2012 Proof, Silver Proof, & Mint Sets

2012 was a low year for lots of mint items of all kinds.
I don't know the answer, I just know every time I'm looking for something 2012, it's a slight premium over the other years.

Most likely because I got into coins in 2013 and the market is messing with my mind

The value in the 2012-S silver proof set is related to the 2012-S silver proof Kennedy half and Roosevelt dime. All the other coins (silver quarters, proof gold dollars, proof cent, and proof nickel) are more readily available than the silver dime and half because you can find them in other sets (clad proof set and silver quarters proof set).

Silver proof dimes sell for $10-$20 each and the halves sell for $75+.

This Wikipedia page is regularly updated to show mintage figures for the Kennedy half series from the mint's website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenne...tage_figures

As you can see, the mintage of the 2012-S silver half is the lowest that it had been in the entire series (with the exception of the 1998-S silver Matte finish half).

These two comments are important and need to be repeated...

And how is this different from the 2013, and 2014 sets? Lower mintages and they are the only way to get the silver Kennedy's too. Same for the Roosevelt dime in 13. In 14 I think the dime could also come from the March of Dimes set.

I didn't buy 2012 sets simply because the mint didn't send me the mailing that I had become accustom receiving. Yes, the totals for both 2012 sets are slightly lower than other sets. However, I think there's more going on here than just that. I went to a 3-day coin show last weekend that had over 325 tables. I saw four 1995-W Proof Silver Eagles (the key to the ASE series that sell for $3,500++). I was looking, but didn't see the first 2012 proof or silver proof set. I did hear a dealer asking another if he had any. My guess is that they are being hoarded by speculators.

I think jbuck touched on the important key, and Bret hit the nail on the head. The key is that people who were used to ordering the sets late in the year were caught off guard when the mint stopped offering them for sale. This caused a surge in price on the secondary market. (This didn't happen the next two years, mintage was low, but no one was caught off guard) The big difference is people are holding on to the 2012's hoping the price continues to rise. Fewer sets are available, price stays high.

Coin dealer don't even buy proof sets anymore. You will probably only get face value for it when you want to sell it. Don't buy any proof sets. It's just shinny change my coin dealer said.

I never used to buy any sets directly from the Mint; I used to get what I needed from vendors. However, after the money I had to pay for the 2012 sets, I now get them as soon as I can from the Mint. I also thought about waiting until all the yearly varieties were available and then buy them all at once (saving shipping) but I'm gun-shy now and buy them ASAP.





I had to pay just over $100 for my Kennedy; and that was (I think) a good deal at the time. I haven't looked at recent rates, but if they are around as low as $75+ I'd be surprised. Debrajc: are you looking for raw or slabbed Kennedy's? If you are looking for raw, like I got mine, you should be about to find better deals somewhere.

My most recent US coin purchase was both the 2012 clad and silver Roosevelt proofs, and I got both for $28 at a coin show. Now I just need the 1950 proof to finish that set.