Background

Mint sets contain two of each type of coin used for commerce in a given year; 1 from Philadelphia and 1 from Denver. Mint Sets are also called “Uncirculated Sets”.

The US Mint sold Mint Sets each year from 1947 to 1981. About 3 million mint sets were made in 1981. In 1982 and 1983 mint sets were discontinued and no Mint Sets were made. In 1984 production resumed, demand was still strong, and about 2 million sets were made. Production continues to date (2020).

What is a Mint Set?

A typical mint set contains one example of each coin produced for commerce that year. For example, the 1978 mint set contains 10 coins; 5 from Philadelphia and 5 from Denver. The coins are a Cent, Nickel, Dime, Quarter, and Half Dollar.

Denver                        Philadelphia

The sets from 1947 - 1968 contain 2 examples for each coin.The mint set coins are packaged in cellophane sheets; one from the Philadelphia mint and one from the Denver mint. There are some differences depending on the year of issue, for example:

• The sets from 1971 - 1978 have an extra coin (Eisenhower dollar) for P and D mints
• Some sets contain San Francisco mint coins (in the Denver mint package)
• The sets from 1999-current contain state quarters, territorial quarters, and America The Beautiful quarters.
• The sets from 2004-2005 contain two nickels from each mint

The packaging has also evolved over the years, sometimes for the better. Unfortunately, the mint sets starting in 2007 are not in air-tight packages, so they are going to require extra care to prevent toning of the coins over the years.

No Mint Sets Made in 1982-1983

The 1982 and 1983 would have been 10-coin sets. Since none were made by the US Mint, some private companies created them to satisfy some of the demand. But these were made in thousands, not millions.

Souvenir sets were still sold at the US Mint gift shops but not in large quantities. The souvenir sets have 5 coins from the Philadelphia mint OR from the Denver mint.

Fast Forward to 2020

Today there is a shortage of 1982-1983 Uncirculated coins. You can find bank bags and bank rolls but they expensive and are not as nice as the ones normally found in mint sets. The privately made sets and souvenir sets have better quality coins but they are harder to find and even more expensive.

There were probably some smart people that hoarded the bank bags, bank rolls, private sets, and souvenir sets in those years. Good Idea!