I've done the searches on this, and understand why it's risky to purchase 'sealed' proof sets on eBay, but just bought 1962-3-4 'unopened' sets to get some spares. Just wondering- has anyone, or does anyone know of anyone, who actually got a cameo or other 'value' coin from one of these offers?
Well here's something new I just learned today: http://reviews.ebay.com/Unopened-Mi...0000972844?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:LISTINGS:2 Apparently "unopened/sealed" is not what it would seem... ???
If you're going to buy "sealed" sets, buy them by the box. You can find sealed boxes of sets where the original mailing tape is still sealing the box and there is a postage mark confirming it is real.
I always think of ebay as a place where you get rid of junk, fakes, dumb stuf or just scams. When buying any coin from ebay always think of all thoes adds there that say things like here is a closed bag of UNSEARCHED Wheat Back Lincoln Cents. Now how would they know they are all wheat backs unless they searched them all.
Thanks for the replys, but I have already done the searches, etc. What I really want to know is if anyone has FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE of someone benefitting from this type of purchase?
I have never heard of it happening, although I have cherrypicked some nice Cameos and Deep Cameos from opened proof sets. Charlie
That's good news- None of my older proof sets (prior to 1978) have shown any cameos. Did you get your cameos from sets purchased from dealers or at auctions?
Mostly from dealers. I go through through their piles of proof sets and buy all of the ones that have nice cameos. I even got a 1963 proof Franklin in a dealer's junk box, that graded PF-68 Cameo at ANACS. Charlie
Prior to '71, Proof sets with cameo coins were not the norm - they were scarce even. The mint just didn't go to the same lengths to ensure that the Proof coins had cameo devices. After '71 the number of Proof sets with cameo coins started increasing. By '78 almost all Proof sets had cameo coins. So to answer your question, yes there have been people who found cameo coins in the so called sealed Proof sets, but the vast majority of them have been sets dated 1978 or later. There have been a few dated back to '71. But I have never even heard of one being found in a set dated prior to '71. The bit about sealed Proof sets or Mint sets is a marketing ploy, nothing more and nothing less. People basically like to gamble, they like to take a chance. Sellers know this so they take advanatage of it. That's why so many "unsearched" grab bags and sealed sets sell so easily on ebay. Most people know this, they tell themselves, yeah this is probably just a scam - but what if it's not ?? I'm gonna buy it anyway, just in case !! If you want to find Proof sets with cameo coins, go search them out by looking at them and buy them one by one. It can be done, but it takes an awful lot of searching. It will not be done by buying "sealed" sets.
Thanks for the info- I was wondering about when cameos became more standard- it looked to me that the PCGS Prices list shows nothing but cameos after 1977, so I assumed that 1978 was the beginning of cameos being the norm. So, rare before 1971, infrequent from '72 - '77, then common.
While I know that this is a very common scenario on ebay, I just want to offer another perspective. I'm in the process of going through a HUGE pile of accumulated Lincoln cents. Usually, my first step is to separate by year, then by mint mark. Then I roll the coins for closer inspection later, by date/mint. Right now I have ALOT of rolls of cents by date, that clearly had to be searched to know the date, but beyond that, they are not examined (as for errors, which is what I intend to do). Likewise, I will put all my wheat cents into a separate jar when I run across them, so I could roll those and honestly call them unsearched wheaties. I can imagine that *some* other people might do the same, or similar. The thing to remember is that "one man's trash is another man's treasure" -- even if coins have been "searched" you never know what they were looking for, and perhaps you are looking for something different? Not defending ebay scammers, because I'm sure they're out there in droves. Just sayin' there's another way to look at it.
From sealed BOXES, yes. One box of (25) 1966 SMS contained almost all doubled die obverse Kennedy halves. Another had several without the FG initials. For mint sets, several MS66 clad Ikes. However, mostly you're going to get average coins in average sets.
Check this out: http://cgi.ebay.com/50-1964-U-S-Pro...9195825QQihZ001QQcategoryZ41111QQcmdZViewItem Now I'm *sure* there are plenty of above board reasons for buying/selling these envelopes. Right?
"lets help ripoff artists!" very uncool! this is why coin collecting sucks for beginners like me. people like this are encouraging people to ripoff coin collectors.
Gdjmsp, I Salute You As An Ocean Of Numismatic Knowledge! GDJMSP, I have learned so much from your posts, and I just want to offer you my gratitude and salute you for being a true knowledgable numismatist! I don't post a whole lot, but I read plenty on this forum and many members have been extremely helpful to me. I have had great success in buying, selling and trading with Coin Talk members, much more so than with e-bay sellers. I feel there is a sense of responsibility and trustworthiness on this forum that far transcends that on any of the auction sites. All in all, this has been a true source of knowledge and a safe place to deal. Many members have delivered posts with lots of knowledge- far too many to name. But one who does stand out is you, GDJMSP, and I appreciate it very much! Your posts have probably saved me lots of money in my collecting efforts!!
No need to buy these. With Microsoft word you can print your own "brand new" envelopes. That's all these people are doing. The US Mint does not care that these envelopes are fakes. Must be legal to reproduces and sell as originals????
