Sick Of Morgans

I like Walking liberties

That's why I work on several type collections at a time. When I get discouraged about one, I concentrate on one of the others for a while.

It never ceases to amaze me how I'm always drawn back to a coin series when I catch a glimpse of a really good looking example of the coin I was exasperated with.

Your right. I did think WHY? I really don't know anyone that collects or even uses those things. Glad you answered your own question.
Now coasty, there is a good suggestion. Collect those baby sized dollars. No real compition there.

If I was starting over, the only thing I'd shoot for was an MS Lincoln set from 1909-1933. By far Lincolns are the most popular collecting series, they are easy to grade and plentiful enough you can find nice ones. Believe it or not, besides the 1914-D, the keys are easy to obtain, the challenge is the non-key, conditional rarities. In many non-key years, finding MS coins is very challenging and very rewarding when you do.

For the most part, you're not going to find exceptional coins at shows. Dealers have customers, both collectors and other dealers, who pay premium prices for getting the first shot at premium coins. Some pay hundreds of dollars to get into a show a few hours before it opens to the public, just so they can buy the good stuff.

Auctions are a mixed bag. Big ones connected to major shows will have nice material. Local ones, even estate auctions, are rife with grossly overgraded, even outright counterfeit coins, because in most states, auctions assume the auctioneer is not an expert on the products, and there are no return privileges. Great place to get rid of fakes, just put them in an estate auction.

I know a dealer who has a couple auctions a year. He has several suppliers who he buys lots of "slider" au dollars from, and suddenly they're ms in his next auction. Hey, don't knock it, he's been doing this since the 70s that I know of.

thank you all for the informative replys

I like Walkers as well. Lots of challenges.

I can relate to how you feel. Back in the early 70s as a teenager, I got a bad case of the same "grade-wobble" you describe. So I decided to just go off in a few other directions for awhile, and had a blast in the process. I took up an interest in Ancient Greek coins, modern U.S. error coins, and probably the most enjoyable at that time...... fractional California gold. Back in those days, there was very little in the way of cataloging in the early CalGold that is now known as "period one", the actual stuff used as small change during the California gold rush years. With so much later period jewelry, souvenir, and outright modern fakes around, knowing the real coins really gave an advantage in an area where very few collectors paid any attention. Spent alot of time in the books learning about the gold rush, mining, etc. and took up some gold panning and dredging on the side. So don't restrict yourself too much in this hobby. There is a whole other world out there where coin collecting can lead you.