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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,514 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
784 Posts |
When I was 10 I got my first RedBook from my Grandpa and I used to just browse through page by page and look at all the different coins and series thinking that one day I would collect them all. One thing I used to do was rate the mints within a series and decide which one was better than the other. I would find the most expensive coins and see what mint they came from and I would think that that mint was better than the other because of the rarity or expense of the coin. So I realized the other day that I still kinda do that! I rate the mints within a series as the hardest or coolest or most frustrating to collect and for some reason, it makes that mint better than the other. Does anyone else do this or have a strange reason why they like one mint over the other?  If you look at the Mercury dime, Denver just rules. No contest. 16d, 21d 42/41d... San Fran and Philly barely even made a showing through that series! Granted, Philly had the 42/41 but I bet they were just trying to copy Denver that year. San Francisco took the lowest mintages of both Indian AND Lincoln Cents single handed in one year!? How awesome is that!? Let's not even talk about 1893 for them in the silver dollar arena. I know Philly has some amazing coins as well but I always just see them as a workhorse of the countries mints. While Denver and San Fran were more like diet mints in the teens and twenties with Lincolns, Philly was just drowning in them! Sometimes I wonder if Philly ever called up the other two and were like, ‘Uh, yeah guys, not to say we're better but we've minted like one hundred times more cents than you, so, anytime you wanna get it going...' They did have the Standing Liberty quarter in the bag with the 1916... that is until San Fransisco showed up with a hidden gem in the 18/17s So what about you? Which mint any why? It doesn't matter if it's logical. Just as long as it makes sense in your own mind! |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
I have a "thing" for San Francisco, truth be told. Only 9 Morgans exist in MS69, and they're all San Francisco coins. And have a look at 1870....
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
New Orleans is the mint I can never say no too. If I need a year for something and it has an O version thats the one I want. CC is my 2nd favorite. I'm not a big Morgan guy and have that filled in the type set but the o/cc variety will have to be added at some point. For me New Orleans probably has the most history in the sense that it was lost to the Confederacy which draws me to it. Being kind of a civil war buff its a win win for me. New Orleans is also responsible for my favorite coin variety of all time that I dont really want to mention until I have found one first I dont have anything against Philly and Denver, but the mints that dont exist anymore are more unique to me which I love. Edited by basebal21
12/13/2013 02:09 am
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Moderator
United States
14463 Posts |
The Dalonega mint branch is in my home state and fairly close, but I don't see Dalonega coins in my pocket change.  I probably look for San Francisco coins more often if I need a type coin. My first name just happens to start with S  |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
I kind of love the way there are different mints. For many countries, there is either only one mint or no mintmarks for different ones (the latter is particularly sad, but fortunately uncommon; occasionally, there are distinguishing features, but they aren't mintmarks). One of my very-very-long-term collecting goals is to get at least one coin of every US mint (at least those distinguished by mintmarks); I have the four major 20th-century mints already, which leaves the three "rare" 19th-century ones and the essentially-bullion-only West Point  might get a somewhat more manageable set by getting at least one dime for every mint that produced them (my New Orleans coin is a dime, the most affordable coins for Carson City and West Point are both dimes[1], and the remaining three are easy - meanwhile, the two nigh-unobtainable gold-only mints are safely left off). There are, currently, two official mints in my own country (Russia); there used to be a lot in the past (Russian Empire - USSR coins have, AFAIK, exactly three distinguishable mints, two of them in 1924 and two in 1991[2]). I would probably never get a full set, even for the post-1750 period; even if (I didn't check) there are no other ridiculous one-offs, Feodosia (i.e. TM) mint is just too rare. (I already have KM and ИМ, two of the somewhat-uncommons; don't remember about AM - but probably also have - and I think still no MW/BM [Warsaw], though I'm not sure about their rarity. I'll check about Sestroretsk/CM; probably don't have any, but might be able to afford one!) [1] I did, at one time, try to set up a purchase of a CC mint lowball Morgan dollar (from a fellow CCF member) for something ridiculously low like $55. Ultimately, I never quite figured out how I could possibly arrange the payment, and I think the other guy sold his coin for someone else on ebay. Looking at price figures only, the 1876-CC or 1877-CC dime would be much cheaper; my current favorite is the slightly more expensive (still well under $55) 1875-CC Above Bow, because I just love the way these two Cs look on it [2] no contradiction - Leningrad is in both pairs (the other ones are London and Moscow, respectively); many precious-metal commemoratives have Leningrad mintmarks as well, but I don't count them because they're so obviously NCLT |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
844 Posts |
The 1996 Westpoint dime would be nice to find in circulation. I keep an eye out for one, even though finding one would be 1 in 1.457 million. Mostly though the SF gets a special place in my collection.
Edited by Jaymon74
12/13/2013 2:46 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
Canada
11922 Posts |
San Francisco mint. There's a pretty obvious explanation why I chose that...I like the letter S more than P, D, W, or C the letter O is equal to S, but you don't see O mint marks on Mercury dimes. I'm not weird at all |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
I was hung up on S as a kid but I have no idea why.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
There was hoarding of S-mint coins for a long time--it might have begun with the 1909-S VDB.  Edited by DVCollector
12/13/2013 11:36 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
9792 Posts |
I'm partial to Denver, probably because I was raised near it, and often went on tours there. But my favorite mint is now gone, the original Denver Mint - the Clark Gruber & Co. assay office where there is now a bus turn around loop and transit station.
"Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013! ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector. See my want page: http://goccf.com/t/140440 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8137 Posts |
I prefer Charlotte coins. (I live there) I also like CC coins and O mint coins because those mints no longer make coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
561 Posts |
CC mint for me! Probably the wild wild west connection that makes it so appealing to me.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
I think we need more Mints and I suspect that well may be the next thing the government will do with Quarters. So picture all the State Quarters being redone only with a coin from each of the Mints and a Mint in every State. If they did, I wonder what they would do with the possible Mint Marks. Use the USP's abbreviations? And picture the size of an Album with 50 Quarters from 50 States. And too why not create more jobs by opening more Mints. Redo the CC and O if nothing else. And go back and add all the new Mints to our Cents starting with 1909. Sure would put a lot of people to work only problem is all would be with our tac money. And while at it, recreate the 2 Cent, 3 Cent and 20 Cent coins too. |
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,514 |
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Posted 12/13/2013 02:09 am
