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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cladking, post: 1826, member: 68&quot;]There are more rare coins in circulation today than there have been in many generations.&nbsp; Back in 1960 it was theoretically possible to find many rare date coins but in practice the many millions of collectors searching through change would have already found anything of real value. Virtually ALL the rare date coins had been removed from circulation before the late &#039;50&#039;s.&nbsp; The only valuable coin I ever found in those days was a nice VF 50-D nickel I found in 1964.&nbsp; I sold it for $20 (nearly $100 in todays money).&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Since the mid &#039;60&#039;s coins have circulated with hardly a glance from collectors.&nbsp; The mint makes huge quantities of coins and virtually the entire production goes straight into circulation where they start the slow grind that leaves them nearly universally worn and smooth.&nbsp; Only a small handful of collectors &quot;bothered&quot; with the coins made after 1964.&nbsp; Very few coins were set aside in a systematic fashion.&nbsp; If not for mint sets there would be dozens of nearly unobtainable dates and mints in unc.&nbsp; There are many coins which were never issued in mint sets, however. Also there are important varieties which do not appear in mint sets.&nbsp; Some of these are quite common yet remain unreported.&nbsp; Even coins which do appear in mint sets can be surprisingly elusive, especially in nice attractive condition.&nbsp; Huge numbers of mint sets have been destroyed through neglect and the lack of concern for these coins.&nbsp; Many sets wholesaled for less than face value for decades!&nbsp; It was to no ones advantage to keep the set together when it could be cut up and spent at a profit.&nbsp; The run-up in silver prices in 1979 resulted inthe destruction of huge numbers of the 40% silver sets when they suddenly spiked in price. There was no demand for the other coins in the sets so they were merely put into circulation.&nbsp; Some of the coins in these sets were very difficult to find in nice attractive condition right from the original sets.&nbsp; Coins like &#039;69 quarters are usually very unattractive in the sets, BU rolls of these are virtually impossible to find and the coins in circulation are worn down to VG now.</p><p><br /></p><p>Curiously there are hundreds of thousands of collections being formed from circulating pre&#039;99 coins now.&nbsp; It is the newbies who started with the states issues who are assembling the bulk of these.&nbsp; They are filling blue folders with the best coins they can find.&nbsp; Some of these will prove to be quite rare.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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