i have heard a lot of people saying lately that proof sets dont have much value. i have a 1968 s and a 1977 s that i paid very little foe, with all packaging. do you think they are something worth hanging on to in the long term?
i dont think they are silver. how would you tell the difference? i collect very few united states coins and dont know as much about them. i know the 1968 kennedy half is 40%, but are all proof sets at least silver clad?
The 1968 just has a 40% silver half, the 1977 is all base metal. As for long term value consider this, the 1968 set is now 44 years old, silver is now ten times what it was back then, and even with the 40% silver half it still sells for about issue price. The 1977 is over 35 years old and I believe it still sells for about issue price. So you basically have no increase in value in two and a half to almost three generations. Just how long are you going to have to hold them? Just allowing for inflation, no profit, the 1968 set is almost a $15 loss at the moment, and the 1977 is also a $15 loss. In other words if you bought them from the mint they would need to sell for about $45 today just to break even.
And the condition. You find a pre-'73 set that is all CAM or DCAM, or high grade coins, and check the value on those.
by dcam and cam you mean cameo? i have a graded kennedy half dollar that is proof cameo, and the one in the 68 set has the same look.
DCam would refer to deep cameo. Mine are all just run of the mill brilliant proofs......the early years (50's, 60's), that is. I do have some nice deep cameo examples with my statehood quarters sets but the mint almost always produces d-cam proofs now. As for value? The value lies within what it is that you want to do with what you collect. If you collect proof coins/sets with an investment eye then your're making a mistake. The odds are you will never make money selling them. Condor very aptly pointed that out. I think the value lies within pride of collection.......that is to say that one values these coins as a very important part of their collection.......if you go this road (as I have) there will always be 'personal/pride value'.
