So I finally decided to get back into collecting a little bit and got a brand new 2023 proof set directly from the mint. They had no statements of it being out of stock until after I placed the order. Then the large text (Back Ordered) appeared. It got me thinking; are they not making enough of these, or are people really buying them left and right? I'm willing to bet the first option, not making enough gives people the idea they're flying off the shelves. On another note, the last 3 years the sets have been coming in cloudy and no where near acceptable condition to be proof so we will see if the issue still persists.
I no longer buy from the US Mint. The price is too high and the quality (coins and packaging) is too low.
The packaging has not changed on Proof sets. For other stuff, like silver eagles and the Morgan and Peace Dollars, it's the pits. As for the quality of the sets, I've been lucky of late. When I was dealer I used to buy ten sets a year. I got one set with the big thumb print on the dime one year. Another year I got a Saki Dollar with a big lamination on the obverse. I should have kept them one. Proof coin errors like that are rare.
I never have bought directly from the Mint and never intend to. Read too many horror stories about orders getting canceled when I first started buying coins on a regular basis back in the mid 90s.
How many remember 2001 when the US Mint proposed a serious change to commemorative packaging? They sold the 2001 Capitol Visitor Center Silver Uncirculated and Proof Dollars in the capsule and a small plain manila envelope. The intent was to continue this packaging but it wasn't well received. I bought the set because I wanted to have the packaging variation in my collection. I have kept them as they were originally sent to me.
I bought the three piece Proof set for that one. I used to keep up with the modern commemoratives, but I pulled the plug when they came out with the Civil Rights silver dollar. I have no problem with minorities getting their rights. That was WAY overdue, but I did have a problem with race and gender based quotas. After that I really lost interest in the modern commemoratives and sold the ones I didn't think were that interesting. I kept all of the gold pieces because I bought most them in the secondary market. The way things have gone for bullion, I own them for way under melt.
I bought the 2023 silver Proof set and the Morgan and Peace Dollars in Proof. That's it. No more for the year. Next year it will probably be only the Proof set. Since I have the Proof sets back to 1936, I have decided to keep up with that.
The way we can minutely trace die origins in old large cents and such….. I just wonder what future generations of numismatists will have to say about our era of coinage.
They make them is smaller batches because they AREN'T flying off the shelves. If you look at the mintages over the past 10 years or so you'll note they have been dropping rapidly. They don't want to have unsold stock so they make small batches.
Now that’s impressive in its own self. Nice side kick set. What else ya got. Your so good at CT interesting
