Some Additions To My Mercury Dimes And Other Parts Of My Collection After A 2 Year Dry Spell

Its veered a little off course, but though I continue to do the same searches of the same sources, in the "ebb and flow" of supply ... though the period of a month after this thread started was as good as I've seen it, there has been nothing new offered for a couple weeks. We're apparently in the "ebb" tide for now.

There are 3 issues in my collection that really need upgrading, the 1919-S, the 1921-D, and the 1926-S. Not only am I not seeing those ... I'm not seeing much of anything that's in AU or better. I've even stooped to looking at "auction" style listings of late. There are 2 things I rarely bother with in my quest, One is auction style listings. I don't like being emotionally invested in something for a week or more ... then lose it in 3 seconds. The other thing I rarely consider looking at is certified coins. For the most, there are precious few "steals" on slabbed material.

WE appear to be at a rest stop on the highway to achieving my goal ... a set of Mercury dimes (minus the 16-D) that appear "as new".

What I did manage to do since this thread was started was upgrade about 30 percent of my collection. The collection is much closer to what I had envisioned going in ... than I would have thought possible 6 weeks ago.

Maybe time to start a new thread.... I wonder sometimes why it is we bother to assemble a collection. Once the goal is achieved ... you can't sell it. You have to dismember the set, scattering the coins to the 4 corners once again. Its a mystery to me why I decided to assemble this set....but its been fun and its been challenging. Right now though, its less fun and more challenging. I keep looking for the next "high", but I seem to have hit the wall for now. Its like that in learning to play the banjo as well. You get to where you think you just can't learn something ... then one day it just "happens" for whatever reason ... and you'll go along for awhile and hit the wall again.

That's a real "off course" analogy, but I think that in the end, the story is as much about the collector as it is the collection. I hope that some collectors, by enduring my ramblings ... have come to reallize that there's a way to do this without having a ton of money. Numismatics needn't be "The Hobby of Kings" anymore.

Chance

THat's a good idea. Thanks. I did get the 3 dimes in today, but I got really violently ill last night. I've got a chronic digestive disorder, and I had nothing in the house to take for it. I'm just now feeling well enough to have a bite to eat. I took these shots of the Bust Dime this afternoon. The patina of the reverse is beautiful. Not as much can be said of the obverse. The stain by the date is a distraction. It has a few rim bruises on the obverse side too. It is JR-2 as far as the obverse die goes. I haven't compared the reverse die yet, but I suspect that it will fall right in line. The bisecting die crack is really an interesting feature of this coin.

I will try to move this in order to buy the 1919-S that I need. I don't see anything raw, so its likely that I'll buy something slabbed and crack it out.

I don't have a whole lot of use for the TPGs as a whole. I saw a 1918-D Merc in an "old green holder" thatwas given a grade of MS-62. I wouldn't give the coin more than an EF-45. The diagonal bands and the center band are worn flush with the fasces. If the services were worth their salt, there would be no such thing as re-submissions in order to get a higher grade. It wouldn't happen. It would be the same grade every time. If grading is to be that subjective ... I'll trust my own judgement. I encourage everybody to know the series that they are collecting. Learn to evaluate the coin for yourself. If you can make an accurate assessment of the coin without outside help, I think you'll find the hobby more enjoyable. Its certainly more economical, and that is something that figures prominently for me. It has to. My collection is the ultimate "self licking ice cream cone". The only money I can put into the collection, is any money that I am able to get out of it by selling and moving things around a bit.

Shrimp's done...I hope it doesn't "kill" me. Nights like last night need to be few and far between.

Just checked he reverse .... JR-2.


Chance

I'm not concerned with acquiring the varieties. If you add those in ... where does that end? Broadstrikes, off-centers, wrong planchet? I am looking to put together a set of presentable "regular issue" coins. MS-70 is an unachievable goal, so I won't even go there. But ... even I don't know when I'll be done.

Chance

Never mind ... Didn't read the fine print ... dang. If there are coins on page 3 of these sets ... I ain't gettin 'em.

122842752166

Chance

Very nice! Thank you for sharing.

I think he had some of them in slabs and cracked them out. There are slab labels are on some of the 2x2 holder.

Chancellor - Wait, you're saying you've looked at proofs in slabs, and cannot distinguish their mirrored surfaces from regular strikes? Is that right?