Why are there no IKE's in the 1971 and 1972 mint sets? I am looking to put together a set of IKE's. David
The plan at the time was to make a big deal and a big profit from the introduction of the Ike dollars by selling the coins seperate from the mint sets. It was decided that large dollar coins would be unsuitable for the then current mint set packaging. Have fun with your collecting! I have been collecting Ikes since they first appeared. You will have problems putting together a real gem set of P & D mint coins. The toughest is the 1976P T1. Don't forget that there are 3 different reverse varieties for the 1972P and 2 different for the 1976PDS. CDB
I don't know why they weren't included in the Uncirculated Mint Sets, but they were issued separately as Uncirculated in blue envelopes for those years. I know that there were a limited number minted for collectors in 1971, but the main reason for its minting was for circulation. After it was released, it was discovered that the people didn't like it because it was too big and heavy and was never popular in circulation except at the casinos for a while.
That's cool. The 1971S Blue Ike is the toughest to find real nice, MS63-64 is average. Also, you'll find that the 1973S, 1974S, 1976S TI and TII clad proofs will be difficult, but not impossible, to find with heavy cameo. CDB
There was an eBay seller who sold me a few of the BLUE IKE's and again, I wasn't very happy. There was some dark colour on the reads and some on the part of the rims. These were sealed too. David
Unfortunately, I've seen quite a few of the Ikes tone in the cellophane. Sometimes it looks nice, but I've seen some that were very unattractive. At least you know it's NT if it's still in the cello
There were probably several reasons the mint didn't put Ikes in the mint sets the first couple of years. To a small extent it may have been inertia and the fact that the packaging for the set was already ordered when the Ike was "rushed" into production. If memory serves it also would have required some retrofitting of the mint set filling system which was already partially automated. Perhaps more importantly is that the clad coinage had proven pretty unpopular with collectors and it was believed that a substantial increase in mint set price would severely curtail sales. This was proven at least in part when the '73 set had about a 40% drop in sales with the addition of the Ike despite it being a mint set only coin. There were very few people setting aside any coins for the future in those days. While the Ike was relatively heavily saved it was because very few people were setting aside very substantial quantities. Also remember the mint was bringing back the 40% silver composition which had been discontinued with the '70 half dollar. These special San Francisco coins in unc and proof would have had lower mintages if they had to compete with the mint set issues. The mint did make a couple of comments about the subject at the time but they escape my memory.
Your best bet would be to find a coin dealer that wouldn't mind you searching through his Blue Ikes until you find something that you like. Just about every coin dealer has a ton of these in stock. The same holds true for the 40% silver proof issues for 1971 - 1974 (Brown Ikes). You should expect to pay a bit of a premium to 'cherry pick' his stock, and some dealers are not inclined to let folks do that, but that is the very best way to acquire nice Ikes. Just a note, if a dealer says he doesn't want you to 'cherry pick' his stock, then you must respect that. Nothing will alienate a dealer quicker than being persistant about doing something they don't want to do. Enjoy! CDB
