Proof & Mint Sets

About Proof & Mint Sets

A Proof is a specimen striking of coinage for presentation, souvenir, exhibition, or numismatic purposes. Pre-1968 Proofs were made only at the Philadelphia Mint, except in a few rare instances in which presentation pieces were struck at branch mints. Current Proofs are made at San Francisco and West Point. Since 1936, these coins have been sold and distributed in collector-minded "sets" with the specially-struck examples of the denominations from that year. Official Uncirculated Mint sets are specially packaged by the government for sale to collectors. They contain Uncirculated specimens of each year's coins for every denomination issued from each mint. In previous years, the coins were the same as those normally intended for circulation and were not minted with any special consideration for quality. From 2005 through 2010, Mint sets were made with a Satin Finish rather than the traditional Uncirculated luster. As in the past, coins struck only as Proofs are not included.