Freedom from special sets?

Franklin D. Roosevelt has a very large place in American history.

He was the only person to be elected President four times.

He led the United States during the Depression and during World War II.

The U.S. Mint hopes he also will be a leader in sales.

Just before Christmas, on Dec. 22, the Mint will offer the 2014 Coin and Chronicles Set – Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The set features quite a mixture of items in it. Of course, it contains the 2014 proof FDR Presidential dollar, but it also contains a proof Roosevelt dime.

There will also be two medals, a bronze and a silver version of the Roosevelt Presidential medal.

The proof coins are from San Francisco and the medals are from Philadelphia.

In terms of metallic value, the silver medal is the prize. The Mint says it is struck on a one-ounce silver American Eagle blank.

Now collector response to medals is always problematic. We just do not respect them like we do coins.

That is perhaps why production will be limited to 20,000 sets.

Also, the Mint is throwing in some stamps to try to entice us. There will be four of them.

There is a one-cent stamp showing Hyde Park, Roosevelt’s home where he waited for the election returns to come in.

A two-cent stamp shows the “Little White House” in Warm Springs, Ga., where he would go for help to recover and then stay as strong as possible against the polio that had felled him in the 1920s.

The White House is on a three-cent stamp.

A five-cent stamp marks the Four Freedoms, a concept that helped inspire a war-torn world: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear.

Price of this set will be $57.95.

That seems a bit high.

Perhaps collector will want freedom from this special set.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is winner of the 2014 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."