US Mint regrets

I am with Greenie on this - I buy for what I want to have and enjoy, not considering them as any kind of investment. Investing in coins and bullion is foolish over the long term; stocks do way better.

 

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Unless you bought silver at $6/oz in 2005, and sold it for $115/oz in Jan 2026. LOL!

But, I agree with you that you should buy what you want for your collecting enjoyment, and not solely think of them as investments.

 

I do not regret any coin sets from the mint. They were and are nice to look at and if they have any silver well, that’s a bonus.

 

Very true. But, if in 2000 you invested $5 in these stocks you would now have:
Monster = $3,127
Netflix = $1,158
Tractor Supply = $513
Intuitive = $462
ANSYS = $397
Apple = $375
IDEXX = $346
Mastercard = $318
Ross = $305

However most common stocks are more around $40 - $80 so it's always a gamble.

 

Send them to the QuarterMaster. He'll put them to good use.

Z

 

Meh, over all those years if that's all it cost you who cares? Either enjoy them or if you're worried about it, sell them for what you can get and cut your losses. I stuck to buying the silver proof sets on the after market. Just bought the 1999 set last year for under $60, full set.

Can't say I have any regrets over mint purchases. Anything that was flawed I sent back. Looking back at my orders over the years I'm up substantially. Depends on what products you bought. The opportunity has been there for the past 10+ years.
With the new pricing, value wise, good opportunities may be gone for a while unless we experience hyper inflation going forward. Still going to get a few things. Gold is too far out of sight now with their premiums. Last I saw they had pulled it all.
Sometimes it pays to wait for the after market. Other things, getting from the mint is the only chance to get it halfway affordably. The V75 ASE and AGE, nobody was waiting for the aftermarket unless they were selling. I tried to get the ASE for 45 minutes and couldn't get through before they were sold out.

 

I tried to get those too for maybe 15 minutes and gave up.
if I recall, I think the website keeps you in hold until it can handle your traffic .. then shows stupid something like "Remind me" when it's sold out.

 

Yeah this was a couple years before the unveiling of the "waiting room" we now know. 1 gig internet speed didn't matter that day. Just blank screens and error messages.

 

I am personally responsible for Tractor Supply's meteoric rise as is my wife's for Mastercard.

 

Nice CAPS album! I know the guy who makes and sells the CAPS albums. You could have the paper insets in those pages printed with your dates and mint marks instead of having to write on a blank insert.

 

I have collected Proof sets for years. I now have complete sets back to 1936. I also assembled a 1913 set, and might work on some other older sets in the future.

I don't worry very much about the values of the modern sets. I have "made money" on the sets from the late '50s and early '60s because of the increases in the price of silver.

I like Proof sets as a way collecting a set of coins on an annual basis. I did stop buying the base metal sets and only buy the silver sets. At least that way I have some silver which will always have some value.

I gave up on the base metal sets when the State Quarter program ended. Oddly enough when I sold some of the sets after that, I made money.

Collectors should never buy the modern stuff the mint sells with the idea of making money. Most of it loses value. Some items are hot for a while and then decrease in value as they get in the collectors' rear view mirror. As a collector with 66 years of experience, I have seen this happen many times.

Buy what you enjoy and don't worry about making money. If you want to make money, consider the stock market, CDs or speculate in metals. Collector coins are fickle.

 

I hesitate to say what I paid for that bloody set. Let's just voice the fact that I'm under water big time......

 

I don’t recall the exact numbers for the 1999 base metal Proof set, but I know that the silver set went up to $325. I was tempted to sell, but I only have one set, so it was hardly worth while. Now it’s probably over $100 with the price of silver, but it won’t see $325 again until a loaf of bread costs $20.

Like I said, I have seen this happen time after time with what some people call “modern crap.”

 

The modern day attention span and emotions plays into what the releases do. That's why nobody was buying silver when it was everywhere for $30 an ounce last year but once it hit $120, people were pushing women and children out of the way to get to the counters to buy it all up.
I can't say I don't get caught up in the moment but you need to realize when you are. That's why I decided to give that 1999 set time. I wanted it for a lot of years and finally saw one for under $60 early last year and I'm like if people want to give them away I'll take one. In this instance I bought at the rock bottom. But people don't really care about the state quarters program anymore. Now we're on to the 250th anniversary. I still appreciate the old stuff the same as at the time.

So I'll try to predict what I can get from the mint this year that's worth it and maybe wait to get any extras. I will order a silver proof set but I would not order five of them. If they go up I'm just out but at least I have one. If they go down maybe i'll buy an extra set a couple years from now. At minimum this years set contains 1.473 oz of pure silver so that's a bit of a hedge going forward.

When silver goes past $166/oz, today's inflated issue price becomes melt value.