Collectors Of American Innovation Dollars - In Particular P And D Business Strikes

Thanks for the input --- especially datadragon. Actually what I do --- and some of you may think this is a little kooky - I spend a good deal of the mediocre ones or deposit them in a bank. I will sell a few in better condition but the majority that are not really nice Uncs, I spend. Why? Well as is implied by those who buy from ebay and other secondary market channels you do end up with many extra dollar coins if bought from the US Mint. Spending them is not a problem for me as I live in a very large city with public transportation vending machines and laundromats that accept dollar coins as well as people who use them sometimes for tolls (yes there remains tolls that do not simply read your fare card/pass). Plus in the large city I live people accept dollar coins (well as long as you keep your use to $10 or less toward each purchase). But I do it for another, buy putting them into circulation they will likely go quickly into AU or a lower Unc grade if deposited in the bank and later searched by collectors. So the population of nice Uncs decreases - albeit only very little. If more colelctors did this, it would improve the future value of what nice Uncs they find and, possibly, increase the popularity of these coins by increasing the chance of people finding them in circulation once in a great while. Fortunately mintages for the business strikes seems to be staying below 600,000 for issues from 2020 onward with even the 2019 only approaching 600,000.

I completely understand buying from ebay and have done it for a few series - a few S business strike ATB Quarters and the George Bush dollar coin. But as one whose focus are AI dollars I still feel you pay less a premium buying directly from the US Mint and to sell on ebay any Unc in a grade lower than MS64 risks having you get bad ratings or asked for a return from a buyer. I would rather avoid that hassle and sell just a handful that are MS64 or better on ebay. Right now only selling one there but in the future plan to sell more.

But here are examples of two from the top 5 I could find for the 2022 VT AI P and D bags/rolls search. Some of the tiny scratches may be from the coin capsule but you can see the difficulty of getting these coins in very high MS - the obverse has huge open fields and the reverse has a few open fields and raised areas to allow for bag marks and scratches to occur during the mint/ship process. You can see this on the reverse with that little nick. This would prevent it from ever going above MS65+ but still nicer than a MS64. Generally it seems that grades above MS 65/66 for recent AI business strikes it easy to find (unless you pay the premium dictates by a seller who does find ones in this grade or higher).

Maybe it 's worth switching to TPG - certified coins ? You will always be sure that MS65 is MS, not AU58. Yes, it's expensive, but it's more convenient and it seems to me more reliable than spending time searching, but I assume that you also get satisfaction from searching.

It is good that you are looking out for your feedback and long term as a seller and there is nothing unusual about reselling only what you consider the better quality examples and spending the rest which fits well into that mindset.

The main point you continue making is that since 2020 the quality has been far more uneven in this series and you, unlike many, are hoping to collect high grade versions of the business strikes that are going to cause issues for finding them due to the varying quality. So the main answer I suggested would be to first try rolls instead of bags, and if that isn't working well still, then move to buying TPG coins only for the business striike. It will eliminate all the issues you mentioned and although you pay since its already graded, it likely would far even out when quality is poor. When the quality improves, move back to bags where you can therefore resell more without worry it will impact your feedback and make it more likely to find what you want through that method. You then also can look for top grades at a discount and grade them to find them, which seems to be difficult when quality becomes uneven.

As mentioned, many people are simply happy just buying the proof sets as they may have the best strike and look but may not generally go up alot in value unless sets were of lower mintage. There are also tons of people who buy business strikes on ebay and would not be unhappy with the example posted especially when you use real world example pictures from the bag which I suggest rather than stock photos when quality is poor, they are not looking for the top grade. Personally I would avoid collecting the business strikes due to the uneven quality unless like you, you are willing to either search hard for them or buy TPG versions. Sometimes when quality is very poor and you put in the effort, the finding of the top grade can ultimately pay off, but these coin series have yet to explode in value at top grades compared to others to do so.

I can deal with some small rim dings, but not when they are smack dab in the middle of a very smooth field - a seller I got my AI dollars from is krogerjones
the Woman's quarters sellers I buy from are: joe_socket, koinaholic

Thanks all for the continued suggestions. I will check TPG and check the ebay sellers suggested.

Dearborn, yeah that is one of the challenges of this series -- you can find a very nice fairy clear obverse and then forget to look very carefully at the reverse where a nice ding in an open spot bites you in the arse upon looking at the coin later on.

I do love looking through rolls so I may still get a few for the fun of it.

Thanks again for being such a supportive group! Very lucky to be a member here.

I bought an album for Innovations yesterday and it looks like I'm also joining the coin search, alas, I don't have a single coin yet, but everything will change soon.

You do have to remember that these P and D AI dollars are not intended for circulation and are struck as regular business strikes. If they were going to be placed into sets like the proof and RP's the 'handling would be much better. However that said, I (as I have stated) would rather buy them from the Bay as I have a bit more control over the quality of the coins I get - by that, I mean, if they are banged up and just plain ugly, I send them back and ask for a better coin. (One that looks like the one the seller would put up the image of - Which usually look great)