1971, 1987 & 1997 Proof & Mint Set Collection

Product Description

1971 Proof & Mint Set Pair: We've paired two early 1970s proof and mint sets together for this special offer. Both vintage 1971 collector's sets are notable as they each contain examples of the first copper-nickel Kennedy half dollars issued, yet oddly neither are home to the inaugural Eisenhower dollar (which was offered to collectors separately). The five-coin proof and 11-coin mint set's outputs were 3.2 and 2.2 million respectively, but far fewer remain intact today.

1987 Proof & Mint Set Pair: Early in 1987 the U.S. Mint announced that no Kennedy half dollars would be issued for commerce as the existing supply in circulation was sufficient for current needs. Both issues did appear in proof and mint sets that year. That meant that the only way to acquire 1987 Kennedy specimens needed for complete collections was to liberate them from the confines of sets. Far fewer five-coin proof sets and 10-coin mint sets exist intact today for that reason. Both issues remain in original U.S. Mint packaging.

1997 Proof & Mint Set Pair: Due to lower demand from collectors, in 1997 the U.S. Mint issued just 1,975,000 proof and 950,473 mint sets. The proof set mintage proved to be the second lowest in four decades, while the mint set is a key scarcitiy as it had the lowest output in the span 1964-2003, encompassing 40 years of issue. Even fewer of these five-coin proof sets and 10-coin mint sets remain today after collectors and dealers have broken up many for individual issues to add to complete sets.