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Message:: [QUOTE="johnmilton, post: 7712471, member: 101855"]Investors might have bought them. Given the delays in delivery of the current year’s Proof sets, one could make an instant profit by buying the sets and selling them to a dealer immediately. I remember doing that year after year until the mid 1970s. According to a story by Walter Breen, and he could tell some whoppers, the Prudential Insurance Company of America bought a big block (100,000) of 1957 Proof sets as an investment. That year the mintage topped 1 million for the first time, and the wholesale price fell below the issue price, $2.10, for the first time. In 1958, the mintage went down, and instant profit cycle resumed. You might not believe this, but the retail price for the 1964 Proof set hit $35 for a while in 1964-5. The same thing happened for the 1968-S set. In “good old days,” collectors, investors and speculators created a market for Proof sets that was not unlike the market for the mint’s limited edition, “instant rarities” today.[/QUOTE]