Quality of products coming out of the mint.

I know this has been discussed before, and I see it talked about in letters to Numismatic News all the time. But I haven't paid alot of attention because I don't really collect anything that isn't a minimum of 40 to 50 years old. Now I have some family members who are interested in things like the Presidential dollars and the Territory quarters. Hence my other thread about where to get Presidential dollars without paying an arm and a leg. My dad bought some uncirculated dollars, and most of them have obvious marks that can be seen with the naked eye. Is this what we can expect to be getting from the mint these days, or did someone just sell my dad some crappy coins? I've been getting unc bank rolls of this years Lincolns and breaking some of them open and it seems there are some with marks and most have spots. Is this normal? I just wanted to hear other people's experience with the new coins these days, so I can know what to expect.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Anyone? lol

 

Wow. With all the stuff I've read about this, I thought I'd get plenty of responses. Does no one really have anything to say? Its just that I've read alot in Numismatic News on the topic. However, I wanted the opinions from my esteemed cointalk colleagues

 

I'll respond.

Yes. the quality of coin coming out of the US Mint is lousy unless you happen to come across a coin that was at the top of the ballista bag.

Few folks are aware the the US Mint no longer ships coin is bags but instead loads them into what is called a "ballista" bag. These bags are freaking huge and the coins that end up at the bottom really get dinged up. Heck even the coin in the middle get beat to death.



The net result is unless you can get a roll pulled from the top, good luck on finding anything sans nicks and dings.

As for the proof and uncirculated coins? My guess is that the current manufacturing techniques used for mass production really limits the quality of anything that can be produced. Again, this is a hit or miss thing.
Some of the Satin Finish coins are just junk which would have a difficult time getting an MS64:









However, since the manufacturing used to create Satin Finish and Proof coins differs significantly from regular business strikes, folks unfamilar with seeing either proof or satin finish may actually like what they see. From an experience standpoint, I do not.

 

I buy the coins that the US Mint makes for collectors...proof coins.

My 2009 proof set looks gorgeous with the cameo contrasts and they are all mark-free. I'm so impressed with the presidential dollars that I'm starting a collection of them. I still need the 2007-08 sets.

I collect proof ASEs as well...for about twice the price of the regular bullion coin, I get something that looks 10X better to me.

 

Thanks guys.

 

AdamL, get reasonable. The coins you are getting from bank rolls, circulation etc have not had ANY special care take with them. The mint does not make these coins to be collectors items they are made to be usable as circulating money. Nicks, scratches, spots etc, do not lessen their usefulness as money one bit. These coins are spit out of the presses faster than bullets out of a machine gun, dropped on each other, dumped from one bin to another, bounced all over the place and against each other in sorting riddlers used to remove off sized errors, dumped into ballistic bags, trucked around the country, dumped into hoppers, run through counters, and then finally rolled. And you expect them to come out without nicks, and marks?? I'm amazed they don't come out looking like ten miles of bad road! Considering how they are handled I'm surprised anything grades better than a 63.

 

I think I am reasonable. Maybe if I had some pics of the coins I've seen this year you'd understand. I have dozens of state quarters that I got in change which look much better than these presidential dollars being sold by dealers for anywhere from 2 to 5 times face value.

 

I'm not sure what the Presidential dollars are made of, maybe they're 'softer' than the clad quarters and mark up more easily. The proofs look great to me.

 

Yeah, I'm sure the proofs look alot better. I'm just used to seeing better looking unc coins, even if they are business strikes.

 

Like Conder said, the business strike coins go through a lot of rough handling. If the US Mint didn't make proof coins, I probably wouldn't be a collector, except for what I could find in pocket change. I leave the business strikes to be used in commerce. Sometimes I buy small collections for spot on eBay and then 'cherry pick' them and send the rest off to the refiner. That's a fun way to collect for me.

 

Maybe the US Mint's uncirculated set would be the way to go...you get a lot of coins for $27.95 + shipping. They should be in much better shape I would think.

 

Yes the mint sets would be in better condition, but they are also a different finish than the business strikes so one does not replace the other.

And yes the coppermanganese brass alloy cladding the dollar coins is made from is significantly softer than the coppernickel clad layer on the state quarters.

 

I didn't know that they used a different finish on the Unc sets, learn something new every day around here.

 

Only since 2005, before that they are the same surface finish as the business strikes.

 

What does the newer finish look like? I don't think I've ever seen one since 2005.

 

Thats what I thought. Is that what they call the satin finish? Forgive my ignorance on these matters. I usually collect coins that are at least twice as old as I am

 

I strongly believe the dollar coins are getting more marked up from going through the edge lettering machines. They seem more marked up that the other coins in the unc set.

 

Well, thats what I'm talking about. I haven't seen this year's sets, but the Pres. dollars seem more marked up than the other coins that I have seen coming out of bank rolls.

 

Good point, I forgot about that in my description of how the coins were made in my description on the first page. So add a couple more dumps into hoppers and being shot out of another machine and banging against each other at a rate of 1000 coins per minute. Result: even more scratches and contact marks.