Commems Collection Modern: 1996 Atlanta Olympics Soccer Half Dollar Young Collector's Set

Wrapping up my look at the four 1995-96 Atlanta Olympics Half Dollar Young Collector's Sets...

To make each of my Atlanta Olympic Young Collector's Set posts standalone, I have chosen to include the same introduction in all. I have italicized duplicate content.

To date, the largest coin program of the US modern commemorative coin series is the 1996-96 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 four Young Collector's (YC) Sets.

Edition 4 of the Young Collector's Sets was dedicated to Soccer. (Note: I acknowledge that the rest of the world refers to soccer as football but will use the US name here to be consistent with the YC Set packaging.) Soccer. on the Men's side. has been a part of the modern Olympic Games since 1900; Women's Soccer was first included as a medal event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. (Soccer was not a part of the Berlin Games in 1932 due to disagreements over events for the sport wth FIFA - Soccer's governing body.) The US Men's soccer team has never won a Gold medal at the Olympics, but the Women's team has won one four times (plus a silver medal and a bronze) - the Women's team won Gold at the inaugural Olympics event in 1996. The Men's team last won a medal in soccer in 1904, at the Games in St. Louis. MO (unusually, the US won Silver AND Bronze medals in the Games - only three teams competed!).

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 Soccer Half Dollar in the Set is an Uncirculated version, and was struck in San Francisco. Issue Price for the set was $13.95. The Soccer Set sold a total of 20,057 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 plus a dark green slipcase with silver printing (see the image below).


1996 Atlanta Olympics Soccer Young Collector's Set -- Slipcase, Front


1996 Atlanta Olympics Soccer Young Collector's Set -- Slipcase, Back


1996 Atlanta Olympics Soccer Young Collector's Set -- Coin Folder, Front Panel


1996 Atlanta Olympics Soccer Young Collector's Set -- Coin Folder, Inside Front Panel


1996 Atlanta Olympics Soccer Young Collector's Set -- Coin Folder, Interior Flap, Front


1996 Atlanta Olympics Soccer Young Collector's Set -- Coin Folder, Interior Flap, Back


1996 Atlanta Olympics Soccer Young Collector's Set -- Coin Folder, Inside Back Panel


1996 Atlanta Olympics Soccer Young Collector's Set -- Coin Folder, Back Panel


1996-96 Atlanta Olympics Four-Piece Young Collector's Sets -- Outer Slipcase