Well, I got a 1985 proof set in the mail today. Snatched it up for a mere $5.75 shipped.... Didn't see it in the pics, but the lincoln is beyond hope... black marks on the edges. The other coins are clouding... the quarter and dime especially. I guess this may be a good opportunity to conduct an experiment in dipping (yes, I said it) on the clads. I can't see much else I can do with them. Unless anyone else has an idea or wants to purchase them. Anybody out there a big fan of cloudy proofs? It wouldn't be worth it to ship them back to get the $1.25 purchase price refunded.
See the discussion in this forum under "Clouded proof sets" to see my experience (with photos) and responses from others. Interestingly, three of my problem sets were from 1985, '86 and '87. There must have been something about the way they were prepared those years. I'm not going to make a big deal about it because it was part of a continuous run of proof sets from 1956 through 1998 I bought as a lot that were all perfect except for the '82, and '85-87. These are all inexpensive to replace. If you buy sets like this on eBay, most sellers will permit you to return the set if you're unhappy with it. I usually buy only from sellers who state this in their listing. In this case, it would hardly be worth the postage to send it back.
That's what I figure... The auction said would accept return, but I'll pay as much in postage as I'll get refunded, so I'll just keep them and play with them. Have never broken a proof set open before... In this case, I can't see how it could hurt to try to clean them and move them to air-tites. I'll be replacing them anyway, and I can't see trying to pass them off to someone else.
