We know business strike coins are haphazardly handled. After all, they are destined for daily commerce. We also know that conversely, proof struck coins are handled with upmost care (hopefully) to maintain their near perfect appearance. Mint sets are comprised of business struck coins. Are they handled any differently or simply plucked from the regular business struck for commerce bins?
It seems that at certain times more care was taken in what coins went into mint sets. Probably the best time was when the specimen pieces were used in the mid 2000's. Then they wanted to cut costs again and went back to business strikes. I think the coins are probably pulled from bins that don't get dumped into bags and are slightly better. But nothing consistent. Canada does a much better job.
Since 1965 mint set coins are made on numismatic presses under higher tonnage with new dies. They get special handling including washing and drying but this hardly protects them from dings and scratches. Finding Gems made for circulation is exceedingly difficult but finding Gems in mint sets is like shooting fish in a barrel in comparison. You can look through a thousand rolls and not find a coin comparable to the nicest coin from a hundred mint sets. Techniques and processes vary from year to year and even within years for regular business strikes and for mint set coins so there are few hard and fast rules other than stated above.
OK Sam, I gotta ask - is that date a typo ? Prior to your post above, to the best of my knowledge the coins put into the annual Mint Sets were taken straight from the regular business strikes each year until sometime in the 1990s. I never was able to pin down the exact year. But it was not until in the 90's that the process you described above began. And, also to the best of my knowledge, until this post of yours above, you've confirmed what I just said above for about the last 20 years. And so has the US Mint. So I'm more than a bit confused by that date you used. Care to help me out here ?
The mint has changed what they said about the nature of mint set coins but I don't believe I have. Through 1997 they said the coins are uncirculated specimens and implied the processes used were the same as any other circulation coinage. In 1997 they finally admitted the coins were specially made. By 2001 they were actually advertising them as "...minted on special presses and are struck with greater force than circulating coins..." Numis News June 26,'01 pg 41. But was known by those collecting the coins that there are mant other niceties as well such as more care taken in die preparation, hubbing, and setting as well as a tendency to use better planchets and strike coins at lower speeds. Processes vary from year to year so quality ranges from essentially proof (a few '66 SMS halfs, to matte proof (a few '90-D dimes), to PL to almost anything else. There are numerous hybrids of various sorts. In the Oct 2000 Coinage Magazine Kari Stone writes quoting Tom DeLorey about special handling and washing of struck coins explaining a lot of the (sometimes) excessive marking of the coins. Quite a few of the processes and techniques associated with mint sets can be deduced from just looking at a lot of sets. Any given set isn't going to stand out much in most cases to a non-collector. The coins will just look like shiny pocket change but a close look coupled with a good look at the junk made for circulation will show many differences and these center chiefly around the quality of strike and the quality of the dies used to make them. There are lots of dings but fewer scratches typically. Designs are well struck up and there are very few coins made by noticeably worn dies. Because of the goal of production is to make all coins of this same quality the differences are sometimes subtle but where only one coin in a thousand achieve the goal in circulation issues, about 2% of mint set coins do. In other words about .1% of circulation issues are Gems about 2% of mint set coins are. When you consider that most coins and most Gems made for circulation were made by worn dies it can be almost impossible to find Gems in bank rolls. Some dates like '69 quarters were rare as even chBU and BU rolls of these are now rare it gives you an idea of how tough it is to find a nice specimen (and where to look). Not all mint set issues are the best available. Coins like '77-D Ikes might be more easily found in rolls but as a rule the finest coins went into mint sets. But then in some cases like '80-D half dollars most of them were scraped going into the sets. Moderns are a tough area and there is no one size fits all means of finding them.
The old proof set presses were moved from Philly to San Francisco in 1965. These were used to strike the SMS's. These presses have since been retired I believe but they still use older presses for mint sets.
Agreed. And again I agree. But what was not said by the mint, at least to the best of my knowledge, was any change in what they had said regarding the Mint Sets of previous years. In other words, they never stated that the Mint Sets produced prior to those of the 90's were anything but regular business strikes. Now you quoted a specific year, '65, as to when the change occurred in how the mint set coins were produced. So what I'm wondering is where you found information stating that ? And I'm asking, not to be argumentative, but because I've never seen nor heard any such thing. I'm always more than willing to learn something new.
