Which Early 20th Century Issue is the Most Popular?

erwindoc

I really enjoy earlier 20th century coins. I think they are some of the most beautiful designs ever created by the US mint. Unfortunately, some of the designs were short lived. Looking at my own collection today got me thinking, which is the most popular? Each series is full of difficult dates and mint marks and conditional rarities making the sets difficult to complete. Which one do you like best?

Buffalo Nickel
Mercury Dime
Standing Liberty Quarter
Walking Liberty Half Dollar
Peace Dollar
Indian Quarter Eagle
St. Gaudens Double Eagle

Manifest_Destiny

Walking halves and buffalo nickels have wide collecting bases. Mercury dimes and peace dollars have their share. The others have narrower collecting bases.

PerryHall

You should add the gold Indian $10 to your list.

seatedlib3991

I spent 15 years collecting Standing liberty Quarters. Series has it all. Three different design styles. The nuance of head detail and general strike. A great mix of both rare dates and common dates. and you get everyone's attention with the phrase "bare breasted". James

remumc

Mercury dimes!

PerryHall

I would guess the Lincoln cent is by far the most popular but for some strange reason, it didn't make your list.

WCC

I've done an analysis of the Heritage archives ranking every US series (maybe defining it somewhat different than others here) at different price points. This was as of about 18 months ago.

Heritage isn't fully representative due to the submissions they don't attract, such as a lower proportion of US NCLT and lower value coins, but I couldn't analyze eBay and GC is far too cumbersome due to the archive organization.

The purpose of this effort was to attempt to measure relative preference by how buyers spend their money, not "popularity" which is I define as number collecting it.

The answer to the OP's question depends upon the price range. As an example, most who collect Buffalo nickels can't afford Saints, so the larger collector base doesn't mean they like it more.

DisneyFan

It depends on your definition of popularity. You asked. "Which one do you like best?"

If I could only own one coin out of your list, I would say the 1921 Peace dollar.

coinbuf

Lincoln cent for sure.

Married2Coins

I like WL 50c

MarkKelley

The most popular by the sheer number of collectors is without question the Lincoln cent.

Copperindian

Like Walkers the best, followed by 🦬

erwindoc

@PerryHall said:
You should add the gold Indian $10 to your list.

I agree, it should have been added. Personally though, I dont own one(but would really like to)

erwindoc

@PerryHall said:
I would guess the Lincoln cent is by far the most popular but for some strange reason, it didn't make your list.

I would agree. My criteria for the list was a shorter series that has ended. Lincoln's are still going....

Catbert

I don't own a really nice Saint and I think that would get my vote among the strong contenders!

I put the Saint into the same category as the 55 DDO cent when it comes to coins that I'd like to have in my collection, but they are at a price point where I'd rather spend my resources on other collecting goals.

TomB

If we go by how many folks attempt to collect them then I would guess Lincoln cents and Morgan dollars (yes, they are an early twentieth century issue).

oldabeintx

I've completed and subsequently sold most of the series on your list, as well as Lincolns, and others. I only do a very broad array of types these days.

However, a set of Indian $2.50's would be very neat, to answer which I would like best today. Short, sweet and not a huge investment. I would probably shoot for MS62 for the 11D as I can't differentiate well between grades anyway.

124Spider

Lincoln cents, without real doubt. It's a long series; almost all are affordable to most people (in some decent grade, unlike so many other series), and some are exotic enough to interest anyone.

mikee999

The series that I’ve lost the most $$.

hfjacinto

While I like and have complete sets of most of the above, my favorite of the set are the Peace Dollars.

124Spider

@hfjacinto said:
While I like and have complete sets of most of the above, my favorite of the set are the Peace Dollars.

While I doubt that Peace dollars are, in fact, a most popular series, they should be more popular than they are (IMO). It's a short series, and all are fairly common, so can be acquired by collectors on a budget, to complete the set. And they're attractive coins.

MsMorrisine

would the statisticians approve of looking at the number of registry sets to decide?

124Spider

@MsMorrisine said:
would the statisticians approve of looking at the number of registry sets to decide?

I wouldn't, simply because registry sets represent the very apex of coin collecting; I would be shocked if more than a miniscule percentage of all active collectors have a registry set.

And, please understand--I am not hostile to registry sets; I admire those with the desire to find the best (and, of course, the funds with which to do that). But they aren't representative of the bulk of active collectors.

hfjacinto

@124Spider said:

@MsMorrisine said:
would the statisticians approve of looking at the number of registry sets to decide?

I wouldn't, simply because registry sets represent the very apex of coin collecting; I would be shocked if more than a miniscule percentage of all active collectors have a registry set.

And, please understand--I am not hostile to registry sets; I admire those with the desire to find the best (and, of course, the funds with which to do that). But they aren't representative of the bulk of active collectors.

I don’t know if registry sets are apex. I know a collector of mercury dimes that had 10 complete sets of mercury dimes, his number 1 set is probably a higher grade than any registry set. But he has no registry set or slabbed coins. What registry sets do is showcase the owners that want to display there sets. Not everyone wants to do that.

