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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,245 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2424 Posts |
As I'm putting together my Franklin halves set and Washington quarter sets, I have set a realistic goal of doing them in MS60+ grade. Financially, I see setting that goal for these sets rather realistic. But for other sets, merc dimes, Walking Liberty halves and earlier, what grade seems reasonable and realistic? I know its all personal choice and what we can and cannot afford, but most of us in this hobby love looking at great quality coins to some extent... Most of us know that trying to put together an MS60 morgan date/mm set is "not realistic" but for those with deep pockets I get. So at what point does the average collector say, " this merc dime set is going to be G-VG across the board? I mean, I know you could pick up those later dates in mint state for a little over melt these days, but look at the grey sheet. All Mercury dimes in MS60 is quite a pretty penny. I know the answer to my question may seem obvious ( all depends on what you can afford) if that is the case, then I would be happy to have all my sets in g-vg.... but there is still some part of me that wants to have Mint State coins in the set in have, like the wash quarters or merc dimes. but what about consistency? some of them MS some G-VG? some people woould cringe... do others out there have a goal of one specific grade for their collections? or do you have some MS some hard to get key date coins in G-VG? again, for the earlier sets I personally would go for G-VG becuase of my budget. I would love to know what standards other serious and average collectors set for their collections and what determines that... |
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Moderator
 United States
14463 Posts |
most of my circulated collection is G to G+. On some key dates, I have dropped that a bit to fill a gap. My type set (7070 of my choosing) is a G+ to Fine with better coins added when I can.
Edited by Fuzzy317
03/26/2011 10:15 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3540 Posts |
That is a tough question. Truly boils down to you.
Believe patience has a value in the building of collections as well. In 98% of most collections, I sincerely doubt a collector can put together a problem free MS63/64 collection. Note, I said problem free.
I have backed off accepting a coin that will grade 64/65/whatever, if it has a spot, fingerprint, etc, etc. For that matter, if I notice a problem on a coin, I pass....no matter the grade, no matter the price. Ever notice that any two MS63 slabbed or dealer graded coins have the same price, regardless of the true state of the coin? Sincerely believe in buying the coin, not the slab. This is so inherent with today's "market grading". Market grading, is true B.S.!! in my opinion. They are grading to the market, which is wrong, even for them. Grading for market = overgrading. Either the coin is XF, AU, whatever....or it is not.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4897 Posts |
My lincolns are working toward an MS60 or better...sans the two obvious exceptions(SVDB and 14D). I don't subscribe to the 22 plain "variety"
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Pillar of the Community
2224 Posts |
It is individual oriented. I want MS Morgans (63-65 as long as I can afford them) and raw if possible, and all 69/70 SAEs. I will not consider a baggy coin and look for clean fields and good strikes and no obvious cleanings or issues. No spots on my SAEs. I prefer ngc or pcgs but have 1-2 really nice ones in other TPG slabs. I've seen many ugly coins in good slabs with ms 63-65 on them. I won't touch em. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1388 Posts |
never forget you always have the option to upgrade...
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2424 Posts |
individual choice -agreed.
i guess what I was leaning toward was like one of you put it, upgrade.
i find that it is fun getting the mint state coins and that is OK. especially when one can not afford a mint state 09svdb
i think I will continue to get what the budget can afford and what the eye loves to look at, even if it is g-vg, there is no feeling like completing a set
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
I don't want one or two key dates or coins to dictate the entire set, so I have used what I might call a progression strategy. Older coins can be in lower grades than newer coins so that you get a natural progression from old to new. It looks "normal" to me to have the older coins look old. This is largely the strategy I followed with my 7070.
For my Lincoln set, it is pretty easy to acquire Red MS coins after the late 20's/early 30's, so my goals there are to go with mostly red coins from 1928 up and red brown from 1927 down. It's going to require me to slow down some and I may have to compromise on the big keys (14-D and 09-S VDB).
Good question - it ultimately depends on what set you are collecting if you can achieve all MS.
Edited by KenKat
03/27/2011 12:13 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Your mentioned Walking Liberty halves which is a good example. The early coins are prohibitively expensive in higher grades. Using Greysheet EF Ask prices- there are 13 over $100, 4 over $500, and 3 over $1000! Then there are the later coins, 1939-1947 can be obtain in MS64 for very reasonable prices. One solution to this is collect the Walking Libertys as two sets- the first part in one grade range and then the second part in a higher grade range. |
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Valued Member
United States
244 Posts |
Since I mostly focus on coins from the 19th century, and since I'm far from rich, I would get nowhere if I insisted on MS coins. I generally draw the line at VF, although better F will sometimes catch my eye. At that grade, I find the coins "look nice" to the naked eye. I don't feel compelled to pay a whole lot more for coins that I need a magnifying glass to appreciate.
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,245 |
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Posted 03/26/2011 10:17 pm
