I recently bought some presidential dollar proof sets from the secondary market and the US mint. The sets from the secondary market (local coin dealer) seem to be lower grade than the ones from the US mint. Do dealers commonly only place lower grade proof sets on the market? Are the higher grade sets commonly broken up by a dealer to get at the high grade coins? Rather, should I only buy proof sets from the US mint if available?
Buy from the secondary market. The reason is that the mint will charge a lot for a set but the Bid value goes down overtime. It really is a waste buying most Proof sets from the mint. A true waste.
I prefer buying directly from the US Mint early after release and have always received great quality products. Otherwise, I think it depends on where you buy. If you are buying at a coin show or from a B&M coin store and can see the product beforehand and can save money, then definitely go for it. If you are bidding on ebay or buying from an online vendor, you may not get the quality you desire. Of course you can typically return it, but that usually means more time, effort and money on your part. TC
It depends, I wish I would have pulled the trigger on the 2009 UHR, many times you can get such coins for less than their issue price. There are many examples tho where the issue price is the lowest you will see it for.
When I buy from the mint I expect, and usually get high quality coins. ATB Bullion 5 oz Pucks and the ATB Unc P 5 oz, coins, are another story. I've bought from after market coin dealers on line and it seems that their merchandise has been thoroughly pick over for the quality sets or a quality coin that would make it worth their while to break up the set and sell them individually. If I want to grade my coins with a top TOG'r I might buy them graded or send in my own coins. It's always a crap shoot, but if you learn how to properly grade coins you may have a leg up on the grading companies.
That's 'cause the dealers will cherry a lot of these sets and pick out the best coins to submit to the tpg services. Yup, yup and yup. I've bought from the US Mint since 1962 and 99% of the time I've been completely satisfied.
Thanks for the replies. Conclusion: If you buy online, you are either better off with the US Mint or with already graded coins. Buying online proof sets from the secondary market can easily give you lesser quality coins. I suppose I also need to go in person to the dealers or shows to buy quality from the secondary market. Again Thanks
Have you noticed! You mention the ATB are another story...So you too have noticed and come across the poor quality of the MINT 2010 P ATB's compared tomost Bullions i received were in decent shape? =( Out of 3 of the NP1's I got from me and family members buying them,only 1 of them had no major defects like dented rims or small gauge or divets in a place or 2 and usually on George Washington side of the coin...Same thing happened with the NP2 and NP3 that i just got 2 of them one has a little divit(little round dent) near washington's face and the other seems to be no defects......Have others come across this many problems 1 out of 2 or 2 out of 3 coins damaged out of each group?Out of the many sets of the bullion i got from each dealer(1 from each of them almost) out of like 40 coins i think i had less then 5 with any kind of glring mark on it maybe less then that...Maybe they used the same dies without repairing them?? Also has anyone come across whaty i would call a double die yet? One of my yosemites seem to have double die in the Word Yosemite and around the picture......Wonder if something like that is going to make it more rare and more $$ or just going to be considered a defect in these? Anyone have any clues or comments? Sorry about the long post!!!
