Mercury Dime Acquisition

to the forum, Jason!

Well, you already know what the bulk buys will net you, and unfortunately going up the grade scale means individual purchases. So part of the learning curve is casting your net about online to find as many different vendors as you can. Don't be afraid to ask opinions here.

If you have a lot of Mercs you wish to post for grading purposes, we normally prefer one coin per thread but go ahead and group two or three per thread to avoid displacing others. Mention my recommendation if anyone asks.

You local coin shops should have decent selection of nice circulated Merc dimes.

Learn to grade/spot cleaned coins
This will be the key to your success in making your goals
You'll figure out the rest (where/whom to buy from) over the course of time but learn to grade is step one. You can buy from ebay sellers that are less than 5,000 transactions, there are plenty of reputable folks to choose from.
Buy one coin at a time in the desired grading scheme you're working but first learn what you're looking at. Scour heritage auction archives, scour CCF search utility, use photo grade (as a start), go to your local coin shop/shows and handle as many as you can to get that grading education. Once you're comfortable, have at it. Good luck and have fun.

Macmercury- I was considering that... I figured if you buy date ranges, or XF, they are guaranteed sorted... but at the same time I figure since they sell 1916-1929 tubes, that even their circulated is filtered rather heavily, and I have limited interest in a bunch of circulated 1940-1945's unless I get lucky and find a 42/1, or am trying to fill in mint marks.

So far on the XF batch I got several XF coins in the 1917-1929 range, will post a breakdown sometime. But also many non XF and the older ones some were definitely cleaned. I was thinking about posting in the trade section once I hit 50 posts, with what I have extras of in good condition, and years/mints that I am looking for.

If I go with the bulk-buy approach to try to fill in several albums, I will add a sub goal of collecting 10,000 mercs in a folder for bullion purposes (albeit overpriced bullion at this time). I figure I can justify it in terms of diversification :)

I havnt gotten as far as doing mint marks, I know the majority of the 42 were P, but I did see some S and D in the 40's Got a 1945-D FSB from the mix (maybe, its over on the grading forum right now)

Yeah roll searching... not for me... I understand some get into it, and you have to put in real time to get results, but I would prefer to spend time going through what I have now :P

MacMerc- I am working on the quality issue, if you check the grading forum you can see what I can do currently, ordered a small microscope after searching forums here, for detail pics, and possibly full pics since I'm mostly working with dimes... also ordering a new lens for my wife so she can take closer macro shots with her canon. Loupe + Iphone only gets you so far, especially since I havnt come up with a lighting option that works reliably.

I find it slightly interesting that the inflation matches up a bit on the newer dimes..

1945 1 dime cost .10
2015 1 1945 Mercury dime is worth ~ 1.15-1.50
Inflation of .10 in 1945 to 2015 is $1.31