Breaking Mint Sets for Dansco Albums

Can someone give the Pros and Cons of breaking Mint and Proof sets to fill a Dansco album? I would like to hear the advice from more people concerning this subject before I actually start cracking them open.

Thanks,

John

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Pro: You''ll have nice coins in your sets.
Con: The coins can get slide marks and toning in a Dansco album.

Charlie

 

Never have, never will. I prefer to keep everything in its original packaging.

 

I always buy 3 sets,two to keep and one for the single coins.Of course,now my albums have 2005's only in the satin finish but that's just fine with me.

 

I have seen toning in un-opened sets!

Buying an extra set sounds good from here on out, but if I want to buy sets from the past that will be too expensive to do. At least for my pocketbook!

I guess what I really want to know is, Will I be losing money by breaking them and putting them in the Dansco instead of leaving them in their plastic holders?

 

You can definetly get more money for mint sets when they are in their original packaging because first off breaking them out makes them no longer in mint condition, the instant you touch the coin it loses value. So if you are wanting to maximize profit, you should keep the coins in their proof cointainers.

 

First of all it's your collection and always do as you want with what is yours. As to the pros and cons. If you ever plan on selling anything from a Proof or Uncirc set then note the following. If you take a pile of junk of a car to a junk yard you'll get abaout $30 to $40 for it. They will in turn sell all the parts for thousands. Same is true at coin shows. Buy a complete set of anything and it is just so much but if you try to buy all the coins in that same set separately, you'll see about 5 times the cost. The smart thing is to just order a lot of sets from the Mint and take some apart for albums and keep the rest. I usually buy 20 proof sets and 20 Uncirc sets from the Mint each year. I give about 10 away as Christmas Presents, open about 5 for albums and put the rest in this one, now becoming to heavy to lift, box.
I suggest you buy several sets, open as many as you want for albums, keep at least one or more or send extras to me.

 

Well, I understand there are a lot of Mint and Proof sets cheaper than the current releases, but if I want to purchase the 1930's, 40's and 50's Proofs it looks like the costs increase dramatically. But I suppose we can only purchase coins within our budget! That budget word always gets in the way of collecting coins!

I agree with Just Carl about it being MY coin collection and doing as I wish with them. I am leaning more towards the Dansco albums that displays the entire denomination set in one folder or two depending on set size. I just have to overcome the hurdle of opening the sets. I used to love opening things, I don't know what changed.

Thanks to all that have responded so far and am looking forward to other responses. I don't plan on opening my sets until I feel more comfortable with what I am contemplating doing.

 

The sum of all is usually cheaper than a single, with exceptions, If I need to fill a few spaces in an album, I woudnt hesitate breaking open a few sets to do it.
And sorry but I dont agree with that breaking open a mint/proof set, has now made all the coins loose MS/PRF value, if you go by that reasoning then everything in a slab or not in the original holder/package is less than MS.

 

I detest the idea of breaking up sets just for that.

Unless the mint set is unsalvagable, or have problems, there isn't really a reason why you should do that. Another exception might be that if you have a set and there are some issues with the coins, i.e. toned, or someone removed the coin and ruined it etc, which you might just want to replace them.

Otherwise, I would usually buy them in mint sets if possible.

 

I agree with that statement Boomer58. Thanks for the reply.

In response to CoinDude, I am not going to be, excuse my military jargon, "finger f***ing" my proofs or mint coins. I will be wearing cotton gloves when and if I decide to go forward with it.

How are they not still mint condition just by removing them from packaging? That makes no sense! Have you not seen Mint or Proof coins being sold individually out of their Packaging being sold as MS or Proof before? They had to come in a set before being sold individually don't ya think?

Looks like you have purchased Proof coins individually and they are STILL Proof coins. Just pointing out some inconsistencies in thought, I am not trying to demean you at all.

 

I hate almost all original packaging. None of it matches well. Most of it is cheesy looking or just plain ugly. Storage problems abound as do display difficulties. Some of it can totally ruin your coins too especially if you are talking older packaging or some of the world stuff.

So I crack everything and put it in a different storage method. The only pro for keeping original sets intact, in my mind, is that the packaging may have some kind of monetary value to someone who wants to pay a premium for it over the price of the coins. But I could not care less about that aspect.

 

Go ahead and break them up, it will make my intact sets that much more rare.

 

Cool. Not only do I make myself happy but I make Dan happy too. lol

 

Just my two cents worth, I havn't been collecting for that long but have gotten some nice proof sets and wouldn't think of breaking them up, yes they do sell for more individually thats a fact, but look at what you'd be doing and your collection would suffer as you would, I would think after opening the proof sets... I have several sets including fifty years (3) of those sets and another (5) years of the most popular sets from HSN and a few sets from EBAY as I was and still am collecting the green boxes as fast as I can get them ... All are beautiful and in complete sets and I wouldn't think of breaking them up, but as everyone tells you it's your collection and you can do as you like and it is true that if you handle the coins with cotten gloves it helps to retain the value; BUT the satisfaction of being in a set is gone forever... I to usually buy three or more sets at a time but for different reasons I am collecting for my two grandsons College fund and while doing that I get one for me too... Anyway that's my two cents worth, let me hear back from you as it seems to me you already made a wise decision and at least give it some serious thought before you start tearing up US Mint sets... I got a lot of mine from HSN and they did tear up a bunch of sets to get the ones they sold me but these are the cream of the crop and I'm very satisfied with all them as is...Good Luck Grampa...

 

You have to consider your own personal direction. There are so many variables... re-sale value, potential of damage, speed of toning, collecting desire, etc... It's all about what works for you.

 

i have been doing it for a while. i have a silver proof state quarters set in a dansco album. i have always bought multiple sets so breaking one open really isn't a big deal. i do the same for all the 50's & 60's mint sets. i have freed many a coin from it's plastic jail cell oh an welcome back thread from almost 7 years ago :thumb:

 

Dang...I hate that! I just "liked" a seven (7) year old comment. That's like taking a swig of beer and finding someone put their cigarette out in it.

 

at least it was a good comment