Original prices on US Proof and Mint sets?

I watched one last night where they were selling a 1 pound bag of pre-1965 circulated Jefferson nickels. They showed a graphic (I don't remember the source) that said an average circulated 1964 Jefferson nickel was worth $1.50....at that point I changed the channel, before I found out what they were selling the bags for. For the newbies out there, 1964 nickels are the most common of all, between Philly and Denver there were over 2.8 BILLION minted. They're worth exactly 5 CENTS. What a freaking joke these shows are.

 

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The premiums on mint sets have been soaring in the last year. They have gone from an average of about 20C over face value on the '68 to '80 sets to and average of about $4 and appear to be headed higher yet.

You might be surprised to hear that proof set prices are beginning to firm as well. Apparently it's become common knowledge that they are all worthless at about the same time the last of them were cut up and tossed in the register.

 

I really like proof coins......and yes, I do buy from the mint every year just to keep my sets current. As for the older sets, I will buy bulk lots at auction for around $4 - $5 a set (that includes Buyers premium and shipping) if possible. They make fun gifts for YN's or people have done you a good. I can usually sell the extras at the antique store for a profit. I can usually find an auction with 10-20 proof sets and win it within y price range.

 

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Actually $15 is optimistic. You can get $18 for nice pristine sets but very very few are untarnished now days. If you ship a bunch of tarnished '70 mint sets they'll probably come back to you.

You could have bought '70 mint sets in '95 for about $4.90 each and protected the coins from tarnish you'd be doing pretty well today. Gems sell for a lot of money and there is fast growing interest even in chBU. It's really hard to find nice pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters from this year and there are almost none left in circulation except for a very few G's and culls. If you think you can find a VG '70-D nickel in pocket change you should try it. If you do find one it will be a cull.

Right now there's no demand for '70-D nickels but I'm still betting this can't last, at least not last forever.

 

A lot of people have been doing this for years. Between the destruction of proof sets and them being sold in vast numbers to the general public one or two at a time the number available for wholesalers is dropping. It will be interesting to see what the wholesalers do but my guess is they'll raise their prices because buyers love these.