Suggestions Needed For Buying Lincoln Key Dates

I'd stick with certified coins for those key dates. From my experience, there are too many overgraded, cleaned, altered coins being sold as "original".

Those prices are insanely high! On that scale my MS-63 would be worth $10,000, I paid $135 a year ago. LOL



Here's my opinion. Buying the keys first is very smart. Buying a slabbed (graded) coin is fine and safe if you're sure the slab is genuine. Raw or slabbed.... I only recommend buying those keys IN HAND. That way you can very closely inspect the coin. An old saying around coin collectors, "buy the coin and not the slab". Every coin is unique and you want one that appeals to you. Also, you might not even agree with the slab grade. Buying an important key date using pictures is not a good idea IMO.

It's fine to buy a key from a reputible dealer. The probabilty of it being a fake from a dealer is very low....next to nothing. The key dates are VERY well known by dealers, they can break a dealer bad if they take one in. They are very cautious with ALL US coin key dates.

Get the monthly supplement for $4:
http://www.greysheet.com/web_order/...ssu_form.asp
Use that as your price guide because most dealers respect the prices.

Look for a local coin show with many dealers. Concentrate on getting one or two key dates. Visit all the dealers and take notes of who has what and for how much. Then decide on the best coin and try to negotiate the price. IMO, this is best way for you to get the keys.