Do you have any 2003 Silver Proof Sets? The set contains the five state quarters (Illinois, Alabama, Maine, Missouri and Arkansas) in one lens and the cent, nickel, dime, half dollar and dollar in a second lens. The red and white outer box includes the Mint’s emblem for the state quarters program and states “United States Mint Silver Proof Set™ 2003.”
Some of these sets include a Certificate of Authenticity that contains the correct information for the silver state quarters but shows the clad information for the dime and half dollar.
The inside version of the certificate is correct.
The outer portion showing the other coins’ composition contains the incorrect details.
On the corrected version, the information shows the proper details for the silver dime and half dollar.
When the US Mint caught the error, they sent the following letter with the correct Certificate of Authenticity.
The contents state:
Dear Customer,
While the United States Mint strives to provide the highest quality products and service to our customers, we regret that the 2003 United States Mint Silver Proof Set™ you recently purchased contains an inaccurate Certificate of Authenticity.
The Certificate of Authenticity indicates that the Roosevelt dime and the Kennedy half dollar included in the set contains 8.33 percent nickel with a balance of copper. The composition of these coins in the United States Mint Silver Proof Set is 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper – a combination known as “coin silver.”
The weight of the Roosevelt dime and the Kennedy half dollar were also incorrectly indicated as 2.268 grams and 11.340 grams respectively. The reprinted Certificate of Authenticity contains the correct weight of 2.5 grams for the dime and 12.5 grams for the half dollar coin.
Unfortunately, prior to discovering the discrepancies, a number of sets containing the incorrect Certificates of Authenticity had already been shipped. We have enclosed a corrected Certificate of Authenticity for your set.
If you would like further information, please contact the United States Mint at 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468) between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and midnight (Eastern Time). Hearing- and speech-impaired customers with TTY equipment may call 1-888-321-MINT (321-6468).
We appreciate your support of the 2003 United States Mint Silver Proof Set Program and hope that you will allow us to be of service to you in the future.
Sincerely,
Gloria C. Eskridge
Associate Director for Sales and Marketing
United States Mint
If you purchased the US Mint’s 2003 Silver Proof Set from the Mint early in the program you may have received one of these letters. If you purchased your set(s) later in the program, they should contain the correct Certificate(s) of Authenticity.
But, if you purchased or plan to purchase 2003 Silver Proof Sets from a dealer, you may want to verify which certificate the sets contain – the silver Certificate of Authenticity or the half silver, half clad Certificate of Authenticity.
Well, I think the mint had the right COA in there at first ,on 3/19/11 I just cracked opened a 2003 silver proof set and a 2004 and to my amazement the halves and the dimes are clad! NOT Silver. So how many have these sets were sold by the mint as SILVER when they were actually giving you clads for the halves and dimes? How many people bust open their Sets? US.MINT has committed fraud on the consumer!
It’s not impossible that the Mint made the mistake, but it’s unlikely that their processes, which are mostly automated these days, would intersperse clad into the silver sets – not impossible, just not likely. On the other hand, nefarious individuals break open sets to remove and/or replace the coins with less valuable ones more frequently than we would like.
Since the Mint allows returns on coins, someone could have purchased clad and silver sets, moved the coins from the clad set to the silver set and returned the silver set (now containing clad coins) for a refund. One would hope the Mint personnel would see the fraud in the return, but they could have missed it. The silver/clad set could have gone back into their silver proof set inventory to be sold again.
Now, if these sets came from a coin dealer rather than the Mint, dealers frequently buy proof sets from individuals and do not always check to make sure the sets contain what the packaging implies they are. Furthermore, they put them on sale without checking them.
We’ve bought large proof set deals from other dealers. In them, we’ve found a variety of issues. We’ve found proof sets with empty lenses. We’ve found silver proof sets with clad coins – and not always all clad, sometimes just one or two. We’ve also found proof sets with the coins replaced with circulated coins. When we alert the dealers, sometimes they remember who they bought the deal from, but frequently they they don’t.
It always makes one wonder if the proof set issues are intentional fraud, or did someone inherit a collection, not realizing some of the pieces were incomplete, and just bundled it together to sell. Unfortunately, it’s probably 80% fraud and 20% lack of knowledge.
I have one of these sets can anyone tell me there value?
The value of a 2003 silver proof set (red package) will fluctuate with the ups and downs of silver prices. The set contains seven 90% silver coins with the dime, the half dollar and five quarters. Their silver content equates to roughly 1.34 troy ounces of silver.
The proof coins are also valuable as a set, but the silver market impacts the set’s value more today.
With the recent market changes in silver, the 2003 silver proof set’s value could range between $40 and $60.
As for the 2003 regular proof set (blue package), its market value is much less since the supply far outweighs the demand for the proof cupronickel clad coins. On recent market sheets, the set’s worth is not much more than the face value of the coins inside.
That set’s value will increase at some point, but for now the interest (that is, demand) is more toward the silver and gold coins.