2018 S Kennedy Half Silver Reverse Proof Set Mark On Rev

It's weird. The coins sometimes get damaged when they get packaged into the mint sets.

I received ten sets, two of which had damaged coins. One had scratches on the rim of the dime, and the other had scratches on the rim of the dollar, with some kind of smudging on the field area just inside of the part of the rim with the scratches. If one of those coins was a quarter, I could have just swapped lenses and returned one set; instead, both were returned, and I'm hoping they send replacements rather than a refund.

Ironically (or tragically), I then discovered that these lenses can be opened and re-closed without harm. Had I discovered this one day sooner, I could simply have swapped dimes (or dollars) and only needed to return one set. A day late and a dollar short. :(

BTW, for anyone needing to return coins to the Mint, instead of using the "handy" return form on the invoice packed with the coins, CALL the Mint to arrange the return. While you are on the phone with them, ask them to cover the return shipping fee. They will then send you a label -- you can request either snail-mail receipt of a physical label, or, email receipt of a link to a UPS page from which you can print your own label, or, display a barcode on your phone while at the UPS store.

It is important that YOU bring this up, as THEY will NOT volunteer this information!

If you use the form packed with the coins, you will need to pay your own freight, and, you will be subject to a seven-day return period (from your receipt of the coins). When we did it by phone, however, it was eight or nine days after receipt, and they never even asked when we received them. All they wanted was the order number, our name and address, and so forth.

One last thing (uber-tangential, but, possibly of merit): I read that these things are numbered. At first, I could not see anything, but I eventually found numbers that looked like they were hot-stamped (or possibly just pressure stamped) into the black plastic carrier inside each lens.

The numbers on mine were quite low. The highest was something like 107 or thereabouts, and IIRC the lowest was 9. I had a few that were in the 10-15 range, one in the 20s, and one in the 30s (or 50s? I forget! I should probably go through them all and log the numbers.)

I don't know if these numbers indicate the actual "off the press" sequence or not. The person who discovered this had numbers that were all above 100. We placed our order the very instant they opened for business, via the website. (My wife was poised at her laptop, and I was on the phone. She got in immediately, and I got a busy signal.)

Likewise, I don't know if low numbers will increase the value (assuming the do indicated the minting sequence), but it can't hurt to know about this, n'est-ce pas?