I have a question I hope someone here can help me with. I'm nearing completion of my Washington quarter set, and looking to start a circulated Standing Liberty quarter set. I understand the Type I and Type II SLQ have wear issues involving the date. What's the lowest grade I can expect to see a reasonably complete date? I had been targeting VF with the semi-keys (minus the 1916 :) in Fine. Is this possible, or does the wear really depend on the individual coin? I also like the design reeding (?) around the rim to be reasonably complete. Will I need to expand my scope (and budget) to XF/AU for these characteristics? Sorry if my musings seem a bit OCD - I like to think about/plan my collecting ahead of time :)
The Nuministic Grading Standard book lists Type I VG-8 as 'All letters and date are clear. Rim is complete'. F-12 says 'Date is clear and rim is full'.
For type II, VG-8 states 'All letters and date are clear, but tops of numerals may be flat'. F-12 says 'Date may show some weakness at top'.
Sounds like VF-20 should be acceptable to your standards.
1916-1924 often have a barely noticable date even in fine. the design was changed a bit afterward to reduce wear on the date. VF is a good grade to try for with semi-keys. between VF and XF, the scarcity of these goes up a lot and so they can get pretty pricy.
My advice is to buy the best you can afford. I have collected SLQ's for years and I think a set in EF or better makes a beautiful set. I can speak from experience that if you just go with F to VF you will want to upgrade rather quickly. Best of luck in your hunt.
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