opening up proof sets

I wasn't aware these had gone up so much. Thanks for the info.

Sets like this were available all through the 80's and '90's for literally a dollar or two. There weren't many around but there was simply no demand. It was a similar situation in Russia according to people I talked to. The Soviet government even worked to discourage collecting up until '91. They considered it a waste of time and resources. Those who did collect were almost solely interested in the old imperial Russian coinage to the exclusion of all else, especially recent dates. These coins simply weren't saved just like almost every other world coin made since 1950. The few people who were interested usually busted up the sets to put the coins in a collection. Attrition on both the coins and the sets is very high since so many were acquired so cheaply. Low prices cause the coins to be treated differently. Many people would simply bust the set up for a single coin and throw the rest of the set in poundage. These are bulky sets so very few would ever be found in safety deposit boxes, instead they will be found corroded in moldy closets or flooded in basements.

Even at a couple hundred dollars these coins are probably underpriced in comparison to an old czarist silver coin. There simply is still very little demand for the newer coins but this small demand will find in many cases that there is no supply.

 

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Cladking.

Thank you for clearing that up for me.

Bruce.

 

How to open a proof set......:hammer:

 

LOL! I like that idea.

Phoenix