Buys From The Coin Shop

It would be great to find a friendly coin shop in my area. The ones that are close are very stuffy. They never smile and I feel like I am entering a prison every time I go to them, what with being buzzed in and out and all the bars on the windows. They are definitely NOT a social gathering place. It's too bad, really. I have money to spend and they aren't getting it.

Twinsrule - Thanks! I'm not to big into quarters either so this will help me at my upcoming coin fair, I'm sure there will be plenty of junk silver bins/buckets/drawers to go through :D YAY

Savannah, I am in Oklahoma. I even live in Oklahoma City. You would think I would be able to find someone to give my money to.
I did find a coin show in another town (yeah, I can't even find a coin show in OKC). It is not too far away and runs August 6th, 7th and 8th. I plan on being there with bells on. The last time I went to a coin show was in the 80's!

Thanks, Savannah, for the offer, but I don't get up that way very often.
To answer your earlier question about satin coins, they are considered Special Mint Set coins (SMS) similar to the 60's SMS that were produced in lieu of proof coins. These were made in 65, 66 and 67. There are other SMS coins, like the 1998 Kennedy that was included in the Robert F Kennedy set. The "modern" SMS or satin coins are distributed in U.S. Mint sets which started in 2005. They are produced using a different method than the 60's SMS coins and with both a P and D mintmark. A good example is the 2009 Lincoln pennies. In order to get a full set you would have to collect 20 coins total.
The 4 varieties are;
Early Childhood
Formative Years
Professional Years
Presidency Years
There are
8 business strikes (all 4 varieties in both P and D mintmarks)
8 Satin strikes
4 Proof strikes
You would find similar situations if you are collecting the new dollars or the quarter series.
I am putting together an SP69 (SP stands for specimen) Lincoln set and I must say it is not as easy as I thought. These are new coins but some of them run in the hundreds of dollars. I even saw the 2007-D satin SP69 for $1500.00 on ebay. There are now 18 Satin Lincolns out there since the 2010 Mint set has been released. The good news is that the SP68's are easy to find and relatively inexpensive. I collect only NGC and PCGS certified coins, but only because that is all I can put in my NGC registry sets. I have other coins from the other big guys and I don't see a difference in quality. My Kennedy MS65 coin is graded by ICG and is one of my favorites.
Sorry... rambling here.
Good luck at the coin show.

My Kennedy MS65 coin is graded by ICG and is one of my favorites.
Sorry... rambling here.
Good luck at the coin show.

That should have been 1970-D Kennedy MS65. The 70-D is considered the key of the set, but there are quite a few that have lower mintage, especially in the last 5 years or so.

The easiest way to acquire certified coins is to buy them. There are many mid-level coins for sale out there for less than it costs to grade them. If you have something that you think is exceptional you can try your local coin shop. Many of them can send your coins out for you. The other way is to subscribe to a third party grading company and send your coins directly to them. Again, I collect AGC and PCGS coins, as they are they have the best reputation for accuracy and consistency. They attach a grade to a coin using a 70 point system. MS60 - MS70 (MS = Mint State) are considered uncirculated. Obviously the higher the grade the more the coin is worth. Even modern coins with high grades are valuable.

This link will take you to NGC's site.
http://coins.www.collectors-society.com

You will find PCGS at the link below.
http://www.pcgs.com/

There are different levels that you can join at. The lower levels are free and allow you to use the registry system. The pay levels actually give you credits to have your coins certified. Not sure of all the details, but you can check it out at their sites.

Savannah, just curious... which did you join? I use the NGC's registry program because you can use both NGC and PCGS certified coins in your sets.
We should be able to share our sets with each other if you use NGC.
Jerry