Posted 11 years ago
aghcollect
(2304 items)
This is a token from a 1965 U.S. Special Mint Coin Set which were issued in cellophane sealed packets. - Marking in silver on blue plastic. - 1" diameter.
Obverse & Reverse are identical - the reverse is just transposed
-- In mid-1964, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that the mint would not offer Proof Sets or Mint Sets the following year. This prompted a nationwide shortage of circulating coins, wrongly blamed on coin collectors. In 1966, the San Francisco Mint began striking coins dated 1965 for inclusion in United States Special Mint Sets. These were issued in the same type of cellophane (or pliofilm) packaging as prior year Proof Sets, however the coins were of brilliant quality and not "proof" quality. For the subsequent years of 1966 and 1967, the Special Mint Sets were newly offered in rigid, sonically sealed plastic holders and the quality of the coins improved somewhat in 1966 over the 1965, and in 1967 had improved to a more proof-like quality. The 1966 and 1967 sets did not include the above token, only the 1965 sets did. - From 1968 on, the Treasury returned to issuing both Mint Sets and Proof Sets so the "Special Mint Set" series had only a three-year production, 1965 / 1966 / 1967.