I regret my purchase from the US Mint. Back in the day, I bought two sets of each year of the 50 State Quarters Proof Sets, 1999-2008. I don't know what I was thinking..... No, that's a lie. I was thinking these Proof Sets would be worth some good money in 10 years or so. I think there was a time, shortly after they came out, that you could sell them for a profit. But, now, about 20 years later, not so much. I paid about $145 for all of the years, times two. What can I get for them today? Maybe half that? Turns out, I don't even care about these coins - I should have never done it in the first place. So, do you regret buying anything from the US Mint? Tell us your story.
My story is simple. I bought the first set of Presidential dollars with the case. I soon lost interest. Now they sit in their incapsulated tombs. I now use the case for displaying my detecting finds. That's my story. Anyone want some coins?
The Proof sets can be fun if one likes to collect an example of each coin and not worry about the value (since most tend to go down from issue price in the following years). The Silver Proof sets at least have bullion content and the recent spike have made older years increase (although with the pricing of the 2026 sets, it might take a while to see the same increase where the melt value passes the issue price).
That's how I feel about my State Quarters sets. I think I'm going to bring them to my coin club sometime in the future, and take whatever someone will give me for them.
I think I'll send them to my cousin in FL. who's sort of a newbie collector. She'll get a kick out of them, I hope.
I do too. My earlier sets come in a box incapsulated or slabbed I should say, but my other newer 2 sets are in cardboard holder if you know what I mean. What gives. I got them for free but just wondering.
The official clad proof sets (starting from 1968) are all in the hard plastic cases, which are inside a paper box. Like the example below of the 2001 Quarters set. If something is just in cardboard, that could be after market packaging or something like the 3 coin set example of the Hot Springs set (which was not a full proof set but a separate set the US Mint did using one proof quarter and two business strikes).
My regret was buying all the proof and UNC Silver Eagles and Commemorative dollars that came out from the start of the programs. They all went down in value and stayed that way for many years. Today with the crazy price of silver, I'm really happy.
I bought all from the mint with only one thought....collectability. I thought nothing for alleged profitability. Pure collector sense. But my gripe now is that along with the prospect of non appreciation, they've coupled that with non affordability.......
Yes I have regrets from mint purchases but once I wised up I stopped buying. I don’t want to bore anyone with the details but I’m sure we’ve all been there.
I don't really regret my only mint purchase, other than it didn't appreciate in value as much as say, oh, literally anything else. 1971-S brown box Ike. Smart investment. Just think, I could sell it and buy 4 cups of coffee, but in 1971 I could have had 40 cups of coffee. I enjoy having it though.
I haven't bought anything from the mint for years. I don't think of coins as an investment and most of their offerings didn't appeal to me. The last nail in the coffin was the ridiculous prices. Bruce
I've only bought directly from the Mint once- just one of the 1992 Columbus commemorative halves. So no regrets about the appreciation or depreciation of my purchases there.
I generally have no regrets because that implies I made the wrong decision about something and I pride myself of never having made the wrong decis.................uh-oh, gotta go, here comes that #*@* wife of mine.
I've mostly bought all the bullion based coinage. And I know they end up cheaper in the aftermarket when Silver was stable. I've only bought a few oddities such as the 2019 Explore and Discovery set which came with a penny planchet and the 2019 Rocketship. I don't think they have any real value but the US MINT packaged penny planchet is neat to have.
The proof sets showcase the coins in their best possible presentation, which makes them lovely as collectibles. As investments? Terrible.
I can count my mint purchases on one hand. The Apollo 11 gold and silver coins, and the gold Mercury Dime, gold SLQ, and the gold Walker.
I remember back in time (the 70"s-80's) you were limited to only buying 5 proof sets per household. But then you could sell 4 of them to your LCS for enough of a profit to pay for the one you kept. That boat sailed when they opened it up to unlimited sells. I have mostly bought in the aftermarket a few years ago and nothing in the last couple years.
My first mint purchase was the 1959 Proof set. It cost $2.10. I quit about 2011 after the mint started making ballast (millions of worthless coins to flood the market). Along with that, they constantly changed the packaging and presentation size and format. Example 1: The 3 coin ATB set had changes that would not mean much. But, they screwed up my collection process. I got each of the 3 coins sets which came in capsules. I removed the capsules and mounted them in CAPS Album Pages. Late in the series the size of the capsules was changed just enough that it would no longer just snap in to an album page. I had to remove the coins from the original packaging and put them in capsules that would fit. Example 2: I was buying rolls of the President series dollars. From them I was making sets for my grandchildren and great grandchildren. I think it was about 2011 that the Mint quit offering rolls to the public and we could only buy bags. This made my scheme very difficult and more expensive. I stopped the sets for the kids. I don't buy from the mint anymore. Here are some pics of the ATB Quarter Project.
