What A Year!

BY ANDREW OPHARDT 6-YEAR MEMBER OF THE ROCHESTER JUNIOR NUMISMATIC ASSOCIATION No, this is not one of those programs that you see around New Year’s where they talk about everything that happened the year before.

This is about having a Year Set of coins- being able to see the coins that were made in the year you were born.

I like the idea of having a set of coins based on the year you were born. My Year Set is from 2003 and has the , the , the , the (actually 5 quarters because 5 state quarters were issued in 2003), the Kennedy and the coin. Proof sets and sets are a convenient way to collect a Year Set. All of the coins are nicely packaged and in great condition. Plus, the regular sets are usually pretty affordable. My sister was born in 2004. Her Year Set looks almost exactly like mine, except that she has different state quarters in her Year Set. My mom was born in 1967. Her Year Set has the same coins as mine, except she does not have a dollar coin and there’s only one Washington quarter. However, her is 40% silver. Also, the 1967 set is not actually a proof set and it’s not a regular mint set either; it’s a “Special Mint Set”. The coins are better quality than regular mint sets, but not quite as polished as a proof set might be.

From 1965 to 1967, the mint did not produce either mint sets or proof sets, only special mint sets. Plus these special mint sets did not have any mint marks.

Why not? I saw an explanation that there was a shortage of U.S. coins in 1965 and the U.S. Mint Director blamed the shortage on coin collectors! The Mint Director ordered that mint marks not appear on any of the coins . She also ordered that the mint not make proof sets or mint sets for collectors. Take that coin collectors!

Of course, a major reason for the “coin shortage” was that the mint stopped making 90% silver coins in 1965 because the price of silver had risen above the face value of the dime, quarter and half dollar. That fact turned millions of non-numismatists into “coin collectors”… of 1964 and earlier 90% silver coins.

At least the Mint Director finally did allow a “Special” Mint Set for those bad coin collectors!

My father was born in 1961. His Year Set has the same cent, nickel, dime and quarter (except that the dime and quarter are 90% silver). His half dollar, however, is the Franklin half dollar (also 90% silver). So, except for 1967, the Year Sets can be obtained either through proof sets or mint sets. Of course, for all of these years, a Year Set can also be built from circulated coins .

All of these sets can easily be obtained for under $20, so they are all quite affordable keepsakes.

Next on my list of family Year Sets was Grandma. My Grandma was born in 1933, so I figured because the coins were older, they might be a little more expensive. But what I found was very surprising… Unlike the other years, I could not buy a government mint set or proof set for 1933. The U.S. Mint did not start issuing modern proof sets until 1936. And the 1936 sets are pretty expensive- $5,000 or more. So even if they had made them in 1933, it probably would not be a financially feasible option to buy a proof set anyway.

So, I figured I would look at how to assemble a 1933 Year Set, coin by coin. There’s a lot of attractive coins made during the early 1930’s, so I thought a Year Set would look pretty nice.

First up, of course, would be the 1933 Lincoln cent. These were made at both the Philadelphia and Denver mints. Just $1-$2. No problem. Next up is the nickel. Buffalo nickels were made from 1913 to 1938 and are generally pretty affordable, so no problem. Except they didn’t make any Buffalo nickels in 1933. Maybe I could get a 1938 nickel and chip out part of the 8? No, that wouldn’t be right… Next is the dime. The was made from 1916 to 1945 and is a very beautiful coin, so this would be great for Grandma’s Year Set. I checked on eBay and I found a beautiful 1933 dime that would look great in Grandma’s year set. Just a small problem though… … it’s a fake.

It’s described on eBay as a “fantasy re-strike”. There are no real 1933 Mercury dimes.

Poor Grandma misses out on two of the prettiest U.S coins ever made.

So I thought I would try to get a quarter for Grandma’s Year Set. But no luck here either. Washington quarters have been made from 1932 to the present, but the one year they didn’t make any quarters was… yes, 1933. Finally some company for that lonely 1933 Lincoln cent! The 1933-S was the only half dollar minted. At least Grandma gets one of these beautiful coins for her Year Set. And it’s not too expensive-around $20. Now onto the dollar coins. Peace dollars were made from 1921 until 1935 and one of these large dollars would look great in a Year Set. Except that… … no Peace dollars were made in 1933.

So Grandma’s birth Year Set consists of a Lincoln cent and a Walking Liberty half dollar.

They did still make gold coins in 1933, so I looked to see what is available. No quarter eagles ($2.50) or half eagles ($5.00) were made. However, they did make eagles and double eagles.

Indian Head eagles ($10.00) were made from 1907 to 1933. And Saint-Gaudens double eagles ($20.00) were also made from 1907 to 1933. But these two gold coins are very rare and very expensive. Most of them were recalled and melted by the U.S. Mint when President Roosevelt made private ownership of gold coins illegal. The U.S. government still claims it is illegal to own the 1933 gold . Sorry, Grandma, but I don’t want to break the law by getting one for you! So why does my Grandma’s 1933 Year Set have so few coins? Why did the U.S. Mint make so few coins? Demand for coins fell tremendously during the early 1930’s Depression era. People with very little money didn’t buy or sell much and didn’t need as many coins.

I have not been able to find anything explaining what the U.S. Mint employees were doing during 1933. The Mint only made around 24 million cents, which was almost 90% fewer than they made in 1930. And fewer than 2 million half dollars were made in 1933. Maybe they spent all day cleaning the machines at the Mint? I also checked to see what commemorative coins were minted during these years. They are not really meant to be circulating coins, but I found a few. My 2003 Year Set had the Wright Brothers 100 Year Anniversary Coins ($1 silver, 50 cent clad, and $10 gold coins). My sister’s 2004 Year Set had two commemorative dollars: the Thomas Edison 125th Anniversary of the Light Bulb silver dollar and the 200th Anniversary of the Lewis & Clark Expedition silver dollar. My mom’s 1967 set and my dad’s 1961 set didn’t have any commemoratives. But Grandma had the pretty 1933 Oregon Trail commemorative half dollar! The last coins that could be part of my Year Sets would be the bullion coins as they are technically legal tender. These would only be available for my 2003 set and my sister’s 2004 set. The $1 silver eagle would be affordable at around $20 per coin. The gold coins would be a little tougher to buy. There’s the $5 gold 1/10 oz coin, the $10 gold ¼ oz coin, the $25 gold ½ oz coin and the $50 gold 1 oz coin. All of those would run about $2,500 per year. Finally, the platinum coins for 2003 and 2004 would be pricey. The $10 platinum 1/10 oz, the $25 platinum ¼ oz, the $50 platinum ½ oz and the $100 platinum 1 oz coins would cost around an extra $2,500 per year. I think I will just get the silver $1 eagle coins for now. I think that Year Sets are a nice way to “connect” yourself to coins. And by comparing my Year Set to the rest of my family, I could see how much has changes in coins over the years.

I want to thank you all for listening to my presentation and I want to give a big Thank You! for sponsoring the Junior Numismatic Club!

I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.