mint sets/proof sets

Am I crazy, or does it seem to be cheaper (at least on ebay) to buy an uncirculated or proof set from any given year that the set contains silver than to buy one example of any individual coin from that set- example- for the same price as one single BU Franklin half from 1963, i bought a 1963 uncirculated set a few days ago.

Are uncirculated/mint sets terribly undervalued? Either way, I like them and am going to keep scooping them up. I just can't understand why they don't cost a fortune. Any thoughts?

 

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I agree, but don't know why exactly. I often seen the half dollar still in the original mint set wrapper selling for the same price as the entire set itself. It's strange.

 

Do you believe this to be true as well?

 

Yes they are undervalued!! :secret:

And I hope our friends here check it out!!

 

I look at it as the individual pieces selling for more than they should, not that the sets are undervalued. There are still plenty of sets around (some very nice ones, others, not) for those who wish to buy them. And I would guess that for the most part, they haven't appreciated in value over the years, other than due to bullion price increases.

 

Part of the answer has to be the costs associated with selling and delivering a coin. If you check many dealers sites you'll find the same thing. I've had very good luck with purchasing sets even when I only need one or two coins from them.

 

This type of question comes up in all types of buisnesses. No it's nothing to do with quantity of sets, rarity of sets, popularity of sets and/or individual coins. It's called buisness. If you take your car to a junk yard and get $50 for it. Go back and you'll find that all the parts are being sold separately and for possibly thousands of dollars. Even a brand new car taken apart can be sold for possilby hundreds of times it's original cost as parts. This is just called buisness. Someone purchases a Proof set, takes it apart, places each coin in a 2x2, sells it for way, way more than it should be worth but if you need only that coin, that's buisness.
At one coin show there is a lady dealer that her and her husband order many, many Proof and Uncirc sets every year. They sell each coin separately in 2x2's at coin shows and make a small fortune doing so. Many, many people know them and look forward to buying just that one coin they need to fill a blank in an Album. They usually have one of the busiest tables at that show.

 

The primary reason that sets sell for less than the singles is that most collectors are loathe to cut up the sets for their collections. Many consider it a sort of numismatic sin to cut the sets. Since most of the true demand is for individual coins with very little true collector demand for intact sets it simply causes a premium for the individual coins and a discount to the sets.

Most all the finest coins minted each year go into the mint sets. These finest coins are sometimes way nicer than the second finest and sometimes there's scant difference but they still usually go in the mint sets. Almost every single example of the finest coins that don't go into mint sets end up in circulation and are no longer available to collectors in pristine condition. In some cases this might well affect ewvery single example. If you don't believe it try finding an uncirculated type "b" reverse 1972-D quarter or a type "d" reverse 1977. Depite mintages in excess of 100,000 you'll have tremendous difficulty locating them in any condition at all and you might as well forget unc before you start looking. The same thing applies to gems; if they don't appear in the mint sets then there's a good chance they weren't made for circulation or that all examples were destroyed in time.

There may or may not be a perception that the mint sets are completely picked over but this simply is not the actuality. Sure, there are some sets that have been but this applies mostly to the easy to spot and higher premium coins like cameo SMS, small date cents, and high grade Ikes. But even with these coins there is a steady flow of original sets onto the market and these sets aren't picked over. There's a huge tendency for all modern sets to flow onto the market and be destroyed enmass. There are no leftovers that are picked over because there is a premium for the individual coins which causes them all to be destroyed. The sets you see are those which the wholesalers haven't gotten to yet. Of course if they've been in a dealers inventory a long time they'll be picked over but most dealers turn over this sort of material as fast as they get it.

One of the reasons that people quit saving new coins is that the quality was horrendous. They aren't always better in the mint sets but at least the mint set coins are well struck by new dies most of the time.

 

thanks

thanks for the responses. interesting views. i find it hard to believe that every set has been picked over- surely there are thousands of examples of person x buys 1959 mint set. person x dies. person x's kids could care less about the coins and list them on ebay. i would think it more likely that the dealers chopped up the sets when slabbing became so popular and that the majority of the sets showing up on ebay are from old so and so's old coin collection, blah blah blah. most of the sets i've bought come from sellers with little feedback. 100% but few sales. most indicate they are the original owner. even if half are lying and are dealers posing as naive sellers to trick people like me into shelling out $9 for a set which has no shot of an ms-70 coin, that still leaves a lot of material. as i said, i buy them because i like them. if they increase in value, great. i just can't fathom that the volume of in-tact sets hasn't decreased dramatically over time, which, at some point, will make them more valuable.

everyone can be a monday morning quarterback, but its usually the stock nobody thinks to buy which ends up higher than anybody could have anticipated. indeed, today, the sets are being taken apart a la the junkyard example someone gave. imagine taking an old cadillac to the junkyard. the sum is worth less than the parts. but that same car, if kept in a garage for 50 or so years, will at some point be worth more than the parts. if for no other reason than so few are left in original condition. just a thought. either way, i could care less. for $3-30 a pop, i'm picking them up until i run out of money.

 

There's a problem with the junkyard analogy; you can't take your Cadillac to the junk yard in a million pieces and sell it for more but you can a mint or proof set. The junk dealers would probably pay less if it's already dismantled but he certainly won't buy it as a collection of brand new spare parts. The wholesale price of the set is often lower than the wholesale price of the coins in it.

If you're buying these as an "investment" though you should be aware that wholesalers won't take poor coins. Most coins in mint sets aren't affected by this since even the worst are usually good enough but some coins like the '76 type I Ike is so bad that half won't cut the muster.

Buyers should also be aware that collectors will always value the coins individually so will look at these sets as a collection of parts. If the coins are mediocre so too will be the price. There will likely be a premium for intact sets at some point in time and this could persist for years but this premium might be smaller than the premium for nice coins. Imagine a really fantastic set with all gems in it! The premium on such a set could be significant. The nicer the coins in a set the higher the probability it will be cut up and this will still be true when there's a set premium.

Yes. Very large percentages of some of these sets have been destroyed. No one loves them so they just end up going to wholesalers who are not kind to them. Many of the coins end up in circulation because they are so cheap or are culls. Some dealers just use the coins regardless of quality to make change in their shops because the premium is so low it's not worth shipping.

Over the decades vast numbers have been destroyed.

 

I always pick up the silver mint sets when ever I come across some, love to find them , its the thrill of the hunt

 

I've been trying to fill my Kennedy collection for quite some time and find a similar problem with certain coins. For instance, it is often cheaper to buy a mint set from 87 than buy the 87P and 87D coins. I bought the mint set for a cheaper price than buying the 87P Kennedy and then couldn't bring myself to opening the mint set. I've got issues!