124Spider

@hfjacinto said:

@124Spider said:

@MsMorrisine said:
would the statisticians approve of looking at the number of registry sets to decide?

I wouldn't, simply because registry sets represent the very apex of coin collecting; I would be shocked if more than a miniscule percentage of all active collectors have a registry set.

And, please understand--I am not hostile to registry sets; I admire those with the desire to find the best (and, of course, the funds with which to do that). But they aren't representative of the bulk of active collectors.

I don’t know if registry sets are apex. I know a collector of mercury dimes that had 10 complete sets of mercury dimes, his number 1 set is probably a higher grade than any registry set. But he has no registry set or slabbed coins. What registry sets do is showcase the owners that want to display there sets. Not everyone wants to do that.

I don't disagree with the assertion that not all high-end collectors participate in registry sets. But I am quite certain that all registry sets are quite high end, compared to the rank-and-file collector who picks coins out of change.

WCC

@124Spider said:

@MsMorrisine said:
would the statisticians approve of looking at the number of registry sets to decide?

I wouldn't, simply because registry sets represent the very apex of coin collecting; I would be shocked if more than a miniscule percentage of all active collectors have a registry set.

And, please understand--I am not hostile to registry sets; I admire those with the desire to find the best (and, of course, the funds with which to do that). But they aren't representative of the bulk of active collectors.

If the price is above the cut-off where someone can actually buy all of these coins, the Heritage data indicates Saints are far more highly preferred versus any of the other types listed in the OP.

124Spider

@WCC said:

@124Spider said:

@MsMorrisine said:
would the statisticians approve of looking at the number of registry sets to decide?

I wouldn't, simply because registry sets represent the very apex of coin collecting; I would be shocked if more than a miniscule percentage of all active collectors have a registry set.

And, please understand--I am not hostile to registry sets; I admire those with the desire to find the best (and, of course, the funds with which to do that). But they aren't representative of the bulk of active collectors.

If the price is above the cut-off where someone can actually buy all of these coins, the Heritage data indicates Saints are far more highly preferred versus any of the other types listed in the OP.

Which, of course, validates my statement! The melt value of a Saint is about $2000; I'm sure only a very small percentage of collectors spends that much on one coin in their collection, much less an entire series.

WCC

@124Spider said:

@WCC said:

@124Spider said:

@MsMorrisine said:
would the statisticians approve of looking at the number of registry sets to decide?

I wouldn't, simply because registry sets represent the very apex of coin collecting; I would be shocked if more than a miniscule percentage of all active collectors have a registry set.

And, please understand--I am not hostile to registry sets; I admire those with the desire to find the best (and, of course, the funds with which to do that). But they aren't representative of the bulk of active collectors.

If the price is above the cut-off where someone can actually buy all of these coins, the Heritage data indicates Saints are far more highly preferred versus any of the other types listed in the OP.

Which, of course, validates my statement! The melt value of a Saint is about $2000; I'm sure only a very small percentage of collectors spends that much on one coin in their collection, much less an entire series.

Yes, I agree, but it depends upon what someone is trying to measure.

The number of collectors collecting something doesn't mean they prefer it. The OP didn't state this but it's a typical inference when this type of question is asked. Popular measured by number of collectors isn't equivalent to preferred. It usually means they can't afford to buy what they really want or in a low minority of instances (mostly with non-US coinage) are "locked out" because enough coins don't exist.

124Spider

@WCC said:

@124Spider said:

@WCC said:

@124Spider said:

@MsMorrisine said:
would the statisticians approve of looking at the number of registry sets to decide?

I wouldn't, simply because registry sets represent the very apex of coin collecting; I would be shocked if more than a miniscule percentage of all active collectors have a registry set.

And, please understand--I am not hostile to registry sets; I admire those with the desire to find the best (and, of course, the funds with which to do that). But they aren't representative of the bulk of active collectors.

If the price is above the cut-off where someone can actually buy all of these coins, the Heritage data indicates Saints are far more highly preferred versus any of the other types listed in the OP.

Which, of course, validates my statement! The melt value of a Saint is about $2000; I'm sure only a very small percentage of collectors spends that much on one coin in their collection, much less an entire series.

Yes, I agree, but it depends upon what someone is trying to measure.

The number of collectors collecting something doesn't mean they prefer it. The OP didn't state this but it's a typical inference when this type of question is asked. Popular measured by number of collectors isn't equivalent to preferred. It usually means they can't afford to buy what they really want or in a low minority of instances (mostly with non-US coinage) are "locked out" because enough coins don't exist.

Speaking for myself, there are lots of series/coins I would love to collect, but I'm not wealthy enough (and I certainly have spent many multiples of what the typical coin collector has spent; heck, I have individual coins that probably are worth multiples of what the typical collector has spent on their coin collection). And, yes, Saints would be high on the list of what I would collect if I had a few more zeroes in my net worth.

silviosi

From my own point of view, Saints and Quarters, but this what I like mostly. Which are most collected??? Hard to say. The prices in most of the cases has a big impact. Then what you like most. Some go fo Peace or Dime. For me those are just bullions, but I like to see full collection of those. My oppinion.