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 Replies: 36 / Views: 3,925 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3328 Posts |
I know most of the hobby revolves around coins in mint state, the higher grade the better. My question is when it comes to looking at your coins do you prefer a mint coin or one with a story to tell.
Me personally enjoy circulation coins. Who knows who had it or where it has been, it could have crossed hands with Elvis, or a president or other who knows. The idea of I wonder makes me like circulation coins for the "I wonder" factor.
What do you like and why?
*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***
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Moderator
 Australia
16805 Posts |
I prefer circulated myself, for that same reason: coins were invented and intended for use as money, circulated coins actually were used as money.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
561 Posts |
I also much prefer circulated. A circulation patina? Gorgeous!
As my collecting interests shift I find myself more interested in coins from pre-1800 and when they're that old it's cool to see a little circulation to know that your piece of history found its way around the old world
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2869 Posts |
It depends for me. I collect not due to numerical grades but due to eye appeal.
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
3328 Posts |
I never understood eye appeal untill I started buying older circulation coins. Not so bad that they are basically modern road kill coins but have been used for what they were supposed to be used for and still look beautiful. My favorite coin is not my most expensive coin but I just love the way it looks. I don't dislike mint state coins and have a few but I think I prefer collecting nice circulation pieces. The Toning and wear just makes me love them a bit more.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2869 Posts |
Toning and the way it looks is eye appeal.
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Moderator
United States
187446 Posts |
When I started my collection it was built with what I could find in change. When I bought coins I preferred circulated because they were affordable and matched what I already had in my sets. While I would buy proof coins and sets to fill my albums, I only bought uncirculated mint sets to fill holes where a coin was NIFC. Then the modern world happened. I use electronic payment most of the time which means holes are not getting filled from change. To remedy this I started buying uncirculated mint sets to fill my albums. I guess this is all to say that I prefer whatever I can get.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5825 Posts |
I prefer the best I can afford which is why my collection has everything from VG to MS.
But I also MUCH prefer straight graded coins which is why I have only two DETAILS coins in my collection.
Edited by kanga
11/22/2021 09:12 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
For me it is the newest looking coin the better.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3328 Posts |
For me proof coins I wan as mint as possible but circulation coins I like a bit of wear and toning etc. Some MS coins from the early 1900s and 1800s are amazing looking but well WELL out of what I could ever afford. Even then I still think I prefer the look of a "used coin"
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
18627 Posts |
I'm split on this one. if I'm filling a slot in my type set I'm buying the best example I can afford. if its to fill a slot and its common any decent grade that fits in with the rest. if its more rare than the highest grade I can afford. in all cases only coins that would grade straight. I dont buy slabbed coins per se. I want to see them side by side in an album. the only exception would be if I'm buying a high grade (MS65 or better) or rarer coin for investment.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
Well that all depends , on how one personally likes their coins to look like . Me, I love my mid to high grade circulated semi-classic U.S. coins .But then I also like my uncirculated red and white examples .  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
9350 Posts |
I'm not fussy about grade, as long as I can make out the date and mint.
I do prefer my coins to be circulation type coins though, not NCLT.
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Valued Member
149 Posts |
mint coins tell plenty of story.
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
Quote:
I'm not fussy about grade, as long as I can make out the date and mint. When it comes to affordability a lot of the time it comes down to that! (Or whatever the equivalent is for coins too old to have a date on them. Some catalogs classify such coins very narrowly, which makes things tricky.) That aside, I do like it when the details are visible, but it doesn't make a lot of difference from roughly XF and up, and when it does it's often a question of strike quality rather than the technical grade. And affordability is in any case more important. (I also really don't like the nominally-MS coins full of bag marks, which basically shuts me out of the MS-60 to MS-62 grades unless the type is NCLT and doesn't come in anything else.) "Who knows where it's been" isn't really a drive for me most of the time unless the story is particularly intriguing. If anything it's a worry. For all I know it could have crossed hands with a plague carrier and then what if there's still particles of plague in the patina? |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3328 Posts |
I'm not sure about the plague but most viruses would not live long on a silver coins or copper. I think covid survives about 4 hours on copper. Not sure about silver.
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Replies: 36 / Views: 3,925 |
Posted 11/18/2021 11:15 pm
