Google has failed me! It cannot lead me to a page that clearly explains what the Mint Cabinet was or is. Q. David Bowers has referred to it in a number of articles in The Numismatist. My best guess is it was (or is) the symbolic place where examples of all coins and bills produced by the U.S. Mint are stored, and which were (are) used for exhibitions. Can you correct or elaborate on my description? Thanks in advance.

I assume people have their proof sets graded. Does this mean the plastic package with the proofs are sent to the grading service and each coin is removed, graded, and “slabed”? Is this common practice for the most modern US proof coins?

To honor the collecting efforts of my father-in-law, I was able to almost fill the Littleton 1930 - 1958 coin folder, with the glaring exception of the 1931 pennies (Philadelphia, D and S). Shopping for these pennies becomes a challenge. Many are for bid on eBay. Some are buy now, but the images may not be sufficient to examine them carefully.� I know we are only talking about a few dollars except for the -S or for mint or proof state. I just need a nice penny to match the ones already in the folder. Where does one go to purchase such modest items? There is no coin shop in my immediate area, or a pending coin show. I am not looking to make an "investment" in coin "assets" just to complete a coin folder. Any recommendations?

I'm in my sixties and I'm starting to collect coins, seeded by a modest inherited collection. I vaguely remember having some coin folders when I was a young boy, but I did not develop and continue the hobby, when spare change was more relevant to coin collecting than today's pocket change. The attached image is the first section in my Littleton Washington Quarter Folder, 1932-1947. It reveals the only two missing quarters in this Folder: 1932-D & 1932-S. I can go to the bank and get rolls of quarters, but I'm not going to find these two quarters. If I pay significant money for these two coins, I'm not going to take them out of their certified cases and put them in the folder. �Now I have to make a decision - What is my intention for collecting coins? I'll keep this answer brief. I'm going to collect coins for coin folders, but pass up spending more than $5 to $10 for that rarer than average coin missing from a folder. I will call this PHASE ONE of my coin collecting activities. Once the penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and perhaps half dollar and dollar coin folders are as complete as possible without investing significant amounts of money for a single coin, then PHASE ONE will be complete. That will mean some slots will never be filled, but so be it.�

I think I read the Buffalo Nickel was issued for the minimum period of time (25 years) and then replaced by the Jefferson Nickel (80 years and still going). The Buffalo Nickel is such a strong image of Americana despite devastation brought on the American Indians and one of their major sources for survival - the Buffalo. The images on the coin are magnificent. I wish the U S Mint would bring them back to the 5 cent piece - to be shared by many who could not invest in the gold Buffalo coins currently available.