Souvenir Mint Set Envelopes

[Histman]

Hi Folks! I was wondering if anyone knows a source or a supplier of Souvenir Mint Set Envelopes? My are starting to fall apart and I could use some knew ones.

 

Thanks,

 

Dan

[thebeav]

Hi Dan,

If you're talking about 1982 and 1983, I would think they'll be pretty difficult to find. You would probably have to watch ebay for quite some time. Perhaps set an 'email alert'.

Paul

[physics-fan3.14]

I'm not entirely sure what you are talking about. Are you looking specifically for the paper envelopes that the souvenir sets came in? Or are you looking for the whole set? Maybe you can take a picture of what you have, that you are trying to replace?

 

As thebeav mentioned, Ebay will probably be your best bet. It may take some patience to get exactly what you want.

 

Also, welcome to the forums!

[cladking]

Despite the extremely low mintages of souvenir sets and poor survival rates there still isn't much demand for the sets. This translates to little demand for the packaging. I suspect most of the sellers of '82 and '83 sets just use packaging from other years.

 

Eventually someone will start counterfeiting the envelopes.

 

It's ironic that the poor quality packaging is probably a large contributor to the poor survival rates.

[RWB]

Maybe your local "quick print" store can print some for you?

[Histman]

For clarification: I have all of the souvenir mint sets, including the '82 & '83. I'm looking for replacement envelopes. Ebay and my LCD does not have them so I'm looking for another source.

[cladking]

For clarification: I have all of the souvenir mint sets, including the '82 & '83. I'm looking for replacement envelopes. Ebay and my LCD does not have them so I'm looking for another source.

 

Do you by chance have a '71 or '72 set? These are reported to be extremely scarce and I've never even seen a '71.

[Histman]

I have the '72 D but not the '71. I've never been able to find a '71.

[cladking]

I have the '72 D but not the '71. I've never been able to find a '71.

 

I'm beginning to doubt the '71 exists.

 

Years ago I saw a report that said that the mintages of each of these sets (P & D) for both years was "400". I've found both '72 sets to be little more difficult than '73 's but have never seen a '71.

[wclant]

Several years back someone sold reproduction souvenir set envelopes on eBay. I tried to buy all of them to keep them off the market but at least 4 other buyers purchased them. Unfortunately I'm now seeing those same buyers selling souvenir sets with those reproduction envelopes. As for the 1971-D Souvenir set, it does exist and I have 3 in my collection. They were made as test sets and the envelopes are yellow. I also have a 1972-P test souvenir set which came in a white envelope. I purchased that set from a retired Philadelphia Mint gift shop employee. Production and sales to the public of souvenir sets officially began in Denver with the 1972-D set which had a mintage of 400 sets. Philadelphia officially started selling souvenir sets in 1973. I have 12 souvenir sets in pink envelopes in my collection that have San Fransisco Souvenir Set on the envelope but I can find no official documentation supporting the sale of souvenir sets from the San Fransisco mint. A few of the SF sets are proof sets in cellophane with the 1979, 1980 & 1981 proof coins and a small SF Mint medallion and others contain only the proof 79-S,80-S & 81-S SBA dollars. I also have a Philadelphia souvenir set that contains the same three non-proof SBA dollars with the P mint mark. The envelope is faded but it appears to have been pink or possibly light brown when issued. If anyone has any information on those sets it would greatly appreciated. As for absolute rarity, the 1997-P is the king with only 100 sets minted. In 30+ years of collecting souvenir sets I've managed to obtain 13 of them and most I purchased from former Mint employees. That is the set that stops most people from completing the series but a few have started showing up on eBay with the last one selling for over $1200. I see that there's a 1997-P set at auction on eBay today. The quarter has some serious toning issues and the half is a bit rough but I'm sure if history is any indication, that seller will do well with that auction. For those looking for envelopes to upgrade their sets I would recommend buying common year sets with high quality envelopes and swapping them out. I would only do this for the rarer high dollar sets. You need to be aware that over the years different fonts and envelopes colors were used so for instance if you are looking for a matching envelope for a 1972-D set, you would need to find a good envelope from a 1973-D or 1974-D set.

[Conder101]

I've only seen a few souvenir sets, but I thought they had the year printed on them,  possibly they didn't in the early years.

