Need Advice On A Coin Purchase

Both of them are expensive. I would want to get the dollar out of the way first.

Thanks for the replies nutmeg and commems. I am collecting in the fine -extra fine range of coins and just wondered all things being equal which one I should spend money on. I know the first page is the easiest to finish so I wanted to complete at least one page lol. I am missing the Queen Isabella Quarter, Lafayette dollar, pan pacific, Illinois, Missouri, and Hurgenot coins. At the end of the month, I will be able to buy one of these tougher coins so I was just curious to which one to get.

Yes, good advice from @commems as usual.



to the CCF!

Yes, please.

I ended up finding a graded pan pacific half on ebay, should be here next week. It is a little more wore than the rest of my coins, but a nice strike and I'm happy with it.
Since my laptop died, I can't figure out how to post pics with my phone. Thanks all for the advice and encouragement.

I happen to be one of the folks that commems was referring to who is pursuing the classic silver commemorative 50 coin type set in honestly circulated state. If interested .... you can read the history of my nearly 10 year journey pursuing these coins in a long running thread in this sub-forum.

commems offered solid advise which I will enhance just a bit from my experience with market availability of these coins:

Consider my model that the classic silver commemorative series can be thought of as having three distinct 'eras' .... each with a specific market availability when considering only circulated examples.

The 'Pre-Depression' era contributed 20 coins to the type set. All of the coins on the first page of your Dansco are from this era. While not all are common in circulated state, all of these silver commemorative are market available with the exception of the 1928 Hawaiian. By 'market available' I mean that a dedicated collector who is actively searching should come across honestly circulated examples within say a few years. You likely would not miss out a lot long term by pursuing your 'next targeted coin' strategy for coins within this specific era.

That is not the case at all for the 'Commemorative Craze' era of circulated coins. This era contributed 27 coins to the type set and is represented by the peak of the classic silver commemorative issuance years of 1934 through 1938.

With only five exceptions (Texas, Maryland, San Diego, Oregon Trail and Long Island) The 'Commemorative Craze' era coins are NOT market available in circulated condition and certain examples show up very rarely. This is the point commems made well ... you will likely never get far with this collection if you pass on one of these because it is not next on your list. Those of us pursuing the set take them as they come because it's been proven that the next example might take 5 to 10 years to appear in the market.

The final era is the "Post Craze' era and contributed 3 coins to the type set .... Iowa, BTW and W-C. These can be though of the same as the 'Pre-Depression' era coins relative to be generally market available in circulated condition.

I note from above that you have found your Panama Pacific ... good for you. I wish you the best on your journey with these and look forward to some photos someday.

and we look forward to hearing about your progress.

Knowing that I could get an MS-65 for $250, it would be hard for me to plunk down $150+ on a VF/XF. Unfortunately, that's what is necessary to complete a circulated collection like this.