2011 Uncirculated Set - Interesting Situation Is Unfolding

I guess the best way to introduce this post is by quoting Charlton's foreword of their 63rd Canadian Coins Edition:

"This all began in 1954 when the Royal Canadian Mint offered a six-coin set with a superior finish (superior to the circulating coins of the day) to collectors. There was a reluctance on the part of the Mint to assign a name to their new offering. This reluctance was never really overcome, however, in the Annual Mint Report for the year 1961 they mentioned "uncirculated coin sets are now sold in sealed plastic containers." Over fifty years later the description of the offering has not changed, but the quality of the coins in the offering has varied greatly. This variation in quality between coins sold to collectors, or coins produced for circulation did not exist in the "silver" era, but in 1968 with substitution of nickel, the difference between circulating and non-circulating began to blur. We have a problem in that a collector who wishes mint state business strikes for their collection cannot distinguish mint state uncirculated coins from those removed from packaged set issued by the Mint."



One could argue that if a coin looks too good then it must be NBU. Well, looking at 2011 uncirculated set (BNU) there is striking difference with the NBU coins issued up to now. I can't compare with 2011 coins from bank rolls but the ones issued in this set have bag marks, rim nicks and a certain dullness typical of business trikes. Prior NBUs were a lot more brilliant.

So I guess the difference between UNC and NBU is even more blurry now. My penny even has a chip of metal that came off (lamination).



I can't wait to hear from people who have access to 2011 circulation coins and can compare, and it will be interesting to see how these coins grade from TPG.

For some (non-NCLT collectors), this year's UNC set might be a good buy.