To date, the largest coin program of the US modern commemorative coin series is the 1995-96 program for the Atlanta Olympics. The program included four CuNi Clad Half Dollars, eight Silver Dollars and four Gold Half Eagles. Each coin was available in Proof and Uncirculated, and, all told, the program included 32 distinct coins (via 16 Design Types).
Each of the Half Dollar coins was available individually, as part of a multi-coin set, in a special single-coin point-of-purchase (POS) package and in a Young Collector's (YC) Set.
Edition 1 of the Young Collector's Sets was dedicated to Basketball. Men's basketball was included in the Olympics as a medal event for the first time at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin (Germany). The US team won the Gold Medal, Canada won the Silver and Mexico won the Bronze. Women's Basketball made its Olympics debut as a medal event in 1976 at the Montreal (Canada) Games. The Soviet Union won the Gold, the US the Silver and Bulgaria the Bronze.
As I've discussed before, the colorful and informative Young Collector's Sets were specifically designed for children ages 6 to 10. They use cartoons and easy-to-understand language to engage kids in the coin collecting hobby and to subtly educate them about US history and coins.
Each of the four Atlanta Olympics YC Sets includes an uncirculated Half Dollar mounted in a six-panel folder that features youth-oriented artwork (i.e., cartoons) that includes brief information about the Olympic Games, brief information on the sport being presented and brief information on the Mint's YC Set series. "Brief!" was the Mint's guiding principle regarding included content when developing the Sets.
Each coin folder is inserted into a slipcase with coordinating artwork. The front of the slipcase features artwork that wraps around to the back, as well as the Set's titling. The back of the slipcase presents the Set's Certificate of Authenticity and the Half Dollar's Specifications.
The Basketball Half Dollar in the Set is an Uncirculated version, and was struck in San Francisco. Issue Price for the set was $13.95. The Basketball Set sold a total of 39,690 individual units, plus another 9,705 units included within the Young Collector's Four-Piece Set. The Four-Piece Set includes the YC Set for each Half Dollar housed in a dark green slipcase with silver printing (see the image below).
1995 Atlanta Olympics Basketball Young Collector's Set -- Slipcase, Front
1995 Atlanta Olympics Basketball Young Collector's Set -- Slipcase, Back
1995 Atlanta Olympics Basketball Young Collector's Set -- Coin Folder, Front Panel
1995 Atlanta Olympics Basketball Young Collector's Set -- Coin Folder, Inside Front Panel
1995 Atlanta Olympics Basketball Young Collector's Set -- Coin Folder, Interior Flap, Front
1995 Atlanta Olympics Basketball Young Collector's Set -- Coin Folder, Interior Flap, Back
1995 Atlanta Olympics Basketball Young Collector's Set -- Coin Folder, Inside Back Panel
1995 Atlanta Olympics Basketball Young Collector's Set -- Coin Folder, Back Panel
1995-96 Atlanta Olympics Four-Piece Young Collector's Sets -- Outer Slipcase
Posted 09/05/2022 05:49 am
