Expert: Brad Swain - 1/9/2010

Question
QUESTION: I have a 1972 uncirculated plastic pack set with 1 half dollar no mint mark,1 quarter no mint mark,1 nickel no mint mark,1 dime no mint mark, 1 penny no mint mark,and 1 penny with mink mark s on it. Is this common for these and if not what its worth. I am new at this so be gentile. Thank you for your time Jay

ANSWER: Hi Jay, the uncirculated sets contained 11 coins that year, 5 with no mintmark (Philadelphia), 5 with a D (Denver), and a cent with an S (San Francisco), the only coin made for circulation at that mint that year.
A Mint set is an Uncirculated set of two common mint marks, Denver and Philadelphia. This process of two mint marks for coins is to show how many of each coin is in circulation throughout the United States. Each mint set comes with two sealed plastic packs containing the Denver and Philadelphia mints in Uncirculated condition. Each Coin in the set are only the coins produced for circulation in that year. A cent with an S (San Francisco) was the only coin made for circulation at that mint that year.
A complete original 1972 Unc set may be worth about $6 depending on amount of collector demand.
You might also try a library for a copy of the Guidebook of United States Coins for pictures, values and lots more interesting info.
Brad

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Brad , Thankyou very much for your time and the good info, I am really starting to have some fun with it.

I do have another question for you though.  I have two gold coins.

The first one is a $100 Gold Proof Coin Cayman Island Nov 30 th 1974 Winston churchill Centenary.

The second is a 100 crown speciman 1974 T,C caymand island.

I have not been able to find these paticular coins at all. I am sure there made in canada. But have no idea as to Value or rarity.

Answer
Hi Jay,
$100 50% Gold Proof Coin Cayman Island Nov 30th 1974 Winston Churchill Centenary, 6300 Proof versions minted, contains .3646 of an ounce of gold, may be worth about $400 or more depending on amount of collector demand.
100 Crown 50% gold Specimen 1974 Turks and Caicos Islands, 4500 Uncirculated versions minted, contains .2896 of an ounce of gold, may be worth about $325 or more depending on amount of collector demand.
You might try Ebay.com for similar pieces for comparison.
Current gold and silver values: http://www.kitco.com/market/ .
Proof coins have mirror fields that allows reflecting newsprint to be read at least 6 inches away.
Specimen coins are high quality uncirculated coins not quite Proof quality.
Brad