silver proof coin sets real count??

I know there's a list of silver proof sets out there that tells how many were issued.... but how many full sets really exist for some of the years? I pose this question because it occurred to me one night while watching late night tv that so many people are busting open silver proof coins to sell the coins individually.... now I've heard these teleshows say this before but it never really occured to me until then that perhaps silver proof sets over time are going to get more and more rare to have as full sets... who knows the real amount that exist??thoughts

 

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It would be difficult to guestimate how many proof sets still exist intact, but if you wanted to get an idea how many sets were broken apart, all you have to do is refer to the census figures from NGC & PCGS. Granted, there are other grading services that may have been used, but since these two are the top-tier services, it would at least give you a starting point.

Chris

 

I know a dealer who when the spot price of silver was over $30.00 was breaking up 1958 to 64 proof and mint sets and selling the silver coins in them as junk silver because they were worth more individually than as a whole set. He was probably not the only one doing that so only time will tell how hard it will be to find complete sets in the original government packaging for certain years.

 

Same happened during the Hunt Bro's, late 70's When silver spiked at nearly $50.
I remember folks lined up in Lansing Mi. during the last 2 weeks,$25-45+.
Most dealers stopped at 40 or less because they saw the bubble, we will really never know how much 90% coin, sterling, etc. was melted down, some folks in the Mid 80's said as much as 60%, well never know.

 

Silver was $4-5 an OZ. by Sept. 79 it had risen to 11 on the London Exchange,
By Jan. 80 it peaked around 49 on the LondonEx, exciting time!

 

I remember gas stations selling gas for 1 silver dime a gallon .

 

All I knows is I's got a few...........

 

So that's where they all went ? But when I did a search for late '50s early '60's Proof sets there were plenty on ebay at about the same prices adjusted for inflation as there used to be . I really don't think a huge # of late '50s proof sets were melted . Broken down and now in Capital holders maybe . JMHO though . Starting in '57 there were over a million Proof sets minted , heck , even if they melted 1/2 of them there'd still be 500,000 left .

 

And how many 10 years from now?

 

That's anyone's guess , but if you're young and think the #s will go a lot lower .

 

I think it's nearly impossible to get a "real count". The best one could do is make an educated guess based on the number of proof coins available outside the sets.

While I have never broken up any sets prior to 1992, I have broken up literally hundreds of sets from 2000 and later with 2003 being the most common.

I believe the number of 2003 silver proof sets minted was 1,142,858. I can say with absolute certainty that if that was indeed the true number of sets minted, the number of sets remaining is no greater than 1,142,658.

I hope that helps.

 

Well.... what really came to my mind was the 2012 silver proof sets. I don't remember the exact number but something less than 400 thousand minted.... over time I'm wondering if the same thing will happen to them? Now I happened to get mine from the mint. I had just started collecting coins in 2012. Not too long ago I discovered one of my dollars has something like a small wire or something on it. Not sure cause I'm not going to break it open. But .... being my first silver proof set ever bought and the first year I started it holds probably more value to me than anyone else right now... anyways I'm curious as to how many 2012 silver proof sets will be available 10 years from now... and as I'm trying to collect the rest when I can afford them how many of the older ones will actually be available when I go to buy them since people are tearing them apart. I really don't particularly care as much about graded coins as I do in having a set of the specimens for that year. Seems like a lot of people are making money off of the graded coins but I kinda would like to have one from every year that has silver in it if possible... the breaking up of these coins may make this a bigger challenge for me in the years to come and make it more expensive to get actual sets.... :/ while I wish I could afford to go out and buy one of each right now, that is certainly not an option and I may need to change my strategy....

 

Try to find the total number of coins of each denomination for each year that have been slabbed. The denomination with the highest number of slabbed coins approximates the minimum number of broken-up sets. For the sake of argument, let's assume that the number of re-submissions is offset by coins from broken-up sets from which none of the coins were ever submitted. I've broken up several late fifties and early sixties sets but never submitted any coins, so I can offset at least 8 - 10 re-submissions by myself. I can also tell you unequivocally that are at least three 1952 proof sets that have been broken up (I have the quarters).

 

That's not necessarily true. It is possible that there are fewer sets of some more than others still in existence but the value is actually based on the amount minted. Red book prices and such do not necessarily show the true value of the sets. Especially since many are broken up by both dealers and general collectors alike. People could be selling their sets cheaper than what they are really worth and with the decline in coin collectors no one would know any different until they no longer can find them. Even then it would be difficult for anyone to place a real value without knowing how many are left.

 

I would like to respectfully disagree. You are focusing on the demand side not on the supply side which is where the question started. As an example, MS65 1958 Washington quarters are selling for $5-15 dollars on eBay. Based on your logic, this should suggest a strong supply. This is a personal example, but let me point out how misleading this can be. I put together a complete set of 1932-1964 Washington quarters with the goal of getting the entire set from junk silver sources. A secondary goal was to get the set in as high a grade as possible for each coin. I was able to complete the set in about two years (and that includes the 32D and 32S coins), but the 1958 in mint state was one of the hardest coins to get. I had mint state coins for everything 44 to 64 except for the two 58 coins and the 59P. It took me nearly a year to get a good 59P, a year and a half to get a 58D and nearly two and half years to get a mint state 58P. The price suggests a ready supply but the reality suggest otherwise.

 

Can I ask the price you paid for the '58 ? Was it on par with similarly minted pieces ?

 

I bought all of the coins for that set at whatever 90% silver was going for at the time I bought each coin. At the time I bought it, a quarter was going for about $4. The point I was trying to make was not how much it cost, but rather, how difficult it was to find one. I think a lot more coins from the late fifties and early sixties were melted than people realize, especially in the late 70s-early 80s silver run-up.