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 Replies: 19 / Views: 2,013 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1179 Posts |
I basically have my 59-07 lincoln set completed, all being BU or better, including all the proofs.
One of my goals this year was to complete my wheat collection 09-58. What I am needing help with, is what grade I should be shooting for to make a very nice collection. I know that 40's and up are really common and I can probably make them all BU or better as well without breaking my pocket.
So, without spending thousands, which Grade should I go for? Are the older wheaties really expensive as BU? Would AU or VF35 be a more realistic goal? I just need to set a grade and go from there to find the best deals. And yes, I'm doing this backwards and not buying keys just yet.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I just got back from my first coin show and was in awe of the selection! Not to self, bring a list of things I need next time :)
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Valued Member
United States
187 Posts |
Boy oh boy! I'd shoot for really nice XF and AU's
Edited by Twentycent
01/06/2008 5:50 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
764 Posts |
one thing I did which was relatively inexpensive was to try to get all xf/au/ms with mint luster. you can get coins as low as ef40 with mint luster, and by doing so, your collection will look great as a whole set because none of the lower grades will look out of place among all the BU ones.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
533 Posts |
I agree, you should try to get all XF or AU. It seems like it took me forever to go back and upgrade so that my set had some consistency to it. Good Luck!
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1179 Posts |
Ya I definitely do not want one shiny MS coin sitting in the middle of a page of xf/au. I bought a really nice VF 1909 VDB today. It has a great strike and is a nice dark brown, so I wouldnt even mind more like that one for the early wheats. Either all brown or red I guess. I'm leaning toward xf/au brown for 1909 - 1934. That would put my first 2 pages about the same grade, look nice and not break the pocket completely. Like you said Jcook, I want my set to have some consistency as well.
I'd like more input on how others went with their sets, and if you had to do it over again, which route would you take? Thanks for the help so far!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1283 Posts |
ceaton, I made the mistake of starting my Wheat collection with BU reds. I had a Carlos Mencia moment "duh dee-dee" moment when I started getting into it. First you need to realistically look at your budget. Pick up a Grey Sheet and look at the Ask prices in the Lincoln section. RedBook is very much outdated. Go down the column for each grade and start doing the math. Even in GOOD it's not cheap to complete. Especially when you factor in the keys. For mine I decided to go with all slabbed Keys of various grades, and all semi-keys, better dates and commons are EF+ and brown if they're MS. I'm also finding the difference in cost and availability between EF and VF is pretty significant. I'm pretty picky about my coins, but if I could start over I might even consider going with VF. It would make completion much easier and cheaper, and VF coins can still have nice detail and eye appeal. Going with Fine you're going to lose some detail but you can still find very nice, problem free examples and it will make the project even more cost and time efficient. If you're really into the high grades, I would definitely stay away from the Reds and I would say allow yourself the latitude of at least EF or better. The tricky part will be the 1950s, which tend to be Red in high grades. But they're still fairly easy (and very cheap) to find in EF+ brown. As was stated before, you probably don't want to mix Reds with Browns. 09-58 brown, and 59-Present Red BU is the way to go IMO. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19931 Posts |
It's all going to depend on how much you have to spend. Personnally, I wouldn't set a certain grade goal unless you have a whole lot of money. Definately focus on the keys and semi-key dates first as they are rapidly rising in value and they are becoming difficult to find. Be content with G-VG grades in those or you'll have to come up with some serious green.
Good Luck!
Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1179 Posts |
Thx for the great input USArmy! I'm definetely going to get slabbed keys, that way I know they are legit and well preserved. Although, i'll hate the holes in my book. VF coins do have some nice eye appeal, and to have a set even in that grade would be nice. I do not want to mix reds with browns, i'd rather have certain years brown, then red on up. Like I said before, since my Dansco book first 2 pages are 1909 - 1934D, I think that would be 2 pages of vf/xf browns, reds from 35 up, since they seem to still be somewhat cheap. I dunno.
I'm just after a plan of attack for my wheat set. I dont want to put in bunch of money into this until then. Right now I'm leaning toward what I said above. Now the only problem would be my grading skills lol. Gotta make sure I master that range of grades I'm after.
I am not familiar with Grey Sheets. Is this something I can do online, buy or where would I get one of these? I currently use CoinValues for a reference in prices, but they seem on the higher end. Hopefully more people pipe in with there thoughts and opinions, every little bit helps! Thanks
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
I think you'll find if you attempt to get some in one grade and others in another grade, and they are next to each other in an album, they look all wrong. Slight differences are not noticable. however, if you had a 1930 in MS-60 and next to it a 1929S in VG-8 or something like that, it would bother you. If you have your coins in slabs or 2x2's and can not readily see differences, it makes less differences. As stated all your coins from 59 to present are AU and Proofs. Now if those are in a Whitman, Dansco, etc type album, imagine how that wil bother you seeing a much, much lesser grade right next to those.
If your coins are in an album, I would suggest you slowly acquire lesser and lesser grades so the differences are less obvious.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1179 Posts |
I thought about that too Carl, slowly lowering the grades the older they get. I'm almost debating working backwards from 58 down, buying the highest grades possible until it becomes crazy expensive. I would like to check out the grey sheets, that would probably open my eyes to the money this will cost anyways. I'm still not sure where to get those.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1283 Posts |
Just to touch on a couple of things:
The 'Coin Dealer Newsletter' is often referred to as "gray sheet", because it's in gray print just like a newspaper. You can subscribe to it for I think about $100 per year. Or you can simply ask the dealer to see theirs when you visit. It has interesting articles, and it's THE most accurate "price guide" of all publications, IMO.
And take heed to what's been said here a number of times. Try to keep your coins consistent with the grades. As Carl said, it will bug you to have an MS coin next to a Good one.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1179 Posts |
I just found that you can purchase and view the greysheet online for $4. Not too bad. I just purchased one, only has 1909 - 1949 listed, but thats all I really need anyways. Pretty convenient. I should be good to go hopefully! Plenty of info at my disposal now. Thanks to all!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2764 Posts |
I have a copy of the greysheet that list all coins from Flying Eagle to Franklin half with prices from G to MS.... I don't know if I can post the scan up on here for everyone reference? If I get a YES then I'll scan it tomorrow and post it up. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1179 Posts |
The PDF I downloaded has my name on it and is supposed to only be used by me. So, I personally would not want to share it since I feel I might get in trouble etc... I mean, I would if I could, but yeah.
I made the mistake of buying the weekly issue, which does not have lincoln's. Had to buy another one, the monthly issue to get lincolns. So dont make the same mistake I did, FYI :)
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New Member
United States
7 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7629 Posts |
My collection is mid-chocolate brown, matching coins in EF45-AU55 from 1909 through 1933, then red mint state 65 or better from 1934 to date. All matte proofs are medium brown matching the color of the early set, and all other proofs are 65 or better to 1951, and 67 or better from 1952.
I've been on the set for 25 years and am still not finished only because I haven't found perfectly matching brown coins for every issue.
Die state also comes into play. I make sure all the coins I buy are rather sharp early die state coins when possible.
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Replies: 19 / Views: 2,013 |
Posted 01/06/2008 5:46 pm
