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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cladking, post: 15915, member: 68&quot;]The early Japanese mint sets are a fascinating situation.&nbsp; Only a few thousand of each of these were made and they are very popular with collectors.&nbsp; The coins in them are deceptively rare in nice condition.&nbsp; While Krause&#039;s prices imply they are all common the home market prices are much higher (~$30).&nbsp; This price is based on a startling lack of demand.&nbsp; Not only do these early coins apparently not exist, but it would seem that no one has noticed.&nbsp; Indeed, the &#039;67 and &#039;68 issues weren&#039;t even available in sets at all and are very difficult to find even in AU.&nbsp; XF&#039;s can take considerable legwork.&nbsp; There are many examples like these from the latter half of the twentieth century from this country and worldwide.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The US clad mint sets are in many cases about the only place to find many of the modern (&#039;65-&#039;98) coinage.&nbsp; This is especially true of dimes and quarters.&nbsp; Unfortunately many of the best varieties do not appear in mint sets at all, so many of these will be rare in grades over Fine or Very Fine.&nbsp; I always watched circulating coinage and picked up gems as they were available but for the main part they were exceptionally hard to find at the bank.&nbsp; The mint set coins are almost universally well struck so one only needs to find one which is not banged up.&nbsp; Usually about 2% of the mint set coins will be gem while most of the regular issues gems will account for less than about one coin in a thousand.&nbsp; This is highly variable in both sources however.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The very finest gems are typically found in mint sets also, however this too, varies by date, mint, and denomination.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Bear in mind that this question will never be answered to everyone&#039;s satisfaction because the origination of these pieces is often lost.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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