Just discovered this on my last trip to the local coin store. It's not a Mint Souvenir set so it has to be a private one, right? What I think is strange is the lower edge of the plastic--looks like there was a sheet of coins and this 10 pack was cut from it. Does anyone know if records were kept on who issued the private sets and what they looked like? Thanks!
Thanks CoinCorgi...I was pretty surprised to come across this set. I read that private companies made 1983 mint sets but don't know if it's possible to trace who made what.
@jtlee321 I do believe it was Justin who posted not long ago a similar find from a local shop in his area. I also recall he sold it for a premium please correct me if wrong. I do have one" bank set" myself not the date in question, in a hard plastic case that if I recall correctly was a gift to customers who had opened an account with said bank. You may also wish to search the threads here and see if this topic pops up.
I've seen this set before but it is not very common. I've seen only a couple and have no opinion on their quality and no knowledge of their origin. I'm familiar with six sets for these years in addition to the souvenir sets but have no clue where this one and the one in the big manila envelope originate. Actually the one with the colored stripes is of unknown origin to me as well. The article pans the quality of souvenir sets pretty badly but it should be remembered that the quality of these coins is significantly better than random coins of those dates. There just are very few Gems in them and probably no Gem quarters. I've seen a few nice '82-D's so this is a possibility. People are collecting the souvenir sets now and prices are going higher. Some of these sets are very difficult to locate because of tiny mintages. Even those with larger mintages aren't necessarily easy because of attrition. Frankly if there were a lot of demand for these sets I believe even the most common ('87-P & D) would be much higher priced. The Numis News sets are stable except for the pennies and the Paul and Judy sets look OK but I've come not to trust the plastic in these sets any longer. The coins can look fine until they pretty suddenly turn bad. I still have my souvenir sets intact but this might not be a good idea. Coins removed from suspicious packaging should be stabilized in alcohol. This includes all coins in regular mint sets made between 1968 and 1981 inclusive.
They probably did these in a long strip with an empty pocket between sets, and the cut the sets apart. What you have to remember about they is that they were privately made, ANYONE with plastic sheets and a heat sealer could make them and at any time. It I wanted to (and I could get the coins) I could make private 1982 and 1983 coin sets tomorrow.
The one I had come across was a 1994 Philadelphia Souvenir set. Those are tough to find. The 1983 mentioned above is as stated, as put together set. I believe there were a few companies who took advantage of the Mint not putting out Mint Sets in 1982 and 1983 and issued their own privately assembled sets. Anywhere there is a dollar to be made, you will find someone trying to make that dollar.
Thanks very much for the detailed replies--a lot of knowledge here. I appreciate it. I found something interesting...it seems like "Gillis" is a name you can find in coin circles. For example, Rod Gillis at ANA and Gillis Coin in the UK. So I will send these pictures to him and see what he thinks. http://www.simcocoins.com/congratulations-rod-gillis/
