I might slightly have a unique way of collecting, but I'm sticking to it. I've been putting in low effort, but with some quality, into a collection over the past 15 years. I'm working on US moderns and have collected uncirculated business strikes from mint sets and put them directly into Dansco albums. I have 1965 to date. At times I've purchased graded coins to fill holes (e.g. Ikes, JFKs, and commonly collector varieties where a set isn't enough) and then crack them out of the plastic to put in the album (and save the tag).
So far, I've been 1965 and newer and haven't needed to worry about silver coins too much.
I'm currently in a position to spend for some silver, and start working on pre-1965 at MS and higher (at one of the worst times you buy silver) and want to to slowly keep building back my collection with a goal of keeping it MS or higher.
As I look at pricing going back 1947-1964 on
ebay, things are more complicated than those 1965 and higher years (even with special mint sets) and on many years it seems as they minted more proof sets than business strike sets and proofs might be more easier to obtain.
I fully understand that eventually I cannot keep this collection above MS due to the cost. I'm not rich. But I'd like to think I can maybe take it back to 1947 MS or higher. I should note, I'm more of an online guy. I'm realistically not going to be visiting shops/shows that often.
QUESTIONS:
1.) In these much older proof sets, do they immediately stand out as being proof coins compared to circulated business strikes? If I start mixing pre-1965 proof and business strikes will it look 'odd' to a viewer of my collection? I ask because some of the years I've been looking at, Proof sets are much more prominent and available on
ebay.
1B.) Is replacing mint sets with proofs even possible? E.g. business strikes from P &D while proofs are only S. That would do nothing for my P&D, non-proof Dansco albums.
2.) Based on mintage's and availability, are there certain years where chasing a set isn't the way to go and I should instead look at single coins? This is either from a cost perspective, or time involved due to lack of availability
3.) Any general advice best practices before I open my pre-1965 chapter? I am more asking about keeping costs down or making it easier on myself than trying to chase a business strike set when they only minted ~5000 of them. Any do X for these years, but do Y for those years advice?
I know this is a big ask. I'm not trying to treat you like ChatGPT to come up with a plan. I'm more interested in tips/suggests based on experience if that experience aligns with that I'm working on.
Thanks.
Posted 03/28/2026 7:05 pm