[cladking]

22 hours ago, wclant said:

Several years back someone sold reproduction souvenir set envelopes on eBay. I tried to buy all of them to keep them off the market but at least 4 other buyers purchased them. Unfortunately I'm now seeing those same buyers selling souvenir sets with those reproduction envelopes. As for the 1971-D Souvenir set, it does exist and I have 3 in my collection. They were made as test sets and the envelopes are yellow. I also have a 1972-P test souvenir set which came in a white envelope. I purchased that set from a retired Philadelphia Mint gift shop employee. Production and sales to the public of souvenir sets officially began in Denver with the 1972-D set which had a mintage of 400 sets. Philadelphia officially started selling souvenir sets in 1973. I have 12 souvenir sets in pink envelopes in my collection that have San Fransisco Souvenir Set on the envelope but I can find no official documentation supporting the sale of souvenir sets from the San Fransisco mint. A few of the SF sets are proof sets in cellophane with the 1979, 1980 & 1981 proof coins and a small SF Mint medallion and others contain only the proof 79-S,80-S & 81-S SBA dollars. I also have a Philadelphia souvenir set that contains the same three non-proof SBA dollars with the P mint mark. The envelope is faded but it appears to have been pink or possibly light brown when issued. If anyone has any information on those sets it would greatly appreciated. As for absolute rarity, the 1997-P is the king with only 100 sets minted. In 30+ years of collecting souvenir sets I've managed to obtain 13 of them and most I purchased from former Mint employees. That is the set that stops most people from completing the series but a few have started showing up on eBay with the last one selling for over $1200. I see that there's a 1997-P set at auction on eBay today. The quarter has some serious toning issues and the half is a bit rough but I'm sure if history is any indication, that seller will do well with that auction. For those looking for envelopes to upgrade their sets I would recommend buying common year sets with high quality envelopes and swapping them out. I would only do this for the rarer high dollar sets. You need to be aware that over the years different fonts and envelopes colors were used so for instance if you are looking for a matching envelope for a 1972-D set, you would need to find a good envelope from a 1973-D or 1974-D set.

...Truly remarkable first post. 

I'm pleased to see that the '71-D set actually exists and surprised the '72-P wasn't made for the public.  I don't actually have one but assumed it was available. It's also good to see confirmation on the mintages.  I've always feared I'm the source for a lot of these mintage numbers and I know I had very little confidence in them because most of my sources were anecdotal or mere newspaper reports.  Other than the 1987's they are obviously all low mintage. 

My own collection is somewhat haphazard since I've put little effort into locating these before or after the internet age.  I bought most of the '82 and '83 issues unless the seller wanted some outrageous price like $4 then I just went through and bought those with nice quarters.  Of course souvenir sets are a poor source of Gems for these two dates but there are a few really nice specimens in them. 

Do you have any idea why the '97-P had such a low mintage?   These were terrible sellers for both mints and they only had them for people on the tours who asked for free samples ($4@) but they did sell.  I had a long conversation with a mint employee in the Denver gift shop in 1980 as I went through hundreds of sets looking for Gems and was told very few were sold each day and they were provided only as a public service.  He had never had anyone interested in looking for superior specimens before.  Bank vault managers often told me I was the only one who had eve asked for bags of new quarters before.   Of course I got this from more than a few coin dealers when I searched mint sets, too. 

The internet has been pretty good for modern collectors looking for scarcities.  If you called up your contacts asking for 1971 souvenir sets back in the '90's you'd get a lot of dead air since many dealers  didn't even know what a souvenir set was much less how to find a scarce date.  I never met another souvenir set collector until 1989 Pittsburg.  There was an Indian dealer with dozens of dozens Indian mint and proof sets and I bought nothing because he was asking double catalog!!!   He wanted five or six dollars for sets with coins that now go for thousands.  

I used to figure I'd see about one of these sets for every 6,000 regular mint sets.  Dealers couldn't sell them so like many other rare US and world moderns they get cut up and put in the junk bin.  So many moderns are so scarce and then the hobby has treated them all with disdain so the attrition rates are astounding.   Rare clad quarter rolls used to be routinely put in the registers at coin shops. 

Thanks for all the info.  Maybe some day I'll put together a more complete collection of these sets. 

[numisport]

What are souvenir mint sets, didn't know they existed.

[cladking]

1 hour ago, numisport said:

What are souvenir mint sets, didn't know they existed.

