mint set grading

i have several mint sets, no pictures and am unsure of the dates, and am curious to if i can get them graded without breaking the set. I know some of the proofs are valued at 500+ if they make decent grade but i really don't want to break the mint sealed envelope if i can help it.

 

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most if not all are from the denver mint and i believe '87 is the newest i have

 

Are these blue packages?

 

blue and red i believe. they are in a safe so its been a while since i've looked at them.

 

If your mint sets are unopened, they should have both Denver and Philly coins in them. And being that mint sets aren't really worth a ton of money, I'd open those envelopes to see what you have. I really can't think of a way that coins could be graded without examining them.

 

ok. ty. i didn't know if they could examine it through the plastic or not. are the copper mint coins worth anything?

 

I'm sorry, I was under the impression that you hadn't removed them from the sealed envelope yet. I see no reason you couldn't get a fairly accurate grade of the coin through the plastic. I collect these, so I would not remove them unless you plan on putting them in an album or are planning on selling them.

 

i said sealed envelope but meant the plastic with the blue line going across. lol. so y is it the sets don't sell for much but a single proof coin often sells for more than you can get a set for?

 

FYI--All mint sets from the mint are unsealed. They never sealed any of the mint set envelopes. "Sealed" sets are just a selling ploy.

 

i'll keep that in mind when buying then

 

I will argue with you on this as I have purchased original shipping envelopes of 1970 Mint Sets and each set was in FACT sealed.

I have encountered the same scenario with 1968 and 1969 mint sets.

As for the OP, only grade a mint set coin if its worth grading. Anything else is just a waste of time.

Additionally, if there is a Blue line on the packaging plastic, its a Philadelphia Mint set, if there's a Red Line, its a Denver set.

 

Ok. I have both the red and blue sets in multiple years. I might have a green set also?

 

I've read this many times but I'd wager it isn't true. I would spot such sets and I have never seen an even remotely suspicious batch. Sure there's an occassionally suspicious set but these tend to be just as nice as any others so there's no advantage to making them. And herein lies the main reason I doubt any are being counterfeited; you lose money on everyone you make. Almost all dates will cost more to buy the coins than the sets are worth. There are a few exceptions but then you have trouble with securing envelopes like the '95. Duplicating these wouldn't be easy. While the coins are cheap enough to make a proifit actually finding some of these "cheap" moderns can be a logistical nightmare.

There may have been times in the past that it was possible to counterfeit them but I've never seen them. This applies only to the post-64 sets really but I'd be a little surprised if the older sets have been counterfeited extensively too. Now the '57 and earlier sets woiuld be highly profitable to fake. I'm might not recognize a fake here since I have little experience with them. I've heard no reports of fakes but where there's money it's safe to predict it can or will happen.

Only the 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970, and a few of the 1986 envelopes have glue on them so they can be sealed. All the souvenir set envelopes have glue.

 

Only the entire group of sets may be worth $500 maybe?

Only the entire group of sets may be worth $500 maybe?
There is no reason to have these graded. A waist of time and money.

 

I've seen some that were easy to tell to the trained eye. Congrats on 24,000 posts, Doug

 

I was basing my sets off of ms67 or better, unlikely but not impossible, considering my sets have been passed down by family collectors and all are in great condition. Then again i am new to collecting myself, still learning about the requirements of grading and could have everything all wrong. I'm not really in it for the money so i wouldn't mind spending money knowing i have a certified piece of history.

 

Thats alot of posts!!

 

A lot of these are rare in high grade. If you think any of these are high grade it might be worth the effort of sending in single coins. If you think they're all high grade then you need to learn how to grade because even the best sets almost always contain some clunkers. The best sets also require vast effort to find. Most require that you search at least a couple hundred sets and pick out the best two packets. Some dates are much harder and some a little easier.

Keep in mind though that some coins come very nice quite often so these have to be stunners to msend in. Coins like the '72-D quarter are very easy while even a really nice '74 Ike might be worth sending in.

Tell us or post pictures of some of the better coins and we can provide better guidance probably.

Just keep in mind that two mint sets out of three contain one nice coin or more. Usually it's one or two. Only about the top .5% is worth the cost of slabbing right now because demand is low. I would expect there will be demand in the longer run and most of the nice coins will be worth sending in.