Why are old US mint sets worth more than face? It's seems the cardboard is the only thing of value.

Am i missing something? I have always been a collector of proof coins in OGP but I have been curious of why any old Mint sets (mid- 1950's and earlier) could be worth anything more than face value. For two main reasons, 1) the cardboard (i'll attach some pics at the bottom) doesn't have an separator (polly/cello/anything) indicating that these are the original coins that came with the set. #2) Since these are business strike coins and missing ones (or particularly nice ones that someone wanted to remove and grade separately - then replace w a lesser quality coin).

And as a personal preference i tend to dislike the toning that comes from the cardboard holders.

Can any one the collects these give me a heads up why? ..is it really just the original gov cardboard backing..

I mean PCGS has the 1947 as $2,700. Why?

Here are a few pics of a 1957 currently on the bay for $350

Thank you. I'm genuinely curious.

 

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Similar question you might ask, Why is any coin worth more than face except for melt or face? Because someone will pay the cost if they want it for their reasoning. Some for perceived rarity, some because of fond memories of years past. Some because of classic art ( say Mona Lisa) is worth more than the coast of canvas and supplies.Some because of human error such as a 1955 doubled die Var-001cent or an inverted 24 cent jenny stamp, etc. It our brain's desire. Jim

 

What one can forget as you posted, these sets are a lot of times not the original coins. I like true original mint sets, some of the toning is spectacular.

 

Look at your photos. They just don't make coins like this anymore and the mintages are low. How often do you in across these for sale? Supply and demand strikes again.

 

When someone advertises an original proof set it lends a person to believe that the original coins are still in the set. The set you mentioned 1947 must have all graded coins and that's what the set priced out at for value. I personally think if someone is selling an original 1947 set , and it has been graded , that is the value that the graders determine. I think this is a bit modern to command that kind of price. I think you might be able to put a set together for less but I never checked to see what the prices are, or what the grade of the 1947 set is. I would not pay that much money for a set like that. I think there are many other rare coins that would be a much better purchase for the money involved. Yes , people do like to have all the original paper with the coins including the cardboard , envelope and holder. I see people selling envelopes from years past , and also people looking to buy certain year envelopes and contents minus the coins, maybe so they can pass it off as an original set? Others have put sets together and try and make these as original as possible just for their own collections.

 

I like the set you have, especially how it's organized symmetrically.

 

The dimes, quarters and halfs are all made of silver, of course they are worth more than face value.

 

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Sets with matching toning are worth more because they appear to be original.

Unopened sets are worth much more because the potential for toning is exceptional.

Some years are known for producing ridiculously attractive toned examples, and these sets are worth a premium.

When you talk about plastic or mylar sets, those don't produce toned coins, and they were made in very large quantities.

So, its a combination of the OGP (Original Government Paper) being scarce, and the fact that many of these sets were well toned.

 

I'd go $40 for one of those sets.

 

I have a few mint sets, mostly those from the early sixties. All are completely intact, including the original mailing envelope. I also have the ones for '75 & '76 bought for the commemorative coins. Checking my data, the most I paid for any of these was $15. I have a few proof sets from that period that I bought for about the same money, too.

 

I guess it must be the cardboard. The coins in the mints sets individually have very little value. It's not worth those prices no matter how scare they are.
I did buy a couple of mint sets from the late 80's early 90's. Never seemed like any big deal and I sold them. The tokens inside from the Denver mint were kind of cool.

 

All good info above. If older mint sets are genuine and not picked thru, they can be worth crazy money. Ones with swaps have no real value as an actual mint set unless someone missed a 66 or 67 grade coin which could have been submitted for grading...the Franklins are especially sought for full bell lines and clean surfaces, but the toning usually ruins the appeal for me...these can, however, be worth moon money in top grades and are usually found in mint sets...not in rolls. ANACS grades old mint sets if they're intact and original. Each coin is graded as an individual and graded both sides. The set is placed in a new plastic slab with all grades shown on the label. The old cardboard holder is labeled and returned with the graded sets. These are worth grading if coins are all 65 and btr. and can range in price from low $100s to thousands depending on the grade. ANACS has an independent consultant who authenticates each set before grading which assures you that coins have not been switched out for circulating issues. If you think you have a nice original mint set which was not tampered with, then a submission is a good idea in my opinion, but most sets are not worth grading or have been abused which makes them undesirable for most collectors, including myself.

 

Gotta love the “I gotta slab these coins for them to be worth anything” mentality that destroyed the OGP on so many of those sets.

 

OK, if you start with the Mint sets from the 40s and 50s, they all had very low mintages including the fact during the late 40s & early 50s, times were a little tough and many were broken up to pay for food. In regards to the cardboard (flat packs) or the boxes, these parts were not kept thus, they are very rare OGP. Fast forward to 2018 whereas the amount of coin collectors has increased to nearly 165 million in the beginning of the State Quarters program but, has settled down now to a steady 118 million. Using these figures, the amount of collectors to mint sets available breeds demand. I hope this helps.

 

Probably closer to 2 million total for collectors of all levels

 

A better question might be why are the coins in the later mint sets worth far more than the mint set. when you understand the answer to this question you'll understand why intact sets from the '50's are worth more than the sum of their coins.

There is a demand for every US coin ever issued. Almost all of this demand is for coins minted before 1965. The demand for later coins is miniscule but they are cut out of mint sets to sell. The sellers prefer to buy them already cut and culls removed. This means they offer higher prices to buy them in this form and this sets the wholesale price for BU rolls. Of course they're happy to get work-a-day rolls but few of these exist and those that do are often inferior quality which can't be sold. Only pennies and nickels were set aside in rolls in significant numbers and availability is spotty even for these. Some like '97-D nickels are rarely seen.

Those coins made after 1933 and before 1965 were set aside in huge numbers so few have much of any premium. But the mint sets that contain these coins were made in tiny numbers and have had large attrition. Mint sets for these early dates are not readily available so what you're seeing is largely the effect of the demand of mint set collectors who simply desire a set of each date. Of course the supply is further stressed by collectors picking over these sets looking for Gems. They know these sets contain some of the finest coins made and they seek the specific sets that contain one of these superb specimens. They tend to bid against each other with set collectors winning the original (unopened) and typical sets and Gem collectors winning those sets with the finest coins. The wholesale price of sets is largely set by what a set collector will pay and the price of an individual set will be much higher if has a superb Gem or believed it might contain one.

 

I found all this information fascinating and very informative. I am a rather new collector of coins (10 years) and enjoy the information provided here. I had a question concerning "set" pricing and it somewhat has been answered for the older set. But what about newer sets?

I have been giving each of my grandchildren (7 soon to be 8) an American Silver Eagle each Christmas starting with their birth year. This year I would to add their birth year "Mint Silver Proof Set" Which brings me to my question.

Why would a 2011-S Mint Silver Proof Set can start at about $39.00 but then go to the 2012-S and it's starting at around $180 and 2013-S drops down to around $47.00. What is so special with the 2013-S?

Could you please enlighten me as to the difference in U.S. Proof & U.S. Mint Sets. Thank you for your help.