Enhanced Un-circulated Coin Set Marks the Mint’s 225th Anniversary

This year marks the 225^th anniversary of the founding of the US Mint, which we talked about in a recent blog. To mark the occasion, the Mint has chosen to release its set of uncirculated coins for 2017 in a commemorative box and in an enhanced version. The set was released on August 1, and the buying response was strong, right from the moment of release.

The set has been limited to just 225,000, and comes in a black box, with a certificate of authenticity. All the coins were minted at the San Francisco Mint, and all bear the ‘S’ mint mark. The coins in the set are as follows:

• Native American $1 Coin
• Kennedy half-dollar
• Effigy Mounds National Monument (Iowa) Quarter
• Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (District of Columbia) Quarter
• Ozark National Scenic Riverways (Missouri) Quarter
• Statue of Liberty National Monument (Ellis Island, New Jersey) Quarter
• George Rogers Clark National Historical Park (Indiana) Quarter
• Roosevelt dime
• Jefferson nickel
• Lincoln cent

For easy viewing, the coins are divided into two lenses, with the five quarters in one, and the remaining coins in the other. The quarters are all drawn from the popular ‘America the Beautiful’ series, which feature a major National Park or National Site in each of the 50 states, plus the federal district and the five major territories. The series began in 2012, and each year five new quarters are released, so the quarters in this set represent all the releases for 2017. The Native American $1 features a profile of Sequoyah, who spent 12 years creating a written form for the Cherokee language. “Sequoyah from Cherokee Nation” is written in his unique words along the border of the design.

What makes the set unique are the enhanced features, which raise these coins to another level of beauty. All the coins have been struck with special dies, so they go beyond simply being uncirculated. The dies create an unpolished field, which accentuates and highlights the designs themselves. As well, some areas are laser frosted, creating three different contrasting surface finishes that bring the various designs to life. This is quite different from the normal mirror-like finish of proof coins.

The metals used to make the coins are the same as those in the standard circulation strikings, and in the uncirculated and collector proof coins. The enhanced appearance is entirely a product of the finishes created. The Mint has also used these enhanced finishes on the 2015 and 2016 Native American $1coin issues, which were greeted with approval by collectors.

Although the set has only been on the market for a short time, it is already unavailable on the US Mint website. Sold for $29.95 when first released, it is already being offered on-line for as much as $40, a 33% return on the investment in just a few days. Besides it value as a collector’s piece, that kind of return suggests that early purchases of coins often prove worthwhile to those who collect as an investment.