Lincoln Silver Commem Prices Annoying & Navy Stories !

allot of BU commems fetch higher prices than their proof counterparts and its usually because there are more proof versions minted than there are BU versions. I have always liked the look of Proof over BU also bu6t since I just usually collect what I like, it doesn't matter which one sells for a higher price over the other. This commem was different as it was one I would have never bought but I felt the set had a chance of becoming higher value than the cost they were from the mint. I bought two of the sets and ended up giving one set away to a member here because he was a Lincoln collector and was in the armed forces and didn't get a chance to order a set before they sold out. I felt if he can risk his life for me and pay the ultimate price I could surely pay this minimal price of the set and send it to him for free

Yeah, I was well aware of the "why" with the mintage numbers.....but nonetheless, that doesn't ALWAYS mean a premium, (apparently it absolutely does with these), to me though, just the extra beauty and cost of a Proof over an Uncirculated or Bullion version warrants more "value" and collectibility to "ME".

I don't want to ever have to sell any "keeper" coins, of which my two Lincoln Sets and two Lincoln Silver Commem's certainly ARE......but if I "had" to someday......you know what I'm sayin'........

Laying side by side...... just seems like one "should" want to pay more for a Proof every single time.
For the numismatic beauty alone........and their original issue price.... OUGHT to warrant this to be the other way around, but, I know it doesn't...... like I said though, even knowing the "why", I'm still very annoyed by it ! ....

And yeah Bryan....... I remember you doing that ! I share your thoughts and what an incredible thing for you to do for a serviceman.

(My dad's Mom got a Navy Mother of the Year plaque signed by the President of the United States, when he joined the Navy......he was the youngest and last of SIX brothers to join the Navy !).... (He served from 1958-1961 I believe, and he rose to the highest rank you could be as an enlisted man in 4 years. He had his own office aboard a Destroyer. They begged him to re-enlist (he says) and said he had the makings to go very high in the Navy.......he declined and came home and started the construction company that he and I run today)
He spent most of the time chasing Russian submarines around the North Atlantic and watching the Captain shoot sharks with a rifle !

The Captain was apparently a survivor of a war-time ship battle. His ship sank and most of his crew members were methodically eaten by sharks until they were rescued.
My dad says that sharks would follow them all over the North Atlantic because of the "food garbage" and "refuse-trash" that was constantly dumped overboard.
The Captain had "issues" with sharks........ understandably..... this would probably get him dismissed in todays Navy though ! ...

Thanks for sharing such a interesting story Eaglefoot. I very much like hearing stories of
other service members. I was in the Air Force from 1978 to 1998.

From your posts I know we like a lot of the same coins. But ..... I do like the BU coins better
than the proofs .. I like them both .. just the BU/UNC have the edge for me.

In fact I did pick up a 1996 BU High Jump and a 1995 Gymnastic BU dollar today.
I hope someday to have them all, BU and proof

Bio.....

Okay, I just asked him about that. He is WELL AWARE of the story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, but says that, no, he's sure his Captain was not aboard that ship. And he doesn't remember what ship his Captain was on. (My dad is almost 75 years old now ....)
And he said that he thought the Captains name was either "Baker", or "Bryan".....something like that, but he can't remember for sure.

I suppose with a little research, I could look that up myself....

My dads brothers were involved in WW2 though. One of them, my Uncle Albert, was in John McCain's grandfathers Task Force battle group, aboard a Carrier. He has pieces of a Kamikaze Japanese plane that hit their deck and killed and wounded some of our guys. He was in MANY of those famous battles that they make movies about.
Another Uncle was in Pearl Harbor/San Diego and repaired the ships that they were able to, to send back out. He said some holes in the sides of the ships were so big, you could drive a bus through them.....he always wondered how they even stayed afloat !

I was just pall bearer for that Uncle a few months ago.
He was not able to make it to my wedding last September, because he was sick.

And My Uncle Ronnie also was in several Naval battles.

My Dads DAD was a WW1 veteran. He was in the "trench warfare" and had a brother who was killed and buried over there in Europe. (we looked up the cemetery and spot that he's buried in one time)
My Dads dad was decorated for commandeering a train and rescuing civilians. And he was decorated for some battle where he drew a map (we have the map) of the terrain with information gathered from an "air balloon", and assaulted some important position of the Kaisers. He came home with quite a few important medals from WW1.
He and his brother were Canadian when they joined. Their parents moved there from Scotland, and before that Germany.
My dads dad moved to Kansas shortly after the war, and raised a family here.......hence......... "ME" !

There are a lot more interesting "war time" stories from a lot of people in my family.....but I'm getting a bit long-winded here !

One more thing I must mention..... My dads "MOM".
She died before I was born. But, the story on the day of her funeral still sends shivers up my spine !
Apparently, the usual normal service was planned and going to happen that day. It had all been worked out by family.
The "procession" had even already began, apparently, when, out of the blue, some very grim faced uniformed Navy people started showing up. To this day, NO BODY knows who called them or informed them of ANYTHING. This is a very very small town of about 1,600 people NOW. Back then, it was a lot less.
But anyway, they came up to the funeral director and said "I'm sorry Sir, but we are taking over this funeral !". The funeral director began to get annoyed and irritated and acted like he was objecting, but the Navy personnel ignored him very sternly, and completely changed everything to do with the funeral, the procession, the service...... ALL OF IT !
We're told that it was the most impressive gallant military full regalia funeral that's ever been held at this cemetery. (and there are LOTS of veterans buried there) Everyone was shocked and surprised and HIGHLY impressed and proud that this was done.......however they heard about it. Nobody knows who told the Navy about her death.
To have these military honors bestowed on this lady at her funeral, who had 6 sons join the Navy, most in war-time, was always pretty special to me........even though I never met her....

Eaglefoot, Long time no speak, LOL. I hope you are well, I wish to thank you for sharing those stories, especially the last one, she must of been a very special person. You must hold a special place for the members of your family whom many of which served for our freedom, I do!!

I see the proof/Uncirculated coin topic as it is, especially for the older coinage, much harder to produce an Uncirculated coin then a proof as there are, more times than not, more proofs made for any particular year than the Unc's, and thus harder to have one Unc in sweet condition then the well protected, sealed off from the fingers of all in the hermetically sealed container the mint offers,instead of the Unc's which were actually circulated, and meant it would naturally be more difficult to produce an Unc in mint condition. Of course this is just my opinion and I thought this way for a very, very long time after doing some research and seeing this to be true.

I do buy and did buy the Unc's when the Lincoln C&C set came out just for this exact purpose, and have done so prior because while I love to and actually enjoy looking at a mirrored proof, the Unc's do carry a stronger premium, on the whole, Be Well, Mike.....PS, How did you do with the heavy storms that recently blew through your state.?

Thank you for your wonderful tributes to the "Greatest Generation".

Now, back to the original topic:
As far as modern commemorative Silver Dollars go, some I like better in UNC and some I like better in Proof.
The 2008 Bald Eagle Dollar I prefer in UNC, because the obverse reminds me of the Type I SLQ reverse.
To me, the 2009 Lincoln Dollar looks much better as a Proof.
Ironically, I can say this because my 2009 Mint order included an UNC Lincoln Dollar, which I bought just to compare it to the Proofs.