Proof Set Quality Issues

I got a proof silver America the Beautiful Quarter Set and on one of the coins Washington had a circle of toning on his cheek. I sent it back and they replaced it with a set with a big scratch on the plastic holder. I kept it because the coins are nice. I do see occasional hazing on the mirror fields though. I recently bought a 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle for $2350 and it had so many hairlines on it from die polishing at the mint, that I sent it back to the dealer that I bought it from. This coin untouched from the mint would have graded MS60 and this was their "Mona Lisa" coin release. Quality control seems to be a problem. I did get an unslabbed 2009 Proof Gold Buffalo that is magnificent, so sometimes they do get it right.

There were some nicks and scratches and scuffs on the plastic, I can live with that, but damage to the coins is not acceptable, certainly not this much damage. Now that I am looking at it again, there appears to be a cat hair stuck inside the plastic with the 2011 cent. What a pain.

I thought it would be MS60 because I saw one on ebay with two small areas of hairline that was graded PCGS MS65.

I finally got the replacement 2010 set (still waiting on the 2011) and it's still got problems. It's not as bad as the other one, but there is quite a bit of spotting on two of the Presidential dollars, and there is what appears to be a cookie crumb inside the plastic with the Hot Springs quarter, and lots of other dust and debris in the plastic on all the sets. I might just live with it because I don't care that much about the Presidents... Well, one of the spotted ones is Abe, so that's a bummer, but the other is James Buchanan so he can bite it.

I don't anticipate huge appreciation for proof sets, but maybe problem-free ones are going to be rare.

It's borderline for me to send it back considering the cost of shipping, and the odds that I'll get a better one seem remote. And if I send it back now, the 2011 will come in a couple days, and then I'll have to pay to send that one back in a separate shipment when it has a hole in one of the coins or something. What is the defect rate on these anyway?

How hard is it to crack and re-close these cases to remove debris? I figure the brass dollars are gonna tone anyway, but if I can get the debris out of the cases the rest of the set will be OK.

It is too bad that there aren't more numismatic sales counters across the country. The salespeople there always let you choose among several sets the best ones the buy. Getting them in the mail and having to return them is a pain. The Mint should take a page from the RCM and sell coin products at the post office.

I'm really surprised to see some of these posts on poor quality U.S Mint coins; I've been buying proof and uncirculated packages, ASE's, commemoratives for many, many years, as presents for my youngest (and myself!), and have found them to be flawless, year after year. I had read that they were really scrutinized to catch any problems, and my experience seemed to support that. I recently stopped buying the yearly sets, as they had been Xmas presents for so long it was getting too predictable, and the prices seemed to be creeping up. Perhaps it's just the last few years that have suffered these issues, maybe too much volume or even revenue pressures?

Anyone who says die scratches will downgrade their coin doesn't know what they are talking about.

Proof sets have always been a sticking issue with me. Generally the packaging they are in reacts with the coins if they are not stored in a completely environmentally safe area. That's usually what happens to them by the time you get them - stuck for six months in a humid, hot warehouse.

I wondering if I should just try to replace the problem coins off of ebay or something instead of sending back the sets, considering I'll just get two more that suck just as bad (particularly since sales of the 2010 sets is ending.) Maybe I would have better luck on sets ordered early in the year before they've been allowed to sit around in a sea-cave or wherever their warehouse is. With free shipping, I can probably get the handful I need almost as cheap as three more round trips to the mint with these sets.