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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,052 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19930 Posts |
As part of completing my Lincoln Cent collection, I want to obtain all the proofs made since I already have all the biz strikes. As any Lincoln collector knows, this is a very lofty goal not only because of price, but scarcity....especially the early date matte proofs. Now, on to my dilema.... I own a 1953 proof set. Here's the set: Image:  1953ProofSet.jpg39.91 KB Here's the object of my desire: Image: 1953Proof.jpg74.28 KB Image: 1953ProofREV.jpg74.65 KB I am seriously considering breaking the set so I can put the Lincoln into my collection separately. After some digging, I can buy the proof outright for $40-60.....they are slightly difficult to find. Should I break the set or just buy the Lincoln? The proof sets sell for around $200 and up. After a little research, it almost seems as the individual coins have more value than the set. Perhaps I could sell the indivdual proofs after breaking? For me, this is a strange situation, since I own the Lincoln proof, but it's just not in my album with my collection....and I'd like it to be. What should I do? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
936 Posts |
Personally I would just buy the proof outright and leave the set together. It were maybe the 36 or 50 then I would maybe take it out and sell the others. For the 40-60 bucks I would leave the set alone.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1231 Posts |
If you are not interested in the set anymore, take the cent out and keep it. Sell the others and buy more proof cents that you need.
For me I would keep the set intact and just buy the cent I needed.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2443 Posts |
Do you really care about having a proof set? If not take it out and put it in your collection. Then you can always sell the individual coins separately and buy more Lincolns or you can keep it and just keep the Lincoln spot empty. You still have a complete set, but not in the same location.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1984 Posts |
If you don't collect proof sets, break it out, sell the other coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1283 Posts |
I guess it depends on how attached you are to the proof set. If I didn't care either way, I'd break it open and sell the loose proofs.
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Valued Member
United States
206 Posts |
I would buy the cent instead of breaking up the proof set.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5953 Posts |
I have a lot of blanks in my Kennedy album. They are not realy blanks as the coins to fill them are in various proof and mint sets I own so for me even though the album is not full the set is more complete than the holes would suggest. I will face the same issue you do if I decide to sell but thats a bridge I will have to cross at a later date
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Pillar of the Community
United States
812 Posts |
It has been my observation that the parts are worth more than the whole. A proof set is worth less than the individual proof coins; a complete collection of a specific coin series is worth approximately the value of just the key dates; a 3-piece commemorative set is worth less than the individual coins in the set. It doesn't seem right, but it seems to be the way that it is.
Have others observed this? Am I wrong (I kinda hope so)? If generally true, are there exceptions to this trend?
Personally, I wouldn't break the set, but it seems as though that would be the smart choice.
Edited by Bilbo
10/23/2007 10:53 am
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Valued Member
United States
330 Posts |
Bilbo,
That has been my observation as well. It has made more sense to me in the past to buy a proof or mint set to get the coins that I need and put the others in flips. This usually saves me some money. The only thing to watch is the quality of the coins. Sometimes it is hard to find a set with nice coins and any money saved is not worth it.
Jim
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Valued Member
United States
287 Posts |
I plan on working on multiple books at the same time, including proofs. I would probably buy the proof set and split it up at that time. If I had extra coins I didn't need I would sell them to fill the books I would be filling. Go for it and crack it open in my opinion.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Not sure what kind of Album you have but I use Whitman Classic Albums. There is no place for Proofs prior to the 70S in the Lincoln Album. At one time I had all proofs in set #1 from about 1936 up instead of Uncirculated cents. A few people I know all agreed that it looked nice but didn't belong that way. So I added pages at the end of the Album, moved all the proofs prior to 70S, put them at the end in the new pages, replaced all in the nomal spot with Uncirculated ones. Then as the amount of pages made the Album almost burst, I removed those pages with the proofs completely and made a new Proof only Album. Now all my sets of Lincoln Cents are the way they should be with only Proofs where there were slots for them.
Therefore my suggestion is to only put coins in the Albums that are called for. Leave your Proof set alone.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
19930 Posts |
Thanks everyone. I think I'm going to leave the set alone. If it was a later date set, I'd break it in a heartbeat....I've done it before.
Carl - It's just a nice, leather 3-ring binder with plastic pages for 2x2's. I don't like Whitman or the others because I much perfer using airtites. My eventual goal is to have all my Lincoln's in airtites, properly preserved using the method I described in this forum. I've found I can hold the airtites in there by putting them in a dollar size 2x2.
My Lincoln collection should last virtually forever with all the trouble I'm going though: airtite>2x2>plastic page>binder>large ziplock with dessicant>plastic tub
Thanks everyone!
Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,052 |
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Posted 10/22/2007 7:49 pm
1953ProofSet.jpg
1953Proof.jpg
1953ProofREV.jpg
