The retail price of the 10-coin 2001-S Silver Proof set has quadrupled its issue price of $31.95, currently selling in the secondary market for as much as $124.95.
The 2001-S Silver Proof set is the lowest-mintage set since the silver version was re-introduced in 1992. Just 317,142 of the 2001-S Silver Proof sets were sold by the Mint.
Prices for some of the recent Uncirculated Mint sets from the Mint are also climbing, but for different reasons.
Dealers contacted by Coin World indicated the 2001-S Silver Proof sets experienced low sales because of the number of 2000-S Silver Proof sets that dealers were unable to sell into the secondary market.
The Mint sold 804,565 of the 1999-S Silver Proof sets, the first year of the 50 State Quarters program. Banking on the success of the 1999 program, sales for the 2000-S Silver Proof sets climbed to 965,421, many to dealers.
However, dealers were left with many of the 2000-S Silver Proof sets in inventory and as a result, didn't order as many 2001-S Silver Proof sets. As a result, the 2001-S Silver Proof sets were dispersed primarily from the Mint to collectors who ordered one or two sets each. Dealers have been unable to acquire any significant supply of 2001-S sets to meet subsequent demand.
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NUMEROUS 2001-P and 2001-D Uncirculated Mint sets were dismantled by dealers to sell the Kennedy half dollars individually to collectors.
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"A lot of dealers got burned on the 2000 sets," Paul Sims of Paul Sims Inc., Richmond, Va., said. "They acquired more than could be absorbed. Many didn't order the 2001 sets and now those sets are dispersed everywhere. If you want to get a decent supply of them, you'd have to write checks to a whole bunch of people."
He expects the retail price of 2001-S Silver Proof sets to settle back to the $110 mark.
Kirk Kelly from The Coin Depot, Greenville, S.C., said when the Mint began running low on its inventory of 2001-S Silver Proof sets, he was told by Mint officials there were plenty of sets still left. However, that didn't turn out to be the case, he said.
When buying such sets from the Mint, Kelly said he purchases the number he believes the market can absorb from him over a two-year period so that he doesn't have to go into the aftermarket to acquire sets at a premium.
Ken Pines from Coast to Coast Coins, Columbia, Md., said, "contrarians seem to do the best. The year that it appears nobody wants it seems to be the time it turns out they do want it."
"Nobody hoarded the 2001 [Silver Proof] sets," Pines said. "They were distributed mainly to collectors. Very few have been coming back on the market." Distribution of a set over the first five years will determine how well a set will perform in the long-term, Pines says. "If they are dispersed evenly and there are no hoards, I feel the set will rise in price," he said. "It will take a few years before they all get absorbed."
A different situation developed with the 2001 Uncirculated Mint sets, of which the Mint sold more than 1.1 million. Sims said his company purchased 80,000 of the sets directly from the Mint, but sold 5,000 of the sets as sets into the secondary market.
The remaining 75,000 sets were cannibalized for their 2001-P and 2001-D Kennedy half dollars to sell as individual coins to collectors. The Mint's entire production of 21.2 million 2001-P Kennedy half dollars struck for circulation is still stored in vaults along with roughly 15 million of the 19 million 2001-D half dollars.
Leon Hendrickson from SilverTowne in Winchester, Ind., said that he has been breaking up more clad Proof, Silver Proof and Uncirculated Mint sets to sell the individual coins they contain to collectors who desire them than he has been selling the sets intact.
He said there has been a severe shortage of sets not only from recent years but going back into the 1990s.
