I always thought the 60 thru 64 proof sets seems like a reasonable thing to buy in quantity because of the mintages and price (which is normally not a lot over melt value). Was wondering if anyone has any knowledge of any of these being melted down in any of the periods where silver was melted in quantity? Also wondering approximately What percentage were still in the mint flatpack. Any ideas? Lack
I have gotten nickels from that era in circulation that were obviously cut out of proof sets. I have to conjecture that at some point the silver itself was worth more than the coin was to someone and no doubt some did get melted.
I don't know if there is any way to know how many are still in the mint packaging. My understanding (and correct me somebody if I am wrong) is that in the era before 1982 it was typical for the Mint to publish numbers of sets made, try to sell them, and then melt down the rest after a period of time. Its possible the government itself is the biggest melter of these things. I know some of the silver Ikes from the '70s are rarer than the published numbers due to that practice.
I'd guess only 35% of them survive. A lot of the coins from destroyed sets still survive but the silver does get melted down. Most of the destroyed sets will not contain frosted coins. I stongly agree with the attitude but I'm not sure that '64 proof sets have the best potential. They do contain the one year type 90% no-S kennedy but there are better opportunities of things that can be purchased at melt value. UYou want to buy things that were worth current melt value BEFORE silver went up. You should be able to find things like 1957 proof sets close to melt for instance. There's a lot of great stuff getting melted; save the best of it.
