United States Silver Coins Struck From 1965 Through 1991
To be sure, the 1992 Silver Proof Sets were not the first gear silver products released by the United States Mint since 1964 ; to reiterate they marked the release of the first 90 % Silver Roosevelt Dimes, Washington Quarters, and Kennedy Half Dollars in about three decades. A immediate glance through the annals of modern numismatic history reveals several early types of silver coins were produced by the United States Mint between 1964 and 1992 .
These include the 40 % Silver Kennedy Half Dollars struck with a special mint set complete from 1965 through 1967, clientele strikes of 1965 through 1970, and proofs produced from 1968 through 1970. meanwhile, Proof and Uncirculated Eisenhower Dollars were offered in 40 % silver clad compositions from 1971 through 1974, followed by the 40 % Silver 1776-1976 Bicentennial Quarters, Half Dollars, and Dollars struck in 1975 and 1976 .
The foremost 90 % silver coins made in 18 years were offered in 1982 with the George Washington 250th Anniversary Half Dollar, the first United States commemorative coin made since 1954. This first modern-era 90 % silver commemorative launched a series of many early commemoratives, including dollar coins and gold neologism that continues today.
The Opening of a New Silver Era
Brochure cover.
The new 1992 Silver Proof Sets were made potential by room of Public Law 101-585, which was signed by President George Herbert Walker Bush on November 15, 1990 and authorizes the United States Mint to issue 90 % Silver Proof Sets. The U.S. Mint capitalized on its two-hundredth anniversary in 1992 as an opportunity to release these first new silver proof sets and did thus in gala fashion.
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“ Reintroducing An Old Favorite ” reads the header of the glossy booklet released by the U.S. Mint in 1992 to advertise the beginning new ash grey proof sets since 1964. The new 1992 Silver Proof Sets were offered in two options – a elementary five-coin lens housed in cardboard sleeve or a more deluxe extend with the like five-coin lens in a particular display case. The 1992 Silver Proof Set with the basic cardboard sleeve was issued at an basic price of $ 18, while the 1992 Premier Silver Proof Set was in the first place offered for $ 29.50. introductory pricing ended on June 30, 1992, with prices going up to $ 21 for the basic proof set and $ 37 for Premier option.
Either way, both 1992 Silver Proof Set options provide collectors with the same five coins, including a 1992-S Proof Lincoln Cent, 1992-S Proof Jefferson Nickel, 1992-S 90 % Silver Proof Roosevelt Dime, 1992-S 90 % Silver Proof Washington Quarter, and 1992-S 90 % Silver Proof Kennedy Half Dollar. evening with silver prices hovering about $ 4 per snow leopard in 1992, collectors inactive clamored to spend $ 20 or more on buying these particular proof sets – the first of their kind in a generation. The U.S. Mint sold 1,009,586 of the basic 1992 Silver Proof Sets, while 308,055 of the 1992 Premier Silver Proof Sets were distributed .
Silver Proof Sets Became A Modern-Day Staple
The Bicentennial of the United States Mint in 1992 was a major juncture that was wide celebrated in the numismatic avocation. One of the survive legacies from that elated menstruation that we placid enjoy today are the many fantastic ash grey numismatic products that have since been issued. In the years after 1992, the U.S. Mint catalog – the print booklet and finally the on-line version – became filled with a variety show of silver options appealing to a wide assortment of collectors .
Since 1992, countless new United States Mint products have been released containing at least one exemplar of a regular-issue, circulating United States coin in a beautiful silver format of 90 % fineness or pure. Given the incredible success of the silver coin programs since the early 1990s, the 1992 Silver Proof Set and its neologism serves an authoritative position in the cabinets of the modern collector if not as a curio ( which it is not ) then as a symbolic open chapter for the diverse United States Mint intersection offerings with which collectors today have become fondly familiar .
Works Cited
- “Silver Price History.” SilverPrice. March 18, 2020.
- “The 1992 Silver Proof Set” (Brochure). The United States Mint. United States Government, 1992.
- Yeoman, R.S. and Kenneth Bressett. A Guide Book of United States Coins. Whitman Publishing, 2019.
