Is This Mercury Dime Lot A Good Buy?

Yeah , I wouldn't spend more than $25 .

Yeah, that would be preferable but I personally would not pay more than $20 for the lot...

I would have been out bid. I would have tapped out in the $15-17. If I was looking for that semi-key 26s, my personal strategy would have been a quality v quantity and to focus on a lot that was just one of these in nicer shape. Quality vs quantity, I suppose! I hope these fill some holes though!

the coins came to me today the 26 s is about a VG details cleaned. the rest are
28 s F-VF
20 s F-VF
30 XF
26 VF

i don't think I did too bad considering these will be the start of an album for me. also just 30 more mercy in the mail today for around 14x face

I'm collecting pre-1934 mercs. Your grading assessment on these seems right on. I am curious about the "details cleaned" note. I personally want to stay away from cleaned coins if possible. Are you thinking this based on the scratches all over the coin? Is that likely not just due to decades of wear in pockets and coin registers?

Well put.

Thanks mcanniz! Yep, close up pics are likely necessary to see scratches all running in the same direction, though even in these photos (the 1926-S in this post) I think it is at least suspect for historic scrubbing; and I definitely agree about seeing a lot of wear w/o toning. I just passed up bidding on a 1921 Peace $1 (small local auction company) because on close inspection of the pics, you could clearly see wear, no mint luster, yet no toning at all, except for just a hint around the devices. I compared with all the graded "details" versions of the same coin selling on ebay. I would much rather purchase a non-scratched up and toned coin -- this is what is often called "original skin", "problem free", "good eye appeal", etc.

But to terry8835's point, while these G & VG key and semi-key mercs might be plentiful, the "good eye appeal" and "original skin" specimens are less so. Last year I picked up a few dozen pre-1934 mercs at a pawn shop for around $3.20 each, most G/VG, a few F/VF. I'd like to start by building two pre-1934 sets at each of these two grade levels. I like the idea of well matched sets (i.e., coins all about the same grade). At the EF range, I think you're looking at around $2,500 (w/o the 1916-D of course) - that's based on USA Coin Book and Numismedia FMV price guides; and again just for the pre-1934 issues. I'd love to hear more about how you could build an entire set at EF for "less than a thousand dollars".

Good question Numisma! I find that 42 issue early sub-set more interesting for several reasons. Based on mintages, around 3 out of 4 Mercury dimes were minted 1934 and later; the early set (pre-1934) is currently more valuable, and I see that value increasing sooner than the late dates. Aside from that, those early dates likely circulated more, so finding choice specimens is going to be more of a challenge. Look at any price guide and see how dynamic the valuation on those early dates is compared to the relative static valuation on the late dates. It is a vintage set that seems far more interesting with respect to collectibility. I'd love to hear what others think about collecting early mercs.