Dime : FB Or +

Good theory's on both. but for me ,I'd rather have full bands. just my preference .

I'd prefer an FB rather than a + myself. Do you have a price range you are trying to stay in?

moxking, not really. Just a generalized question.

Good Golly, Tbone. That Merc is spectacular.

Some dates are more scarce with FB than others within the series for Mercury dimes.

Would you pass on a MS65FB 1921-D just to buy a "prettier" MS65+ 1921-D w/o full bands? Let that guide your approach.

I have a MS66 1948-S Roosevelt and a MS66FT 1948 Roosevelt, both blast white, and the 48-S walks all over the FT Philly mint coin.

A certain % of Mercury dimes will be FB, but a smaller % of those same dimes will be choice "within" the grade, and an even smaller % will be both FB and + or * worthy.

Some FB Mercs have been sliding recently, a fact that seems to somehow get mentioned in every single bluesheet/greysheet lead story.

I'd take the "prettier" coin over the "technically better struck" coin, a MS66+ over a MS66FB/FT. If you want to see why, search auction listings and compare the number of PCGS or NGC +/* coins vs. the number of FB/FT coins.

Now, on the other hand, if buying for resale or investment, then FB/FT coins obviously carry a price premium (the merits of which are questionable, but that's another topic) which may be beneficial in the long run.

The TPGs definitely prefer the "grade within a grade" system, hence the existence of */+, FT/FSB/FBL/FS/FSH, and CAC.

Beautiful dime TBone....of course ALL your dimes are beautiful! Thank you for sharing your pictures

As already noted with Mercury dimes, some with FSB are very, very expensive regardless of the grade. For example that 1945. There is approximately only about 2% of all the 45's Minted that ended up with FSB. That middle band just never came out great. Same with many other years but not as drastic as the 1945. What is another unusual thing about the 45 is that it was one of the highest minted coins in the series @ 159,130,000.
I'm presently attempting to make a complete set of Mercury dimes with all FSB's. Only a few more to go. Myself, I'd prefer the FSB coin over the higher graded one but mostly due to when they get up there in grade, so much depends on the TPGS and who at that place did the grading. What could be a MS-65 to one, might become a MS-67 to someone else. I'll just stick to my FSB set.