Later today, April 18, the United States Mint will release one of its most popular annual numismatic products. Beginning at Noon (ET), the 2016 Silver Proof Set will be available for $52.95.
Found in the set are thirteen proof quality coins representing the nation’s circulating coinage for the year. Of those thirteen, seven are composed in 90% silver and 10% copper.
One thing to bear in mind, this set is one of the last to include Presidential dollars since 2016 marks the 10th and final year for the U.S. Mint’s Presidential $1 Coin Program. In addition, this year’s set could be the last to have coins in 90% silver.
Last Year for 90% Silver Coins?
Late last year, the U.S. Mint was granted authority to produce coins in higher silver purity, like .999 fine. The authorization came as part of the FAST Act, which was signed into law on Dec. 4, 2015. The Act struck the traditional 90/10 language and replaced it with "not less than 90 percent silver."
Silver Proof Set Coins
The complete 2016 Silver Proof Set includes the following coins:
- 2016-S Richard M. Nixon Presidential $1 Coin
- 2016-S Gerald R. Ford Presidential $1 Coin
- 2016-S Ronald Reagan Presidential $1 Coin
- 2016-S Native American $1 Coin
- 2016-S Silver Kennedy Half-Dollar
- 2016-S Silver Shawnee National Forest Quarter (Illinois)
- 2016-S Silver Cumberland Gap National Historic Park Quarter (Kentucky)
- 2016-S Silver Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Quarter (West Virginia)
- 2016-S Silver Theodore Roosevelt National Park Quarter (North Dakota)
- 2016-S Silver Fort Moultrie (Fort Sumter National Monument) Quarter (South Carolina)
- 2016-S Silver Roosevelt Dime
- 2016-S Jefferson Nickel
- 2016-S Lincoln Cent
Coins are struck to collector proof quality at the U.S. Mint facility in San Francisco. They feature sharper reliefs, mirror-like backgrounds and attractive frosted foregrounds — a finish created by using hand-polished coin blanks, polished dies and multiple press strikings. The proof coins also carry S mint marks.
The seven silver coins weigh 1.338 troy ounces. Based on Friday’s London Fix for silver of $16.17 an ounce, this gives the set a value in silver of about $21.64. For comparison, last year’s 2015 Silver Set had an approximate silver value of $23.28 based on the market conditions when it debuted on May 14, 2015.
All of the remaining six coins are minted in normal circulating composition. For reference, the face value of the thirteen coins total up to $5.91.
Coins of the set are not exclusive to it. For example, the quarters and Presidential dollars are also available separately in their own proof sets. The U.S. Mint earlier introduced the 2016 Presidential $1 Coin Proof Set for $17.95 and the 2016 America the Beautiful Quarters Silver Proof Set for $31.95.
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Ordering
2016 Silver Proof Sets may be ordered directly from the U.S. Mint’s website, located here, or by calling 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468). No household or ordering limits apply and no pre-determined mintage level has been announced.
The set from 2015 is still available from the Mint for $53.95. It has sales of 369,243 through April 10, 2016.
They should stick with the 90/10 composition.
Last of the Presidential dollars – finally!
re: silver content – don’t think it matters much since they’ll never be spent. However if this is the last of the 90% sets could be worth more investment-wise since it’s the last of an era. Also the first >90% set could be worth more as a first aside from the increased silver content but considering the volumes involved probably not much.
I’ll order this on the 21st with the mercury gold to save on shipping.
What are the costs of 90/10 coin blanks vs .999 silver coin blanks? If .999 blanks are cheaper to make then that will be more profit for the mint.
Not sure if the .999 will be cheaper on their end but rest assured they will be charging more 🙂
Brian Miller – It’s interesting that the S&H doesn’t change regardless of the quantity or value of one’s order. I’ve always thought that they should forgo the S&H charge for subscription orders to incentivize people to subscribe. But since the mint is so secretive about it’s costs no one has any idea how many of any particular product are subscriptions to be able to tell if doing so would make a difference in sales. If I remember correctly the few times the mint did offer free S&H it was always near the end of the year and when all subscriptions… Read more »
The Cumberland Gap 5-ounce silver bullion version coin was released for sale today (about 48,000 coins sold today) by the Mint also, both on income tax day!
-NumisDudeTX
The US Mint is getting Cheap in many respects……I had to return a set of badly struck Coins, which of course I had to pay the shipping costs again…. shouldn’t the Mint be Liable for sending out poorly produced Product ?
Make sure you use a magnifying glass when examining these coins. I found discoloration on the Sacagawa dollar plus a gouge on her forehead. Also a piece missing on Kennedy forehead and there is liquid of some sort in the plastic container. Needless to say everything is going back. This is the second time in the last three months I have sent coins back. And I think we buyers should not have to pay for the shipping. WRITE YOU CONGRESS PERSON.
The quality of some coins have gone down.
Better yet, write to the Secretary of the Treasury. He has direct responsibility over the mint and Jepson reports to him.
I had read in various comments sections about how the proof sets are declining in quality with trash and debris inside the proof sets. I experienced this first hand this week with the 2016 Silver proof set that I got. The presidential dollar set had some type of debris inside the case and resting loosely on the Nixon coin. When I looked at it with a loupe it looked like human skin! I took a picture and included the picture with the set in case the debris (which appeared to be loose and not stuck to the coin) moved. The… Read more »
Thank you for your response. I hope the mint staff pay attention to the problems the collectors are having. I love collecting coins but lately the mint has failed to ensure quality of their products. I don’t know who or what is the problem, but Check your coins carefully..
Blame it on Dep Dir Jeppson for not managing quality control of the mint manufacturing and packaging processes as he should be, and write to the Secretary of the Treasury – his boss – to complain about the poor job Jeppson is doing.
Since robots started picking up the coins & putting them in the plastic holders at the San Francisco Mint 2 years ago, the quality has gone down. Before that every Proof set was hand-inspected. Quality control on core annual sets is almost non-existent now.
-NumisDudeTX