Buying Unopened Proof Sets?

Let me put it this way - there is no US Proof set issued 1950 and later that is rare. Sellers use the term in the hope that potential buyers will believe otherwise. They are not even scarce.

What is scarce, not rare, in older Proof sets - and for the purpose of this post I will define older as 1950 through 1971 - are coins that are worthy of a high grade and/or the cameo/deep cameo designations. So in this case, sellers use the term trying to get potential buyers to gamble on an unknown by saying that the Proof set is unopened and there may these "rare" coins inside.

There are a couple problems with that scenario though. For while unopened Proof sets do exist - they do not really exist in large numbers. And it is a very simple matter to print your own envelopes that look just like those issued by the mint, place a ordinary Proof set inside, and sell it as an unopened set. The other problem is - you're gambling. And as is usually the case - the odds are in the houses ( seller's ) favor.

So no - I do not advocate buying unopened Proof sets. I prefer to see what I am buying. As for value - just check the realized prices for closed auctions on ebay and don't pay more than a dollar or two over that. Unless you can see the coins and know they are exceptional examples. You also need to be sure you will receive the same coins as in the pictures.

 

It's not that the coins are rare - they aren't. To me something that is rare means there are only a few that exist - say less than 10.

But what I tried to explain below is that you can have what is called a condition rarity - that means a coin of very high grade from a series or a date that is not known for high grades. And this could be any coin in the set. For example - in the years I mentioned below, you just don't find PF69 DCAM examples of any of the coins in the Proof sets. But even those ultra-high grade coins are not rare - they are scarce however.