Readers Ask from the Jan. 25, 2016, Weekly issue of Coin World:

The U.S. Mint collaborated with the ANA in 1993 to produce a limited number of Bill of Rights half dollars in a Freedom Pack. They were actually serialized on each coin with a mintage of 9,656 coins. I have five of these sequentially numbered. Mention has all but disappeared about this low number. Any thoughts on these?

Paul Brophy  /  via email

The collaboration was actually between the American Numismatic Association and the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation, the recipient of the net surcharges of commemorative coin sales.

The ANA purchased at a bulk discount Uncirculated 1993-W James Madison/Bill of Rights silver half dollars.

The ANA contracted with the private minting firm of SilverTowne in Winchester, Ind., to remove a portion of the reeding on the edge of each half dollar and to impress, incused, the ANA’s “Lamp of Learning” logo, the organization’s acronym (ANA), a sequential serial number, the Madison foundation’s acronym (JMMFF) and an outlined portrait of James Madison.

All of the coins altered have a five-digit serial number on the edge. The first coin was numbered No. 00001. The 9,656 Freedom Packs were sold between July 28, 1993, and Oct. 15, 1993, for $19.95 each.

Individual silver half dollars were sold by the Mint for an introductory price of $9.50 and for a regular price of $11.50.

Coins sold in the Freedom Pack represent nearly 5 percent of the total 193,346 Uncirculated 1993-W Bill of Rights silver half dollars recorded sold by the U.S. Mint. 

The set was intended as an educational tool to provide information about coin collecting, the ANA and the James Madison foundation. The foundation received a $3 surcharge for each Freedom Pack sold.

The set is not heavily traded in the marketplace today. Five numismatic dealers who handle U.S. Mint products on a regular basis said they have not handled any of the Freedom Packs in recent years.

Several eBay sales of the Freedom Packs have occurred in recent months, with prices ranging between $25 and $30 each.