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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cladking, post: 682016, member: 68&quot;]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.&nbsp; Many consider it a sort of numismatic sin to cut the sets.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Most all the finest coins minted each year go into the mint sets.&nbsp; These finest coins are sometimes way nicer than the second finest and sometimes there&#039;s scant difference but they still usually go in the mint sets.&nbsp; Almost every single example of the finest coins that don&#039;t go into mint sets end up in circulation and are no longer available to collectors in pristine condition.&nbsp; In some cases this might well affect ewvery single example.&nbsp; If you don&#039;t believe it try finding an uncirculated type &quot;b&quot; reverse 1972-D quarter or a type &quot;d&quot; reverse 1977.&nbsp; Depite mintages in excess of 100,000 you&#039;ll have tremendous difficulty locating them in any condition at all and you might as well forget unc before you start looking.&nbsp; The same thing applies to gems; if they don&#039;t appear in the mint sets then there&#039;s a good chance they weren&#039;t made for circulation or that all examples were destroyed in time.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>There may or may not be a perception that the mint sets are completely picked over but this simply is not the actuality.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; But even with these coins there is a steady flow of original sets onto the market and these sets aren&#039;t picked over.&nbsp; There&#039;s a huge tendency for all modern sets to flow onto the market and be destroyed enmass.&nbsp; There are no leftovers that are picked over because there is a premium for the individual coins which causes them all to be destroyed.&nbsp; The sets you see are those which the wholesalers haven&#039;t gotten to yet.&nbsp; Of course if they&#039;ve been in a dealers inventory a long time they&#039;ll be picked over but most dealers turn over this sort of material as fast as they get it.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>One of the reasons that people quit saving new coins is that the quality was horrendous.&nbsp; They aren&#039;t always better in the mint sets but at least the mint set coins are well struck by new dies most of the time.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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