by Charles Morgan for CoinWeek…
CoinWeek reader Matthew Himes has shared an interesting packaging error. On May 27, he received a 2025 Proof Set from the United States Mint that contained not one but two 2025-S Lincoln Shield Cent Proof coins. The second coin was accidentally sealed inside of the set’s hard packaging, partially covering the upper left portion of the Native American Dollar.
Himes was interested in finding out if other collectors received sets with similar issues and wanted to know if the set was more valuable because of its unusual composition.
This set is what’s known as a packaging error. Unfortunately, outside of being an interesting conversation piece, the set carries little-to-no added premium due to the inclusion of the extra coin.
Some collectors might even find that the defect takes away from the set because the added one-cent coin is distracting, partially obstructs the view of the dollar coin, and may even have damaged it.
In his 40+ years of collecting, Himes can think of only one other time when he received an unexpected surprise from the United States Mint. That was in 2000, when he purchased an Uncirculated Coin Set only to discover that the set accidentally included a Martha Washington Dollar Pattern (Judd-2185) instead of the expected 2000-P Sacagawea Dollar coin.
That pattern, worth $1,500 or more dollars, depending on the grade, elevate a set that would otherwise be worth only about $10-$15.
If we have proof sets that was packaged by the US mint, is it better to sell individually or altogether? For instance, I have all proofs of 1983 1987ECT.