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 Replies: 18 / Views: 2,889 |
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Valued Member
United States
245 Posts |
So... after receiving some nice inherited coins from my great grandfather, and going through silver albums with my step dad, I ended up settling on mercs as my first serious attempt at a collection. I still plan on doing a type set of gold, but at the moment I am working on putting together multiple sets of mercs in different grades. Why multiple? Because for some reason it bugs me to mix extremes in grades together... what this means of course, is that I will end up finishing my low grade set first I am sure. Anyway, that is by way of introduction, what I am curious about is.. Mercury dime acquisition... so far I have dug through my coin jar (score, 1945 merc F15 maybe)... then I went and bought 3 boxes of dimes from 3 different banks... No score... 7500 coins, 0 silver... then I bought some XF and AC from APMEX, so that I could start going through actual silver coins and filling slots. Now I am at a crossroads... do I keep buying from places like APMEX? Last count on the XF I got from them, something like 80 or 90% were 41-45, with about 10%+ of the batch not even being XF. Do I scour e-bay and purchase one at a time, dodging fakes and eating shipping/ebay markups? I have a few coin shops in the area, most are open only while I am at work, and even then a few times a day at best. A few pawn shops, but they keep very little in coinage around. Any advice appreciated! My end goal is 1-3 Full sets of AG-F range (for myself, my daughter, and a nephew), 1 Full set of XF +/-, and 1 Full set of FSB MS. I realize these are not overnight or over the year goals, especially since I don't want to go broke :), but with that in mind, what would you recommend? Thanks ! Additional question: Is it annoying for me to post a few mercs a week in the grading section to try to get experience on grading? I've already gone through the archives, and use PCGS photograde, but plan on grading most of what I have in a notebook, and want to be at least in the ballpark. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1748 Posts |
First thing I will advise is do not buy a 1916-D as a raw coin. Only buy it in a PCGS or NGC holder. Way too many fakes in the raw coin market. Also be careful on 1921 and 1921-D. Make sure they are genuine as well. The 1916-D is the key coin and the two 1921's are the semi-keys to the series.
Edited by DoubleEagle20
01/03/2015 6:24 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1531 Posts |
Are you looking to put the dimes in a Dansco album, raw or slabbed? I assume the low grades will be in an album because they are easy to find raw, but it gets rough finding semi-keys and keys that are claimed to be FSB that are A. Undamaged coins, B. Real coins, or C. Actually FSB that are not slabbed. Heck, it can even be difficult to find semi-keys and keys that are legitimate and aren't in slabs, like the 1916-D. My point is, if you want to have an album of all FSB, you might have to crack some slabs. Obviously there are some very reputable sites that have lots of coins to purchase, mostly slabbed. I usually direct newer to these sites, which I have purchased the most on: www.davidlawrence.com www.coinbuys.com I purchased nearly half of my slabbed collection from these two above and have recently ordered some coins from this site, which is also reputable: www.buyuscoins.com But for now, I would stay away from ebay unless the seller has outstanding credentials, say 5000+ and 99%+. If you have any questions about a coin or a seller, you can always ask us. ebay, local coin shops, and coin shows are always nice places to pick up less expensive coins to fill holes in your album, but for more expensive items, stick to the respected dealers. And a late  Edit:  Edited by Cruisinfusion
01/03/2015 6:27 pm
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New Member
United States
3 Posts |
That's awesome!! I'm still new to collecting, ive only been collecting for about 3 years but what set me off was Mercury dimes. I think they are beautiful if in nice condition. And the wings on lady liberty's head represents freedom of thought which I believe is a cool way to represent that. A lot of people said the whole Mercury dime thing wont last long. They thought once I got deeper into collecting the Mercury dime infatuation would go away. Exact opposite!! I still love them to this day. Ive also started collecting all sorts of dimes. Modern and old. If you just started collecting your in for it. lol It becomes a addiction. Its cool to see someone start out the way I have. Enjoy those dimes because they will become your pathway into a great hobby. -Jason  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1531 Posts |
to the forum, Jason! |
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Valued Member
 United States
245 Posts |
Album Raw, so yeah will end up breaking some slabs I'm sure, at least for the 16d's, its possible the FSB set will be a slabbed set, not sure... realistically that will be down the road, have one fsb so far ;P
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
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.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1566 Posts |
Ask around the forums for solid ebay vendors. I look for vendors that are willing to ship multiple items together or offer free shipping. After awhile you will gather a set of trusted vendors and local coin dealers. Support your local coin dealer! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1748 Posts |
You local coin shops should have decent selection of nice circulated Merc dimes. Edited by DoubleEagle20
01/03/2015 10:38 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5825 Posts |
If you can attend coin shows you can check out which dealers would have what you need, and you would see what you going to buy vs looking at pictures, don't buy compulsively. I made that mistake when I got in, at least it will save your wallet! I did like to add that APMEX is a place to buy and sale bullion, you would have better luck with buying circulated bullion vs them picking out XF stuff for you. Edited by macmercury
01/04/2015 09:17 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4337 Posts |
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. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5825 Posts |
Shale,
post those pictures as you like in the grading section, but clear images is important fro proper grading.
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Valued Member
United States
245 Posts |
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 :)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5825 Posts |
Shales, Curious were those 40's dated coins mostly P mint from APMEX? I bought a circulated bag from them the second time and found a 42/41 D overdate. Graded later by NGC and sold it. I should of hang on to it. |
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Valued Member
United States
245 Posts |
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)
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Valued Member
United States
324 Posts |
Shale, you can bulk buy Mercury by putting the word "lot" or "collection" in your search title on ebay. Read the description and look for dimes that are pre 1941 since you have those. You should also seek out small coin shows within two hours drive of your home. Those show dealers will have many dimes for you to check out. Call the coin store that you say is not open and explain to them what you want. They will make arrangements for you or mail you a package. Like, "I want 20 dimes good or better pre-1941 to help with my collection." You have learned not to waste your time roll searching in banks. |
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Replies: 18 / Views: 2,889 |
Posted 01/03/2015 6:25 pm
