved up and the coins spend and/ or the silver melted.

There's a very steady demand that destroys about 10,000 of these sets (of every date) a year to make denomination sets for the big retailers. This demand just keeps slowly increasing and one of these years there just won't be 10,000 of each date coming on the market. The big retailers will simply bid the coins higher. These guys demand quality and accept only about the best 75% of the coins from sets. With tough coins like the '76 type I they only want the best 50%. The coins just won't be there in most cases because the coins were in the sets and the sets will be gone. Higher prices aren't going to be sufficient to satisfy the demand so the price wil;l have to go high enough to force the demand to shrink. What I'm saying here is that someone willing to pay the currfent retail on a decent '76 type I ($3.00) isn't going to stop demanding the coin just because it goes to $12. Nine dollars more just isn't that big of deal to most buyers. If you can't find rolls (you can't) and you can't find mint sets (the day is coming) and you still want a nice attractive coin then you are going to have to pay whatever supply and demand dictates. As long as "supply", the mint sets, is available the price won't go anywhere.

As the economy continues to recover the overhang of sets will be drawn down so the time may be at hand.