Statue of Liberty Set, Sold for $850 in 1986, sells for $873 now

By the early 1980s, the Statue of Liberty was in rough shape. As comedian, Bob Hope, joked, "I waved to the Lady of Liberty and she waved back." What was required was a remake of the statue. French artists, who experts in working with copper, came to America to do the work. The project was completed and dedicated on the Fourth of July 1986.

Here is a 1986 six piece Statue of Liberty set. The surcharges from the these commemorative coins were used to refurbish the statue. The $5 gold piece sold out very quickly. By the spring of 1986, the six piece was selling for $850. The three piece sets, which were sold in the Proof and Uncirculated formats were selling about half of that.



After the dedication services were over, the market value of these coins dropped like stone. About 20 years ago, I bought this set for less than $200. Today it's back up to $873 on the Greysheet.

Why?

It is has nothing to do with the popularity of these coins despite the fact that they are quite nice. It has everything to with the price of gold with a minor boost from the silver dollars.

The half dollar in this set one of the best designs in the modern commemorative series in my opinion. It was designed by Edgar Z. Steever IV and Sherl J. Winter who were sculptor engravers at the U.S. Mint. The coin is worth $2 in Proof or Uncirculated according to the Graysheet.

 

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I bought this set in 1986, and sold it for less a couple of years ago. It was a mistake for me to buy it. I was buying everything the mint did in gold and silver in 1986, regardless of the way it looked. I don't do that anymore.

 

Were you buying all of the wooden box sets from the mint, @fullhart? That was quit an investment.

I bought them in the secondary market years later. The only one I don't have is the huge double set from 1996 Atlanta Olympics. It has 32 coins in it. The dealers who had that one wanted over $8,000 for it, which was way too much. It's now on the Greysheet for $4,479.

I have done okay financially so far because of the gold bullion that is in them.

 

Sure is a beautiful set. Thanks for showing it.

 

I've bought the three-coin sets (both BU and proof) low and sold them high over the last few years, repeatedly. I'll always keep at least one, though, because I like the design.

One of the coin-show dealers I sell to breaks these sets up, because he's got buyers for generic gold $5 commems, and to a lesser extent the silver dollars. But he keeps the halves, and gives them away to kids in families who look or sound like they might be immigrants.

 

I bought the 3-coin proof set, as that was around the time my interest in collecting was rekindled. If I'm not mistaken, wasn't it the second modern commemorative issued after the George Washington half in 1982?

 

There were Olympic commemorative dollars and a $10 gold in 1983-1984.

 

I am similar but just on the buy side. I own multiples of the $5 coin, one of the best modern US designs.

 

The half dollar is one on my favorites. Definitely under appreciated design.

 

Thanks for the post. It sure goes to show those that think they will get rich collection coins of their error.

 

First time I’ve laid eyes on the complete set. Thanks for posting!

 

Yes, remember "Dick and Jane?" Collectors made a big deal out these coins because they were the first U.S. gold coins since 1933. The mint sold so many that they went back and made a PDS set. The mintages were low which resulted in a big promotion for the "rare" coins. Today nobody cares. The "rare" PDS coins sell for the same as the "common" ones ... melt.

 

I own but two modern gold commemorative coins, the proof and uncirculated ones for the Apollo 11 commemoration in 2019. Aside from those and the other Apollo 11 issues, I have the 1986 and 1987 Prestige sets, with the Statue of Liberty and Constitution silver dollars. Neither classic nor modern commemorative coins catch my interest, though I have bought the 2021 Bluenose Canada silver dollars since my paternal side is from Lunenburg, where the Bluenose was built in 1921. Gold is very expensive these days.

 

Ah yes, the Olympic coins, thanks! I seem to have a mental block about any and all Olympic commem's...never caught my fancy and always too many.

 

Especially the 1996 Atlanta set, which had 16 different coins in it. That was overkill in the extreme.

 

If you can find one, which isn't likely. The wooden box double sets from back then had LOW sales figures, and most of them have been broken up over the years and the boxes discarded. Survival rates of the original sets is miniscule.

Interesting feature of the half dollar design, the main subjects on both sides have their backs to the viewer.

 

I have all of the wooden box sets except for the 32 piece Atlanta Olympics set. I bought a 16 piece set at small show many years ago for half the issue price. At this point I won’t buy a 32 piece set. The box too big to store, and the coins have probably been switched out for a bunch of dogs.

 

I had a couple of the wooden boxes. I didn't buy the very expensive ones. Mostly the 2 or 3 coin sets in Proof, but a couple in uncirculated. I like Proof better because of the mirror like finish.

 

Whaaaatttt?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

I agree with you about the Proof coins. The fact that the Proof Coin mintage exceeds the Uncirculated mintage repeatedly, issue after issue, shows that collectors prefer the Proofs. This is in spite of the fact that the Uncirculated coins are viewed as "better investments" and sometimes have higher catalog values because of the reported lower mintages.