New Found UNLISTED Jamaica Proof Set

[VickySilver]

Delighted to have just purchased an (unlisted) as far as I know, a 1998 Jamaica proof set struck by the Royal Mint. I had not seen it for sale in the last 10-12 years of looking. I have no idea of rarity or if others are hidden away. I got this directly from Jamaica, along with a 1996 that I was unaware of until March of this year, and also what I believe is a rather scarce 1991 set. These all have 500 authorised mintage.

I still do not know if 2002 sets were struck or if 1997 or 1999 sets were struck. There are no crowns from these years so possibly not as the "minors" are quite unsightly national hero series coins that are tiny. There was a 2002 crown, so there may have been a set that year.

Another issue is that when a COA (certificate of authenticity) says 500 sets authorised by Royal Mint, how many were net struck, or more importantly how many were actually released, and how many might be languishing in safes somewhere??

Bank of Jamaica does not respond or seem not to know what was struck or any other details and seems to STILL have in stock 1992 and 1993 sets twenty years after release. Royal Mint does not respond to even basic inquiries....

Edited June 14, 2013 by VickySilver

[Mr T]

It's annoying when you can't get answers to such a simple question. I actually did get a response to a similar question (not about Jamaican coins though) earlier this year from someone at the Royal Mint Museum, but further queries went unanswered.

Is is possible to do a freedom of information request or something like that?

[Rob]

Getting replies out of the RM, museums or any academic institution is like getting blood out of a stone. I have literally dozens of questions somewhere in various institutions' inboxes which have been ignored. Rule of thumb appears to be if it can be answered without searching then ok, o/w forget it. This would be ok if the information could be obtained by some other method. Unfortunately, the status quo tells me that most things have been saved 'from the nation' as opposed to 'for the nation'. You could try an FOI request. Personally, I have found the RM museum to be worse than useless with a score of 0 in response to requests (7).

[Mr T]

Really? I'll admit I don't really know how freedom of information laws work here in Australia let alone in the UK but I thought whoever got the request was obliged to answer it (unless it's meant to be a secret).

[nehaali]

Hi everyone,

It is really very nice and informative forum thanks for sharing ....

[Paulus]

Hi everyone,

It is really very nice and informative forum thanks for sharing ....

I have tried a couple of others, this is certainly by far the best I have come across and the only one I use regularly!

Welcome along, what is your area of interest?

[VickySilver]

A bit of an update:

there are confirmed instances of both the 1997 and 1999 sets, as I have had a communication with an individual who has one of the latter and sent pictures (the crown is a millennium ), and referred pictures of 1997 set with a World Wildlife Crown.

Has anybody heard of a Royal Mint Collector's Bulletin?

[VickySilver]

And I have just obtained the 1999 set. This has the milennium crown and the complete set of [ugly] National Heroes. I can see why these were not popular.

The 1997 set remains elusive and am still unable to confirm if a 2002 set was actually minted by the Royal Mint.

[Webcents]

Delighted to have just purchased an (unlisted) as far as I know, a 1998 Jamaica proof set struck by the Royal Mint. I had not seen it for sale in the last 10-12 years of looking. I have no idea of rarity or if others are hidden away. I got this directly from Jamaica, along with a 1996 that I was unaware of until March of this year, and also what I believe is a rather scarce 1991 set. These all have 500 authorised mintage.

I still do not know if 2002 sets were struck or if 1997 or 1999 sets were struck. There are no crowns from these years so possibly not as the "minors" are quite unsightly national hero series coins that are tiny. There was a 2002 crown, so there may have been a set that year.

Another issue is that when a COA (certificate of authenticity) says 500 sets authorised by Royal Mint, how many were net struck, or more importantly how many were actually released, and how many might be languishing in safes somewhere??

Bank of Jamaica does not respond or seem not to know what was struck or any other details and seems to STILL have in stock 1992 and 1993 sets twenty years after release. Royal Mint does not respond to even basic inquiries....

I have a 1997 set that is unlisted. Has wildlife on the coins. The large coin is .925 Sterling with Manatee on it. I would like to know what this set is worth. I have the COA with it also, it claims 500 set were produced.

[VickySilver]

Wow, that is a hard to find bit. Not in Krause. I have not seen any sales of it but will tell you that collector interest is a bit limited - why not a lot were sold originally!

If I may ask (and you may PM me if you like), where or how did you get your set?

My guess is that the range of values would be from 40 pounds to 400 pounds! At the later figure, there likely would be no buyer. I got several sets of other years from Bank of Jamaica at 40 USD plus shipping, and these were of the rarer dates as well. My estimation would be that you could evaluate it at about 200 pounds. As you know, catalogue values are relative and a set at that price could languish on the one hand, but on the other go for a bit more with two determined bidders at the same place and time. Again PM me if you have more specific questions.

[VickySilver]

I did manage to get this set thanks to Webcents above. The difficulty in getting the following years suggests there may have been far fewer than the advertised minting maximum of 500 sets:

- 1996

- 1997

- 1998

- 1999

The 2001 was quite tough as well, and I am unable to confirm the 2002 set, even though the separate crown does exist.

[jamaicacoincollector1]

Vicky i'm pleased you have completed your quest to complete the lot of jamaican proof sets (1969 - 2001).

I'm still looking for 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. You said you got 1996 and 1998 from the BoJ, when I visited last year I got the 2001 but they didnt have the other years! How frustrating! You would think they would have and keep up to date, an inventory. You get the feeling that the answer to what is available depends on the thoroughness of the search in the stock room when the question is asked. I will get a friend to drop by the bank next week.

As for 2002 and any other question about mintage etc my questions were met with indifference and puzzled bewilderment its enough to drive you bonkers, maybe if I write a book about jamaican coins when i finally retire i may unearth some of these answers from my research.

[Coinery]

Not my area, but welcome to the forum, JCC!

[VickySilver]

Ah yes, well you answered my question.

Interestingly, I was able to get the '99 set from BoJ but they did not seem to know anything about anything which was a bit of a shame. I actually have an extra 2000 set I have aside for you if we can figure an economic way to get it to you.