the part of collecting that is most intriguing to me is the historical aspect. Where were hearts and minds when my piece was struck. That sort of thing. Historically speaking, plastics are a fairly new development. I would like to know how the mint would present a proof strike in the days before plyofilm and plastic. Anyone know?
The following link may give you some idea. https://www.google.com/search?q=Kin...AhUIrFMKHXlyA60Q9QEIbzAN#imgrc=WQz3TBf1MLeIAM:
There are very few original early sets left intact today, John J Pitman had a cased 1841 and a cased 1843 set. He may have had a couple of of others. The 1841 may still be intact, but the buyer of the 1843 pulled the three gold coins out of the set, had them slabbed and sold them off. The only place I know of that may still have intact sets is the ANS collection. They had several different years. The mint did not sell these sets to the average collector, they were typically special items for used for presentation or exchange. The mint did not make the cases, they purchased them from an outside source. Cost was usually about $3 for the case, I've seen the bills.
Presentation sets go back to at least the 16th century and probably long before that. If memory serves me correctly I'm thinking there is even reference to them dating to 13th century Venice. But that is as far back as I am aware of. And the method of boxed sets has continued to present date. You can still buy boxed sets direct from the mint. Over they years I have been lucky enough to obtain pictures of several, even managed to own a few for a time. Not presentation sets per se, but boxed sets. The oldest was a 1911 British Proof set which you can see below. The British did this for many years, even predating the US sets. These are the oldest I've run across.
Those are beautiful. I never realized. It appears the reverse of much of our 19th century coinage was patterned directly off the Great Britain reverse designs. That six pence looks near identical to the reverse of a seated liberty dime. That’s quite interesting.
The 1911 in 1831 sets are probably original. But the Maundy money set is almost certainly an aftermarket custom case. Maundy money was not distributed that way.
Not from the Monarch no, but the banks were given what was not distributed in the traditional sense so the coins could be sold to the public. But you're quite correct, that set was not assembled that way by the Royal Mint. Should have pointed that out myself.
How were the coins packaged that were given out by the Monarch? It seems like sets that come up for sale back to early Victorian years must have been received as sets and subsequently kept that way. Steve
It depends on the year you're talking about because it's been done for centuries but tradition was the coins were simply dropped into a leather bag/pouch all jumbled together and handed out. Even today they still are. I collected Maundy sets for a while, always seeking out the boxed sets. I had many of them dating back to Victoria but none preceding her reign. And all boxes from her reign were dated. As I mentioned above these boxed sets were sold by the banks, even back then. And I own a copy of the only book I've ever even heard of that was written specifically about Maundy coins, and even in that book the boxed sets are considered to be original issue. They weren't of course because the Monarch didn't hand them out that way - only the banks did. But the coins were all original Maundy coins. In today's world people are making these sets up due to the special interest they hold for collectors. It's much like it is with modern Proof sets, you can buy the empty boxes, just like you can buy Proof packaging, on ebay. Then people put coins in them and sell them as originals. But of you go to buy any of these you better know what you are doing because these boxes do not always match the coins - boxes from one period are used with coins from an entirely different period - and the people buying them don't know the difference. It's just like it is with all things in numismatics, there's a whole lot of stuff you have to know - and very few actually do know it.
Thanks, Doug. I’ll just add a little background to the discussion in case anyone is wondering what Maundy refers to. It’s from the Latin mandatum meaning command. Jesus at the Last Supper “commanded” them to love one another. That Thursday is commonly referred to in Christian circles as Maundy Thursday. At least this is what I remember from seminary days. Steve
