| Author |
 Replies: 21 / Views: 4,532 |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
591 Posts |
Poll Question
jimbucks brought up a good point on another thread, which is making me second guess my entire collecting goals. I've been targeting XF and better pre-1934 branch mint mercury dimes. Really, XF in semi-key dates and AU or low MS in other issues. I settled on this "set" because I think the design is really classy, I had thought this was a popular series with "legs", and these particular issues are relatively rare within the overall series. Only 1 out of every 12 Mercury dimes ever minted are pre-1934 D or S, particularly scarce in AU and better. And if you exclude the 17-S, 18-D, 18-S, 20-D, and 20-S, the remaining 22 issues represent only 4% of the overall mintage for all Mercury dimes. In any event, jimbucks said, " Other than the key dates, I do not believe that XF Mercury dimes are particularly collectible. Should you decide to sell in the future, you may not get more than spot." So I'm hoping others can help confirm/deny this presumption. So, the question I pose is, are XF and better pre-1934 branch mint Mercury dimes "particularly collectible" (whatever "particularly collectible" means to you)?Thank you.
|
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3479 Posts |
They are very common. So for me I don't see the urgency to run out and buy one when compared to other series I collect. I don't have a nice one in my personal collection. My view is why pursue a nice example when on any given day, I can go out and buy one for the same price I could have purchased it many years ago. There's a plentiful supply of all dates including key dates. The 1816-d is an anomaly that I think is way overpriced. It only has a rarity rating of 3.0. Above ms-60 it gets much more interested but at all grades it looks bloated.
That said of course they are collectible. I would have reworded the pole to get better data from the community.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
591 Posts |
Hmmm, I'm curious how you define "very common", especially since you "don't have a nice one". I have The Complete Guide to Mercury dimes (2nd edition) by David Lange and for many of these issues (in this sub-set I'm targeting) he says, scarce in VF and higher, or scarce in XF and higher, etc. etc. I'm not spending $1,000+ per year on coins, so I picked a sub-set of a series that has some challenges but doesn't break the bank. This was one article that I read that also confirmed my thinking on this collecting niche: https://coinweek.com/expert-columns...rcury-dimes/Please, tell me how you would have reworded the pole? Thanks MikeF, I really appreciate your insights. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3479 Posts |
Actually I just went back through and found some dates that have rarities of 6.0 or higher. That's very surprising to me.
Edit: No, I was wrong, that was a full band. But there are some dates with 4.0 - 4.2 rarity ratings.
Edited by MikeF
01/24/2019 10:31 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3479 Posts |
Edited by MikeF
01/24/2019 11:20 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
591 Posts |
This was another CoinWeek article that informed this goal, explaining the pre/post 1934 rarity divide in mercs and cents, nickels, and halves. (in parts 1 and 2). Many may find the article of interest, as I did. http://www.coinweek.com/opinion/coi...-part-one-2/ |
|
Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:
They are very common. Not all of them are. Some of the keys are actually in his sights which are very pricey. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
591 Posts |
Quote:
Not all of them are. Some of the keys are actually in his sights which are very pricey.  |
|
Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
Isn't there a CCF member who specializes in Mercs? Can't remember his CCF name,sorry. PM him and see what he has to say. John1  |
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
A XF to AU set would be a very nice set to have.
Good set to have as a collector.
For a investor, any coin series will be just as hard to make good money on.
To make money, in my opinion. You have to be able to purchase the coins
at wholesale or below and then have a way to sell them at retail.
If you pay to high of price for a coin, even if it is decades later, you might be
lucky to get what you pay for it.
Some coins will have cycles when they are popular the prices will will be
higher. If you can buy coins on the lows and sell on the highs. The problem
Is knowing what's going to happen.
It always comes back to, collect what you like. Try not to overpay for coins.
|
|
Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
I love my Mercury dimes . To me they are very collectible . I feel they will always be popular in all grades no matter the date or mint . I hold about 300 of them from AG-03 to MS-66 FSB .  |
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
The 1816-d is an anomaly that I think is way overpriced. I agree that a 1816-D is an anomaly. Not only that but a real, real odd ball since they didn't start making that coin until about a hundred years after that. I hope they are collectable. I now have 12 complete sets. Or almost. Set #11 and @12 are missing the 16D and the over dates. Set #1 is almost all FSB except the 18S. Set #2 is also close to all FSB. Along with many rolls of duplicates, they all total about in the thousands. And I still want more. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1339 Posts |
I've been trying to sell off a few of my duplicates ect. They don't sell good at all, even better dates in VF/XF are hard to get over melt.....jimbucks is right, but he's looking more at appreciation of value
|
|
Valued Member
United States
114 Posts |
I'm biased as a collector of the dimes, but in my experience (albeit a bit limited), buying AU-MS examples in most dates will draw a number of interested bidders on auction sites. While none of the dimes are 'rare' , finding a highly graded example (or a decent grade for the key dates) brings eyeballs. It's a popular coin. XF isn't where I'd want to focus my collecting other than those key dates if my goal is to liquidate them in the future, because in that condition there's plenty of those coins around. Then again, the money spent on XF coins isn't going to be near the cost of the higher examples.
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Buy Mercury dimes wherever you can at below melt, either individually or in bulk - I do this at coin shows whenever the occasion presents itself, which isn't all that often. Sometimes, dimes can come as part of a general bulk silver lot. I have acquired Mercurys in this way from a bulk silver lot of foreign coins at a public auction, where I have put in a very low bid. As an aside I have built up a rather nice collection of World silver coins over three decades, - it's just that U.S. silver is more frequently encountered. I cull the low grade silver as bullion. Examine each one, and build a date / mm set, with the best condition examples. The culls can be kept as a silver stasher, or recycled for the silver value. Easier to do this in Australia, because only a few of us here in Oz will collect American silver, in the same way as an American would. I prefer to do Mercurys, because the average price per coin is the most reasonable. Can't do that with clad coins! |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
8715 Posts |
Voted for Yes.  |
| |
Replies: 21 / Views: 4,532 |
Posted 01/24/2019 10:09 pm
