Britcoin

With regard to the 1984 Jamaica specimen set (I have no further news about the 2002 proof set)) - I was able to locate the Belize 1984 specimen set as reported in another post. This together with the fact that I have found separate unc. 1984 FM coins including the 50c piece leave hope that this may be out there somewhere. The Franklin Mint seems to not have pushed the specimen sets of these later years, such as 1983 & '84 and indeed was ratcheting down on even the once very profitable proof sets. I have no idea if it would be possible to find any formerly ACTIVE members of the Franklin Collector Society as they had many privileges and accesses to the mint, or at least it is my understanding....

I was just this last month able to secure a 1983 Isle of Man Proof Viking On Horseback Sovereign. An attractive series, mostly unloved, and to the same weight standard as the GB sovereigns. Pobjoy mint struck these, and Krause does not list anything after 1982. Southhall (sp?) has the 1983 date printed out in the different denominations with no information or type of strike. Pobjoy inquiries then refer to him, but he has been inaccurate on some of the other sovs. and fractional in this series. PM me if anyone wants more information, though this coin is certainly not for sale.

Or perhaps it is copper-nickel in composition as these are known & have a few off metal strikes. I also have one that appears to be plated with vanadium, or some other such silver-appearing metal. Weight?

I think one thing that would be interesting re: Franklin Mint is if anyone were to uncover records of minting coins in the 1981-1985 period - these are just not available in any comprehensive form. I can offer anecdotes based on intense pursuit of them, but that is all they are & certainly it remains possible if less likely over time that mini-hoards may show. It is also reported that members of the Franklin Collector Society (or similar name) had access to "special" releases which may include coins like the 1982 Belize $10 mule.

For some reason, Valcambi mint did this on several issues but not aware of anyone paying EXTRA - although they do try to get more on eBay, these don't seem to sell for premiums. They did this on Dahomey and Anguilla coins also.

I was recently able to locate and fortunately purchase a 1984 Belize Specimen Set of 8 coins struck by the Franklin Mint. This is listed in Krause but in 30 years I have never seen or heard of this set & I thought it was simply a "placesaver" in Krause. I am pleased to report that it exists and that it is just as earlier sets in the series as far as packaging, wallet, and the Prooflike surfaces of the coins. Also, I have not seen ANY other Franklin Mint specimen sets of coins of this year despite relentless searching. I did manage to get some individual Barbados and Jamaica single uncirculated 1984 coins & the Jamaica 10 dollar Marlin coin in unc that was packaged separately (the Valcambi Mint struck some Olympic commems in 1984 in 10 and 25 D. denominations featuring a lone sprinter). If any other readers have info concerning Franklin Mint unc. or specimen coins of 1984 or 1985 please post or PM me.

OK, hit me in the head as the second enquiry to the Royal Mint through their Facebook page resulted in nothing. No further 4-1-1 to offer. For other Jamaica collectors out there, another "unicorn" would be the 1984 Franklin Mint Specimen/Uncirculated Set (not the proof set which is fairly scarce also). It supposedly exists, but I have only been able to get the single uncirculated Marlin $10 coin and then separate Unc. FM mint marked 20c and 50c coins. If the mintage numbers in Krause is correct, then very few seem to have survived. Just for research purposes, it would be interesting if anybody wants to post other information in addition or would PM me on this.

I wrote back to the RM and this itself was over a month ago with as yet no response. Not a surprise at all...

Yes, thanks for that bit. I have of course corresponded with BoJ and ordered from them directly, the most interesting being a 1999 set I was not able to get otherwise and seemed to show up under a pile of other bits down there - this after saying they had nothing but the 1992 and 1993 sets (now almost 25 years old!). I have spoken to several people down there but since I don't really have any "pull", perhaps did not get all the attention that somebody with such might have! JamaicaCoinCollector has evidently been there in person with no better results is what I've gathered. Still these questions remain a mystery - I will try to report back if anything of interest turns up.

Royal Mint DID NOT GET BACK TO ME! Oh, well about as I expected....

I have inquired again about the above point of the Royal Mint just this last week and will report on results. I have specifically asked them if the 2002 set was struck, and if the authorized mintage was how many actually made and DELIVERED - in other words just how many were made for collectors. I suspect this will have an "umbrella" effect for understanding mintages by the Royal Mint for many of their foreign customers. I have always wondered if there was a sellout of issues such as the Tyco Brahe commemorative, an absurd commemorative that seems to only appear very occasionally. Many other examples as well.

Yes, good to see a post from Jamaicacoincollector. I still have not seen the 2002 proof set; I suspect it exists because of the crown which is of the type and dimensions of the crowns from the previous decade to that & that the other types from 2001 were still evidently struck. Not a lot of collectors of this stuff, but at least a couple of enthusiasts (Jcc and I) out there. I got an extra 1991 just because it is scarce to rare and because the price was right - must be crazy!

