I have some proof sets, I'm selling them in pieces, and trying to figure out what to do with the "fourth" lens (the one with the: nickel, dime, half, Sac) -- I have a couple of them. So, I decided to try breaking one up, and selling the four coins singly. (It's not generated very much interest.) Well . . . when (if?) I sell one -- how do I break into the set to get the coin without damaging the coin? (OK, I know to use cotton gloves, etc., but specifically I mean: how do I break the plastic?)
Too late. I have to break at least one open, as I have a single bid on the nickel. (Live and learn). But, how else do people sell single-proof coins? And . . . how am I going to get to that nickel?
Get a hammer, and go down the edges of a proof set, I'm guessing Try to crack the top off, without damaging those coins, of course Maybe break the four corners, see where we go from there? I have no clue, that is what I'd do, but I'm sure there are experienced breakers of proof sets here, that can answer the question better
Shouldn't be hard at all. Some jsut open right up. Try using a vice with a towel under neath. Put in in and crank vice slowly, when you hear a crack turn it and do it again.
Thanks . . . I'll give that a try. I ended up selling three of the four coins . . . proof nickel, half, and Sac -- but not the Dime. Go figure . . .
Vice? Hammer? WTF? ..just use a knife blade and work it around the edges and it should pop ..sometimes, I can get even get them open with a finger nail. These are mint proof sets not freaking NGC cases ...dang.
They new proof sets (1999 and newer) are easy, you should be able to just pop them over with a knife or something like andrew said. Now if you want to open something like a 1979 proof set get out a jackhammer...
The follow up Thank you all for your suggestions . . . if anyone's interested, here's what I did and the result. First, I looked to find a place to pop them open with a knife . . . it looked sealed all over. (But, perhaps I didn't look well enough). So, then, taking up on the vise idea, I took a C-clamp, and squeezed the corner until the hard plastic case broke (and _then_ it popped open!) Much to my pleasant surprise -- I didn't realize this (but then, I've never owned a proof set before, much less tried to break one) -- but after you pop open the hard plastic case, the coins are _still_ in a blister-plastic kind of thing. I was thrilled because my biggest fear was what would happen when I touched the coins (even with gloves I didn't want to mark it). So, the blister-plastic was stiff, but could still be cut with a scissors. I cut around each coin, slapped a 2x2 over it (which was overkill, I know) and then put bubble wrap around the 2x2. So . . . there ya' go. Thanks, everyone, for your ideas.