They are 5 coin sets made at the individual mints from 1971 to 1998 inclusive.  These are packaged similarly to regular mint sets except they have a more stable plastic and a flimsy envelope.   They are not mint set quality coins.  Where mint set coins are made under more controlled condition with higher force on numismatic presses the souvenir set coins are just "nice" coins plucked from the production lines.   Most were sold for $4 at the respective mint gift shops at the end of mint tours however some were available from other sources and some gift shops were accessible at some times by street traffic. 

Most sets had low mintages because they were so unpopular as are modern coins in general.  Attrition on these is high because they are poor sellers and dealers will spend the coins to sell the large mint medal included in them for a couple dollars.   While Gems are quite unusual in these sets most Gems are obviously not mint set coins so are very very scarce as such. 

[cladking]

13 hours ago, Conder101 said:

I've only seen a few souvenir sets, but I thought they had the year printed on them,  possibly they didn't in the early years.

I could be confused but I believe only the '79, '80, and '81 SBA three piece souvenir sets have the date on the package.   The sets are often found with the date handwritten on the envelope but I doubt this was done at the mint, at least not routinely. 

[Mohawk]

5 hours ago, cladking said:

I could be confused but I believe only the '79, '80, and '81 SBA three piece souvenir sets have the date on the package.   The sets are often found with the date handwritten on the envelope but I doubt this was done at the mint, at least not routinely. 

I believe that you're correct Cladking.  I've had a few of these that I've sold as part of my vestpocket selling over they years, and I've yet to see a printed date on the package.  Of course, most of what I've sold has been 1982 and 1983 sets, but I've also had the 1980-P set once and a 1977, which I do not remember which mint it came from.  They're interesting little sets and it's even more interesting to see that there is a little following for them.

[numisport]

On ‎10‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 4:08 PM, cladking said:

They are 5 coin sets made at the individual mints from 1971 to 1998 inclusive.  These are packaged similarly to regular mint sets except they have a more stable plastic and a flimsy envelope.   They are not mint set quality coins.  Where mint set coins are made under more controlled condition with higher force on numismatic presses the souvenir set coins are just "nice" coins plucked from the production lines.   Most were sold for $4 at the respective mint gift shops at the end of mint tours however some were available from other sources and some gift shops were accessible at some times by street traffic. 

Most sets had low mintages because they were so unpopular as are modern coins in general.  Attrition on these is high because they are poor sellers and dealers will spend the coins to sell the large mint medal included in them for a couple dollars.   While Gems are quite unusual in these sets most Gems are obviously not mint set coins so are very very scarce as such. 

Thanks for the info cladking, never heard of these before !

[wclant]

The reason for the low mintage of the 1997-P souvenir sets was due to the Philadelphia Mints preparations for minting the upcoming State Quarters series which began in 1999 but the actual tooling up and die preps began in 1997. Due to the mass quantities of State Quarters that were to be issued the Philadelphia mint was too busy to mint souvenir sets which were only sold in the Mints gift shop. It was only because of the requests from mint employees who had been collecting the Philadelphia sets since 1973 and because the Denver Mint had made 1997-D sets that the Mint relented and made 100 sets of which most were sold to Mint employees and a few lucky customers. The original work order requested 1000 sets but only 100 sets were produced. The gentleman that sold me his 3 sets worked in the gift shop and he believes the production crew deliberately "misread" the total requested because they weren't happy with the interruption to their schedule that was required to setup the production line to make these sets. In 1998 the Mint was in full production minting the upcoming 1999 State Quarters but they did manage to produce 1000 souvenir sets making it the 4th rarest in the series.

No special dies or planchet's were used to make souvenir sets and the dates were never printed on the envelopes (except for the SBA souvenir sets) nor were the sets ever sealed. I see a lot of 1973 and a few other years where the sets have the date stamped on the envelope. Those sets were sold on the secondary market by a company I won't mention by name because I have a TON of LITTLE reasons no to do so. If you see a set on eBay that has a printed date or is listed as a sealed set it was done after it left the Mint. I only mention this to clear up misinformation I've seen posted by an eBay seller in his auctions who perpetuates this "rumor" to increase the sale price of the sets he sells.

As for the 1982 & 1983 sets, they are the sets that a lot of people use to fill holes in their albums since no mint sets were produced those years. If you want higher quality 1982/1983 coins you may want to look into aftermarket sets like those offered by Krause. They built their sets by cherry picking bank rolls therefore the quality of the coins in their sets tend to be better than the ones you get in the souvenir sets.

