I have acquired many U.S. proof sets (I wont give the actual amount, but its a lot) from my grandpa from 1955-1964, some being opened, but most are still sealed since the day they left the mint. I was wondering if I should open a few (I know that this substancially lowers their value) and see what the conditions are or should I just let them sit unopened and relatively unappreciated. I would like as much advice as possible Thanks
All depends on what you plan on doing with them. I you plan on selling soon or holding longterm as an investment don't open them. If your keeping them for yourself to enjoy then by all means open them and enjoy.
I was thinking about submitting some to NGC for grading. I'll pretty much save all the sets as they are now and they won't be an investing sort of collection. I am planning on openng a limited few and seeing how the quality of the coins come out. Of the opened packages, many are CAMEO to DEEP/ ULTRA CAMEO that's why I want to submit them.
Oh come on and open them. Your not going to sell them so enjoy what they MAY look like. for all you know they are all corroded in there. Open them and see what they look like. Organize them all by dates and go out and try to acquire from 68 up just for the completeness. Finish what your Grandpa started and make him proud of you. I met a guy once that had 3,000 pounds of Hot Wheel cars all still in the original packages. He passed away and his family gave them to all the kids in the family and they opened them and had a ball. So enjoy what you have now.
If I were you, I would open them. Unopened proof sets don't sell for much more than opened proof sets. Charlie
Thanks guys. I opened a 1955 and three 1958 sets yesterday and to my surprise almost none of the coins were regular dull proofs. Almost every 1955 was either Cameo or what I would think as being Deep-Cameo. These are some of the most beautiful coins that I have ever seen and I have seen many a coin in my lifetime.
That's surprising that they are in such good shape. DCAM is pretty rare for those years. I would break up the high grade stuff and have them graded by pcgs. A pf65 DCAM is listed for $700 on the PCGS website.
I'll work on that. I dont have a digital camera, so those coins that I place in the scanner may be blurry, hazey, dulled, or funny looking with the plastic wrapping. Would it be better/ wiser to go to PCGS or NGC? If I go to NGC, then I can get all these coins graded for $12.50 a piece or maybe $10 if I send in a bulk amount. If I go PCGS, then I'll be spending $18 per coin and I dont know about bulk orders. Though PCGS has a better reputation (sometimes)-I'm unsure of what to do.
I hope these pictures work out. Some of the marks (look like scrathces) are results of the plastic wrapping. More pictures are on their way, this was more of a test to see if my pictures would work or not. Poor poor images-you really need to see these in person to get the full appreciation of the beauty of these coins.
Here are a couple of PROOF cents from 1961. You might be scratching your head as to what you're looking at, but the images are all 100% real and not altered. Yes part of the cent has a bluish-zincish tone to it and the rest of the coin is a dark red and not the bright-shiny red color that most other Proof cents have. I have no idea how this cent turned blueish-silver, but the dark red color is more common than you may think.
The next question I have to ask is, how much would one of these be worth? I have never heard of an early (earlier/ older) proof cent-let alone any coin-being struck on a different planchet.
Being put away for 10 years in a climate-controlled attic in southern Florida, until given to me in Illiinois, may have helped cause it, but why was this the only coin that turned this color when there were many, many more just like it?
Open them all, spend them in a store near me and don't worry about them anymore. Seriously have considered trying to build high quality sets out of them? It would keep you busy, and broke for a couple years any way.
