It's a 1976 3-piece Proof Set, complete with all original packaging, styrofoam, cardboard and paperwork.
Yes, a wonderful set. I have the same, white cardboard box with styrofoam insert, three coins in capsules, display folder and POA.
Man I wanted that set so badly when it came out. Alas, I had to wait a few years before I could own one. It was tough collecting coins using paper route money!
I agree that it’s a nice set, but the mintage was too high to really make it “underrated.” That is as it should be. The Bicentennial was a big celebration which really should have been bigger.
I don't disagree. A mintage of four million hardly agrees with "underrated". But it should be remembered that a great number of these have been melted over the years because they were not nearly as popular as their mintage suggests. It's been nearly fifty years and many more have been destroyed inadvertently or degraded through negligence or intent. Recently they've been acquiring a pretty significant premium to melt suggesting that for the first time since the '70's the demand for these is higher than the available supply. "Underrated"? No, but seeing an even higher premium is quite possible.
The 40% Unc sets are far more interesting because the attrition is far higher and because there exists a large spread in the quality of the coins. There are two types of the Unc set where one was made on high speed presses and are "unattractive" in comparison to those made at higher pressure on numismatic presses. These former issues are not often seen and almost the entire mintage was melted while the coins sold were mostly melted as well. I think I would call the high speed sets and the regular Gems, "underrated".
Where I lived I didn't do newspapers as you needed a car but I did sell fresh picked blackberries on my banana seat bicycle door to door. I could only go about a mile from home but that was a lot of hours picking them.
The mint did a nice job on these sets. The red, white and blue packaging along with cameo silver is a great look.
i read this as fresh "pickled" blackberries and my mouth watered - even though I've never heard of pickled blackberries