Posted 07/11/2009 11:44 pm
It depends on the denomination and date.
Before 1965 there doesn't appear to be any especial pains taken for mint set coins. These appear to generally just be hand selected coins from the regular production lines. They were less marked up but not significantly better otherwise.
In 1965 both proof and mint sets were discontinued and then the SMS's were invented. These were made in San Francisco on lower speed presses under higher pressure by new dies. Many of the planchets were at least lightly polished. There was extensive experimentation until 1967 when there's much less variation in techniques and quality is generally higher.
In 1968 most of these new techniques were retained for the mint sets when they were reintroduced. Many of the dies for mint set coins even receive some proof processing so PL's are not excessively rare. PL's do also appear in circulation but in far lower percentages and perhaps lower numbers in most cases.
It's not so much that mint set quality is so high as it is that business strike quality has been awful. Many of the coins made for circulation can be extremely difficult just to find nice much less gem. And, of course, some of these coins were set aside in tiny numbers so there aren't any coins to search anyway.
Since 2005 the mint has chrome plated the mint set dies so the coins look distinctly different now.
All mint set coins appear as choice gem in the mint sets and can be as common as 6% for a '72-D quarter to as scarce as .01% for a '76 type I Ike in the clads. Cents vary far more with well over 50% of '88-D's being gem and fewer than ~.3% of '79-D's.
Finding gems in circulation is far easier than several years ago but it can be huge work requiring a lot of heavy lifting while finding them in mint sets is more like shooting fish in a barrel.
Before 1965 there doesn't appear to be any especial pains taken for mint set coins. These appear to generally just be hand selected coins from the regular production lines. They were less marked up but not significantly better otherwise.
In 1965 both proof and mint sets were discontinued and then the SMS's were invented. These were made in San Francisco on lower speed presses under higher pressure by new dies. Many of the planchets were at least lightly polished. There was extensive experimentation until 1967 when there's much less variation in techniques and quality is generally higher.
In 1968 most of these new techniques were retained for the mint sets when they were reintroduced. Many of the dies for mint set coins even receive some proof processing so PL's are not excessively rare. PL's do also appear in circulation but in far lower percentages and perhaps lower numbers in most cases.
It's not so much that mint set quality is so high as it is that business strike quality has been awful. Many of the coins made for circulation can be extremely difficult just to find nice much less gem. And, of course, some of these coins were set aside in tiny numbers so there aren't any coins to search anyway.
Since 2005 the mint has chrome plated the mint set dies so the coins look distinctly different now.
All mint set coins appear as choice gem in the mint sets and can be as common as 6% for a '72-D quarter to as scarce as .01% for a '76 type I Ike in the clads. Cents vary far more with well over 50% of '88-D's being gem and fewer than ~.3% of '79-D's.
Finding gems in circulation is far easier than several years ago but it can be huge work requiring a lot of heavy lifting while finding them in mint sets is more like shooting fish in a barrel.
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
