Rant: Proof And Mint Sets With Non-Circualting Coins

I registered into this coin community forum for just this sort of thing. "Hear me oh US Mint gurus! Get rid of the one cent zinc! It is an abomination upon the land!" If Kennedy halves are not intended for circulation, dump them as well. Also, the linen one dollar bill can be replaced by all those coins they minted and stored. So that when I walk into a saloon I can toss a fistful of Sacagaweas on the bar and order a whisky.

Your contention that coins that are not made for circulation should not be included in Proof sets because they were not made in the past in flawed. How about the "Proof only" issues like the 1895-P dollar, the 1877 and 1878 Twenty Cent Pieces and the 1877 and '78 nickels to name a few? If you cut back the Proof sets to nothing but a nickel, dime and quarter, those sets would be darn boring, and I could see the time when sales would drop to the level where they were no longer minted.

As a collector, I don't care very much about the "golden dollars," but I do like the half dollar and the cent is only coin that has a continuous run of dates from 1793 to 2016, with the exception of 1815. I've often thought that putting together that date run would be interesting although I confess that I have never done it, at least not all at once.




This is why I buy a silver Proof set every year. It allows me to commemorate every year with a set of attractive coins.