If you have ever purchased any coins through the United States Mint you are familiar with their unique packaging. The majority of it is colorful, beautiful and protective. The same as all of us, however, the government Mint once in a while makes mistakes and ships out coins that are not properly packaged as a set. When that happens, coin collectors are usually not angered by the blunder. They realize that errors in packaging in many cases can occasionally end up being much more valuable as compared to perfect coin sets, and they are typically happy to acquire something that is different from all others.

The most frequent mistakes generally happen in packaging Mint Sets and Proof Sets. Those are the sets which should have one coin of each denomination, however from time to time the assembly stations do not perform the job properly and add in more coins, leave one out, or substitute one denomination for another. Sets with two cents rather than a cent and a dime are very often observed, as are sets not having the traditional mint medal that ought to be there.

A collector in Florida recently reported obtaining two sets of 1999 Anthony dollars. Each set ought to have included a coin from Philadelphia plus one from Denver together with the appropriate mint medals. One of these sets, though, was comprised of the coins and two of the Philadelphia medals; the other set had just a bare place where its medal ought to have been. Sets with a blend of dates are thought of as the rarest kinds and are typically valued at a premium above the usual worth of an ordinary set. A set having even one coin of an older date is almost never found, and could enhance the value of the set by close to two times. Packages with a missing coin or coins are the least valuable and are normally worth less than a usual set.

It makes sense to take a look at your government packaged coins and sets for mistakes or uncommon varieties, and to carefully preserve any that are not precisely what you would assume them to be. Their policy is to exchange any coins that are not satisfactory, but in almost all situations you can be glad to include them in your collection.