I got a question for the jury. I assembled a six-piece graded 1942 proof set -- mostly by accident -- and am currently and deliberately doing the same for 1950. That will give me the last proofs produced before WWII stopped production and the year they resumed (also my wife's birth year). Here's my question: Though the value of slabbed coins depends of course on the grade, do those still in the original government packaging carry higher prices as a rule? Or has the OGP disintegrated by now, making my question moot? I'm talking 1936 through the early 50s. Thanks!
I agree with Ken and Seattlite86 statements , I have seen time and time again coins being sold as unopened , Original packaging . One of the ones that really plucks my last nerve is unopened GSA Morgans . Yeah right? I personally would assemble by piece in slabs if this was something that tweaked my interest .
Just for grins I popped over to eBay and found an "unopened 1950 proof set" in its "original Mint box." You get three pictures of the box. $900 plus. Mrs. Santinidollar may have raised an ugly son, but not an idiot.
I collected Mint and Proof Sets in original packaging for a great many years, decades in fact. I had them all except the '48 Mint Set and the '36-'42 Proof Sets. And the only reason I never had those was because I never managed to find them, not in all that time. And I looked everywhere, every resource you could think of. And every coin show I ever went to, I looked through every set that every dealer there had, every single one, every single time. All in all I looked through tens of thousands of sets, maybe over a hundred thousand I honestly don't know. I was always looking to find a set that was nicer than one of those I already had, as well as the few I did not have. As for your question - Yes, original sets still exist, even today. But there is a lot to know to be able to tell genuine from not genuine. And it's a lot worse today than it was 10-20 years ago. The bad guys have gotten smarter, more knowledgeable. And sadly it seems the collectors, some of them anyway, less so. So the warnings you're getting are quite valid and you need to be aware. As for value, well that depends, on the person doing the collecting mostly. For me, originality was everything, quality of the coins within ran a close second. For to find originality and quality in the same set - ahhhhh that was the dream ! And it could be realized, with time, and money, and knowledge. Knowledge most of all. And that knowledge can only be gained with a little book learning, maybe a mentor or two, and a helluva lot of experience. Which of course requires time, looking, touching, feeling, and a healthy dose of skepticism.
