Selling suggestions please

Jane wrote:
Thanks. That's good to know. While I really don't know much about
grading, as I said all of these sets are sealed and are labeled
"uncirculated mint set", so the are in perfect condition with original
shine.

When you say "full step '70 Jefferson", what coin are you referring to
and what does "full step" mean? Sorry to sound like a dope.

There's no need to feel like you "sound like a dope." Imagine how
you'd feel if you sold a 1970 set for common value (between $10 and
$20, depending on the weather) and found out that one of the 1970-D
Kennedys in a set was an MS-67, worth about $3,000. We continue to
preach, "The only stupid question is the one not asked."

A Full Step Jefferson refers to the reverse of the nickels. On the
reverse is a depiction of Monticello, and the clarity of the steps
determines whether they are full steps or not. Since I'm not a
Jefferson expert, I will leave that description to one of the others.

Jerry

"Jane" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks. That's good to know. While I really don't know much about
grading, as I said all of these sets are sealed and are labeled
"uncirculated mint set", so the are in perfect condition with original
shine.

When you say "full step '70 Jefferson", what coin are you referring to
and what does "full step" mean? Sorry to sound like a dope.

Basically there can't be any marks or flaws on the steps and there has to be
at least 5 full steps--go all the way across uninterrupted. You count them
by pretending that you are standing on the same level where the front door
is and just 'walk' down them. It's tough and you need a loupe or some kind
of magnification unless you have superhuman vision. The problem will be
trying to see the reverse of those through the plastic mint sealed cello. On
the 1970 Jefferson if you see 3 steps that's doing great. Most all 1970
Jeffs have not a single step showing.

First of all, thank you all for your help.

Clearly I have to take my coins to someone who can grade them. I
imagine I want someone who will certify the grade, right?

What I have is this:

- 2 '70D mint
- 1 '70S proof
- many '71D mint
- 2 '71S proof
- 2 '71S Eisenhower mint
- 2 '71S Eisenhower proof
- 2 '81S proof

Which of these have potentially valuable coins?

As for the steps on the Jefferson memorial. Jeez, you must be kidding.
Even with my (cheapo) magnifying glass all I can see are some thin
lines. I can't even count them. Are those the steps??

Again, thank you so much. My Dad left these coins to me when he died.
I wish I had talked to him about them but I didn't even know he had
them.

"Jane" wrote in message
oups.com...
First of all, thank you all for your help.

Clearly I have to take my coins to someone who can grade them. I
imagine I want someone who will certify the grade, right?

What I have is this:

- 2 '70D mint
- 1 '70S proof
- many '71D mint
- 2 '71S proof
- 2 '71S Eisenhower mint
- 2 '71S Eisenhower proof
- 2 '81S proof

Which of these have potentially valuable coins?

As for the steps on the Jefferson memorial. Jeez, you must be kidding.
Even with my (cheapo) magnifying glass all I can see are some thin
lines. I can't even count them. Are those the steps??

Yep really tiny. Try looking thru the fat end of some binoculars--sometimes
that'll work.
It takes a fair amount of practice. Usually you'll see lots of scratches on
the mint's cheapie plastic holders.


Again, thank you so much. My Dad left these coins to me when he died.
I wish I had talked to him about them but I didn't even know he had
them.

Happens all the time--about a post a week here of people just like you.
On top of the Jefferson steps there's some proof coins without any 'S' mint
mark to BOTL for.
There's also 2 types of '81S's. A type-2 set is worth a lot--like a couple
three hundred I think.
The proof coins you want to see deep cameos with few exceptions for all the
years you list.

Whew - the trick with binoculars worked but I don't know if my eyes
will ever be the same.

The 1971 proof nickels have five steps. The 1970 has three.
Unfortunately all the coins in the '70 proof set are discolored. There
must be an air leak in the plastic. Does that mean the coin has no
value?

What about the '71s? Are five steps common for that date?

I think I'll try and go uncross my eyes......

"Jerry Dennis" wrote in message
ps.com...

Richard L Hall wrote:
Checking with the Redbook, it shows the face value of the 1971 and 1972
mint
sets as $1.83 and the issue price as $3.50. So that seems to indicate
there
were no dollars included.

Also, according to the Redbook, there were no CuNI clad proofs made that
year. So it looks like the proof sets didn't have any dollars either.

There were Silver clad uncirculated and proof coins made, but these were
issued independently of the mint sets and proof sets. These were called
the
blue packs and the brown packs.


--
Richard
http://www.richlh.com
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as
well dance

I checked ebay for pictures of the 1971 and 1972 mint sets and you're
right, there are no Ikes in either set, but there are "S" mint cents.

Right! That's why the face value is $1.83 rather than $1.82. I think the
mint made S-mint cents from 1968-1974. So they were included in the mint
sets for those years.

I do know that the blue mint and brown proof envelopes were the 40%
Ikes. I've got a blue one (with the Ike, of course).

I have a 1973 blue pack and a red pack from 1976 (has the bicentennial 40%
silver quarter and half dollar in addition to the dollar) A few years ago,
I looked for some blue packs to fill in my Ike set. Very few dealers had
them. They said most had been broken out, graded and/or put into sets.
There seems to be a few available on Ebay now though.

With the proof nickels those will have full steps with the exception of
the 1970 sets. It's about a 50/50 chance with a 1970S proof Jefferson
to have fully struck steps. The 1971 mint set Jeffersons are easy to
find full steps since they re-engraved the master dies that year. So if
you look at the steps on the '71 Jeffs and compare with the '70 Jeffs
you'll see what looks like someone built some huge steps for giants to
use or something. What you want with a '71 P or D mint is to find 6
steps. The original design has 6 steps but on most years issued there
will only be at most 5 so they call one with 5 steps a full stepper. It
is very difficult to get a full step designation from a grading service
of reputation. The odds are that you don't have one in any of those
sets since they'll have a hit across them. IOW if you can't see what's
going on underneath the gash-mark you can't expect someone to be able
to say it's a fully struck step area.
HTH