I recently ordered a president proof set off ebay, thought everything was kosher till later that night I was handling the case and noticed I could pop the top right off the plastic casing. These werent designed this way were they? As nothing I have ever ordered from the mint has ever just popped open. Seller said he'd replace it for me, just wanna make sure I wont get the same thing. Thanks
This is one of the hazards of buying mint issue sets in the after-market. A lot of folks will order these sets in bulk, break out the ones that they think will grade high at one of the TPG'ers and then replace the coins with others. How to avoid this? Buy only from reputable dealers at local shows or on-line. Still, the only way one can be sure that something like this won't happen to them is to purchase the sets directly from the mint.
The cases (from the us mint), the clear plastic ones, Were made to Snap together really tight. Most people, probably do not even notice this, as they appear totally sealed. But, if you slide a knife along the seems, they can be popped open. And then snapped back together. Although, one is taking a chance, as some don't snap back together as tight as before, and some not at all. Some (people) Dealers will buy in bulk, cherry-pick coins for MS69-MS70, switch out lower graded coins, and re-seal and sell to unsuspecting buyers. And what green18 said, he beat me to it, LOL... I am not saying this is what happened here, but be sure WHO you are buying from. I buy all my modern US mint coins directly from the mint due to this.
Thanks for the replys, I thought this is probably what happened. Ive just recently gotten into collecting so I missed out on the early editions of the presidents. Think I will just ask the guy for a refund instead of a replacement as I imagine all his have been picked. Thanks again! Edit: Just went back and checked a couple of the other Proof Sets Ive ordered off ebay, I could open alot of them with just a fingernail under a rim. Looks like my days of buying coins off ebay are over.
Up through1998 the proof sets were sealed. (Sometimes not well, but they were sealed.) Stating with the 1999 sets they were were no longer sealed but just snapped together and could easily be opened and closed with no evidence of tampering. This lead to a brief period of "error" sets appearing on ebay that had one of the state quarters missing and a duplicate of another one. These sets sold for big money $350 to $1000 dollars each. It was quite profitable to the scammers because all they had to do was get 5 sets at $35 each, open them and switch the quarters around, then sell them for $350 each. Then in 2000 a new rarity appeared 10 coin "VIP" 1999 proof sets. The story was that in late 1999 a very limited number of 1999 sets were mae up that included the 1999 P proof SBA that was only sold seperately and these sets were presented to various government VIP's. Actuall they were 2000 proof sets that ha been opened, the coins replaced with 1999 coins including the proof SBA and then put in a 1999 proof set box. These scam sets brought thousands of dollars. This is also why you should always do a "tissue test" on any silver proof sets you buy. especially the 1999 and 2001 sets. Tooeasy to replace the silver state quarters from the set with much lower value clad proof coins and then sell the silver quarters twice. A lot of scammers did this years ago. Pulled the silver quarters out for grading and sold them separately, then put clad coins in the holder and re-sold the "silver" Proof set. A lot of collectors do this with the mint as well. Order a bunch of sets from the mint, cherrypick the nicest coins and assemble a top grade set or two, and then reassemble the rejects into as many sets as possible for returning to the mint for a refund.