 

[cladking]

14 hours ago, wclant said:

The reason for the low mintage of the 1997-P souvenir sets was due to the Philadelphia Mints preparations for minting the upcoming State Quarters series which began in 1999 but the actual tooling up and die preps began in 1997. Due to the mass quantities of State Quarters that were to be issued the Philadelphia mint was too busy to mint souvenir sets which were only sold in the Mints gift shop. It was only because of the requests from mint employees who had been collecting the Philadelphia sets since 1973 and because the Denver Mint had made 1997-D sets that the Mint relented and made 100 sets of which most were sold to Mint employees and a few lucky customers. The original work order requested 1000 sets but only 100 sets were produced. The gentleman that sold me his 3 sets worked in the gift shop and he believes the production crew deliberately "misread" the total requested because they weren't happy with the interruption to their schedule that was required to setup the production line to make these sets. In 1998 the Mint was in full production minting the upcoming 1999 State Quarters but they did manage to produce 1000 souvenir sets making it the 4th rarest in the series.

No special dies or planchet's were used to make souvenir sets and the dates were never printed on the envelopes (except for the SBA souvenir sets) nor were the sets ever sealed. I see a lot of 1973 and a few other years where the sets have the date stamped on the envelope. Those sets were sold on the secondary market by a company I won't mention by name because I have a TON of LITTLE reasons no to do so. If you see a set on eBay that has a printed date or is listed as a sealed set it was done after it left the Mint. I only mention this to clear up misinformation I've seen posted by an eBay seller in his auctions who perpetuates this "rumor" to increase the sale price of the sets he sells.

As for the 1982 & 1983 sets, they are the sets that a lot of people use to fill holes in their albums since no mint sets were produced those years. If you want higher quality 1982/1983 coins you may want to look into aftermarket sets like those offered by Krause. They built their sets by cherry picking bank rolls therefore the quality of the coins in their sets tend to be better than the ones you get in the souvenir sets.

 

Fascinating stuff! 

I long suspected that Krause hand selected coins for their mint sets but didn't know it because my sample size on these is too small.  I've seen fewer than "20" 1982 Krause sets.  These are nice enough that I shouldn't have doubted it but there are some clunkers in them too.  Despite having looked at huge numbers of '82 BU quarters (starting in 1982) 4 of the best 10 I've seen came from these sets.  Most of the rest came from a single bag.  I might mention though that the strike on the Krause '82 quarters is not extremely solid.  They are early die strikes with full tonnage but the alignment isn't extremely good.  These sets were distributed as subscription premiums and one has to suspect that most were just spent.  Mintage was likely very high. I remember thinking of extending my subscription to get one but I was too busy looking for Gem quarters to bother.  It seemed very unlikely this would be a good source anyway. 

It's a shame the mint didn't do a little better job with the '82 and '83 sets.  I suspect that it was just that hard to find nice coins those years even at the mints.  The coins are usually choice but there sure aren't many true Gems.  Ironically despite the poor quality I'm told that most Gems from '82 and '83 come from souvenir sets!!!  It gives you an idea of the infancy of the modern markets that these coins are being given such high grades.   Then one has to wonder if all the real Gems were spent back in the early-'80's. 

I was told that a lot of the coins in the mid to late-'90's souvenir sets were struck on burnished planchets.  I've never seen one but have only a very few of these dates.  Apparently I was misinformed.  If anyone wants PL coins struck on burnished planchets they are nearly "common" in the regular mint sets (especially 1985 to date).  

Is that company  that printed the date the same one that made the '82 and '83 mint sets in the manila envelope with unstable packaging?  If so I'd be very interested in their name.  You're way ahead of the curve on these sets.  I met a gentleman from Ohio in 1980 who had a great deal of knowledge about these.  I won't mention his name for privacy reasons but he was selling these as well.   Information about these sets is still sketchy at best and it's  a wonder you've accumulated so much knowledge. 

The sets are extremely interesting simply because there are a lot of really good looking coins that don't have the "mint set look".  It's almost impossible to find clad rolls at all and then when you do they tend to be awful and exhibit weak strikes from worn dies and are all banged up.  Now days I kick myself for not spending the money to get more of these and not putting in the time to determine the rare dates.