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 Replies: 34 / Views: 12,071 |
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Valued Member
United States
398 Posts |
What would you do to maximize value for resale? Break apart the U.S. Mint uncirculated and proof coin sets if they contained some high-end coins inside them or keep them together?  *** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. *** |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1158 Posts |
Aside from earlier years when mint sets were rare, there isn't a lot of extra value in keeping them together. The sets aren't rare enough to have a premium over the coins they contains. Honestly, the cellophane sets like you showed above, I tend to break them out just because a lot of them turn yellow from the plastic.
Some might argue that in 50 years, so many of the sets will have been split open that the few remaining will be rare, but I am not very confident of that happening.
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Valued Member
United States
214 Posts |
Mint sets were averaging around 2 million sets per year in the 1970's and 80's, and then gradually dropped during the 1990's to below a million; so there are going to be a glut for quit a while. Cut away!
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
It has to be a matter of your own preference.
For me, I consider 'to break up or not' is strictlty based on what approach results in the highest value. If broken up, some of the discarded coins could then be considered for resale or trade.
Sometimes, the retained set is worth more than the sum of the value of the individual items.
That would be my decision, but another collector may think differently.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2270 Posts |
Cut 'em up and build rolls. Just spend the really junky ones because no one wants them. The sets aren't worth much but the rolls bring good prices.
Set aside the nicest 1 or 2% as your "profit".
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5202 Posts |
Not sure about resale but I've broken up a few mint sets to fill my albums.
I put a dot next to the date in the album to signify the coin came out of a mint set.
I have found a few coins in circulation that have looked better than my mint set examples.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2270 Posts |
Quote:
I have found a few coins in circulation that have looked better than my mint set examples. Coins made for circulation are far nicer than they were in the early years of clad. People finally started paying attention to clads when the states coins came out and they demanded nicer coins so the mint responded. While the best looking coins still go into the mint sets there are still some clunkers in the sets and many of the coins from rolls are Gems now days. It's not at all unusual for a coin from a BU roll to be nicer than the same coin from a mint set. It's still pretty unusual for a random BU single coin to be better than a random mint set coin. In the old days like 1978 you might sometimes get a coin with less marking out of a roll but it would probably be poorly struck from worn dies. You might not find a better example of an average 1978 quarter in two or three bags of BU quarters. And then you might find 50 or a hundred better ones in the next bag. Finding Gems in mint sets was like shooting fish in a barrel but when you found Gems in circulation you could get lots of them. Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
650 Posts |
I have bought and broken up a couple of mint sets specifically for my personal collection and put the coins in albums. I have one mint set that will never get broken up, that is a 1982 Denver set that has personal sentimental value because I toured the mint and bought this set in the gift shop as a souvenir when I was on my great western states motorcycle trip.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4867 Posts |
I break up mint sets quite regularly for my albums. Doing rolls is a pretty good idea suggested by cladking. However I'd leave the coins in the cello though. It's funny, most times it is cheaper to buy a set over buying singles from the set.
Edited by TheForce
10/28/2015 07:42 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2270 Posts |
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However I'd leave the coins in the cello though. It's funny, most times it is cheaper to buy a set over buying singles from the set. The mint set packaging for 1968 to 1984 sets is not stable and has PVC inner lining that touches the coins. Unfortunately the safest bet for long term storage is to remove them immediately and soak them in 91% isopropyl alcohol mixed with a little acetone. Do not use any water. This process will protect any coin not yet showing signs of deterioration and will restore about two out of three of those already affected. Some of these coins it's probably already too late for. 1968 Philly cents, for instance, are always carbon spotted. Fortunately I stabilized a few of these many years ago. People will be in for a rude awakening if they ever decide to put together modern sets in nice attractive condition. Some of the coins simply aren't available at all or are quite scarce. Very few were saved and attrition is staggering. Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
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Valued Member
United States
73 Posts |
Would you suggest doing the same thing for Mint sets from '59-64?
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Valued Member
United States
288 Posts |
As mentioned a few times, you can very often buy a complete set for less than buying the coins individually. If you think about it, this is true for most things for sale. If you had to buy a car for the sum of its individual part costs, it would be $100,000!
I have broken up the mint sets for my collections when I have purchased them for just above face value (and sometimes for FV), which happens more often than not with Pawn shops, meaning the Pawn brokers must be paying less than face?
For 1959 to 1970, I have purchased some for silver melt and broke them up for my albums, but unless you are keeping multiple sets, you only need 1 set for each denomination/year.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
717 Posts |
I always get 2 of each year if available. I buy 1 to break for sets/albums, then 1 to keep.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4867 Posts |
It can be pricey buying two sets of modern mint sets as they are pushing close to $30.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3077 Posts |
Now I have a related question what about a 1970 Mint set with a small date cent or a full type 2 1979 proof set or the 2009 with a DDR logsplitter |
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Valued Member
United States
288 Posts |
Breaking a set with a key coin variety or error becomes a dilemma. You have to weigh the difference in values (set/vs individual), your personal need or gratification, if you have 2, it becomes easier to break one of them. Other factors would include whether you want to slab the key/variety, what to do with the non-valuable coins, and probably other factors I can't think of at the moment.
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Replies: 34 / Views: 12,071 |
Posted 10/22/2015 5:33 pm