Yes, certainly. Also one of their main engravers works at US Mint now. Wish he could influence the designs!

Addendum: I have just noticed that the so-called "Treasure Coins" of Br. Virgin Islands struck in 1992 and 1993 have the Franklin Mint monogram on them. No idea if they struck them however - 7 years after they had supposedly ceased coin striking operations.

Wonderful coins, though I am partial to Victoria. That is a proof as best as can be judged from the photos, and is an example of cameo "tin foil" appearance. I have seen a number of the 1853, 1862 and 1864 pieces with only a couple having this surface. Also, occ. see the 1839 proof with this - at one time on the pcgs pop. reports as a "deep cameo". Congratulations on them - let me know if you ever want to dispose of the Vick!

Update Jamaica Proof Sets: None. LOL! This STILL remains an enigmatic series. All dates 1987 through 2001 confirmed, along with the 1985 and all from the Royal Mint. 1970-1984 from Franklin Mint. The extremely rare sets are 1996-1999, with 1991 & 2001 just behind. The 2002? Good luck, and post me if you should run across any more information.

Nice tone there, and I agree with the above - likely secondary to storage and middle of coin contact with whatever it has been stored in. Keep on showing us more coins!

Looks to be nice lustre, possibly dipped at one time. From pictures, the obverse points to a "63" or possibly "64" grade IMO.

No further information about sets, although the 2002 crown did appear on ebay last month (lost that one) - no wonder it is not popular as the theme was "2002 World JUNIOR Track and Field Championships"! That is a really poor event IMO to memorialize on a coin. So it is possible the set exists for 2002 even though there are none at Bank of Jamaica and nobody there has heard of it. Royal Mint still does not respond to enquiry about which years were struck and what the NET numbers struck were. This is important as the authorized mintage is not necessarily the final mintage as we know, at least with respect to the RM.

This is a very exciting hunt, even if the coins themselves are not that spectacular - IMO the National Heroes series of coins are very dull and lifeless and the included crowns less than spectacular with plenty of poorly executed sports events, soccer championships, etc. The Royal Mint less than helpful, and even poor results from B. of Jamaica - I tried sweet talk, flirting, etc. and did manage to somehow shake out a 1999 set . The others are REALLY tough, the '97 perhaps the toughest with the '96 and '98 very difficult. As was stated, I can not seem to get confirmation of ACTUAL number of sets struck and released. I can not prove but strongly suspect that some years are quite a bit scarcer than others despite all having an authorized mintage of 500 sets for all but the '85 (1,000).

Thanks, this is the kind of stuff collectors like: prowling around the old stock of Central Banks for 20-30 yr old sets & dredging up remainders of poorly publicized and rare bits at decent prices! First Love is truly Late copper and silver milled, 1837-1965 but very little around that fits my collection at civilized prices…LOL

Just to add, now have that set in hand. Fun getting great rarities for real world prices... Still am hunting the 2002, at least for pictures to share...

I don't mean to sound presumptive but I think that you are presenting objectivity which is as it should be. They overall IMO do a decent job, but point being is that on this series of matte proofs, both PC and N have done abysmal jobs and whoever does the grading of these is (obviously IMO) not quite clear on what they are. BTW, I think they do not use past 10 power as is described somewhere on their site... I can readily (but am piss poor at posting) cite examples of especially the 1902 coins with one graded "60" being every bit the equal of another graded "64", let alone 62s versus 64s. This date is a bit easier to cite as the proof and patterns struck in satin or matte are very scarce and so there is not a lot of population to use for comparison. I have also seen the satin specimen/proof 1923 threepence that is struck in nickel with two known and can categorically state that the coin graded "63" is every bit the equal of the other struck, now graded "66". Many other examples... Going to related but different series, I know of a gentleman that submitted a 1905 half crown some years ago to PC that was clearly one of the finest known, only to be disappointed by it coming back "58". He was rather incensed by recall and sent it back demanding an explanation - low and behold, it came back "63" and possibly under graded at that!

Indeed. A real problem as per the OP is that the grading is INCONSISTENT, and not just harsh. I have seen some bits graded 64 definitely inferior to others graded 61. In the case of the 1951 matte proof halfcrown, a 61 every bit the equal of the other graded 66! Yikes, that is problematic and by inference to some degree condemns some of the rest of their grading. Let us not go there with the outrageous "First Strike" or "First Release" designations.

Adddendum: Private correspondence has confirmed that there is a 1997 set! Very ugly manatee crown with the usual also almost as ugly National Hero series. Don't have it yet though…. Now, is there a 2002 set?