What is the most popular pre modern coin series?
Randoms
Posts: 159 ✭✭✭
By pre modern I’m talking before 1964 with designs that are mostly still around today. Lincoln cents, Jefferson nickels, Rosevelt dimes, Washington quarters, and I suppose Franklin halves.
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What do you mean by “most collectible”?
Probably should have said most popular
Lincolns
Morgan dollars
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
Jefferson nickels (a nice collection to have)
I think I would rank them in that order.> @Randoms said:
In terms of volume collected, I cannot imagine any coin on your list coming close to the Lincoln Cent.
I am a newer collector (started April 2020), and I primarily focus on U.S. Half Cents and Type Coins. Early copper is my favorite.
Ranked by the number of “major” sets in the PCGS Registry:
Washington Quarters: 3,719
Lincoln Cents: 3,579
Jefferson Nickels: 3,187
Franklin Halves: 2,599
Roosevelt Dimes: 2,276
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
If we are talking raw I would think it’s Lincoln’s. You can still find wheats in change.
Morgans.
Having fun while switching things up and focusing on a next level PCGS slabbed 1950+ type set, while still looking for great examples for the 7070.
Lincolns, with Morgans a close second.
“The thrill of the hunt never gets old”
PCGS Registry: Screaming Eagles
Copperindian
Retired sets: Soaring Eagles
Copperindian
@PocketChange . That is a very interesting post of sets. I would have bet the house Lincoln cents would win that race. James
wow... this was an eye-opener... I'd have "bet the farm" that Lincoln Cents would have ruled... but, we're talking high end Registry Sets. How many "Everyman" sets are out there in Whitman folders? Now that I'm looking around for another project, I'm thinking either a Merc Dime or Buffalo nickel folder... all raw...
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
Perhaps I misunderstood the OP's intent, but I cannot believe that Buffalo Nickels, Mercury Dimes and Walking Liberty Half Dollars aren't in the list. I still have my raw Buffalo Nickel Album and working on another Mercury Dime Album. Of course, I have the Lincolns, Jeffs and Roosies, but not nearly my favorites.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
He excluded those
The State Quarters gave the Washington Quarter a big boost. A lot of people, who had not been collectors before, started saving them.
Lincoln Cents launched many coin collections. I don’t know if it is now as big as it was when I started in 1959. There are still lots of partial set Lincoln Cent albums for youngsters to fill. The full set from 1909 has become very long and expensive.
I think that Morgan Dollars is the most popular set among collectors who have and are willing to spend significant sums of money.
12 Caesar auction coming up soon, Heritage I think. I've got a buddy who collects them.
Pre 1964 with designs that are mostly still around. Your Lincoln’s, Washington’s, Rosevelts, Jefferson’s. After the change from silver to clad these coins are still around. Some have undergone more design changes than others. I use 64 as the cutoff because of the removal of silver
Yeah, those are definitely more popular than Lincoln cents.
1) Lincolns. They can be collected at every income level.
2) Morgans - any coin that can sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars with 100,000 coins extant has to be popular. And they are big chunks of silver with a beautiful design.
I'm a Lincoln guy and he thought it was funny that I misplaced my 1909-SVDB 65B in an old green rattler that I bought back when it was cheap. I order 20 more PCGS slab boxes today, must get more organized than shoeboxes in the safe with silica packs. I told him that he was into dead culture -- he owns some Beethoven hair too to prove my point.
Is the OP defining popularity by the number of collectors or as a demonstrated collector preference?
It's two different things entirely.
If the first, it's always going to be a cheaper common series because the supply of the more and most preferred coinage is (more) limited and not affordable to the majority of the collector base.
They are still around!
If attending coin shows I would say Morgan Dollars. They dominate many of the dealer coin cases.
I have heard from a couple of dealers in ancient coins that these pieces are hard to keep in stock. I formed this set a few years ago.
My Julius Caesar portrait coin was struck 11 months after he was assassinated. His portrait coins that were made when he was alive are very expensive, especially when they don't problems. I've come in second a couple of times in auctions, which is often the case for me.
This coin was made when Julius Caesar was alive, and is by far the most common "live Caesar" coin. Unfortunately he didn't look much like an elephant.
I have complete albums for all the types OP listed, having collected since the early 1960s.
I like having them all, but the only ones of those that I look at regularly, just because I like them, are the Lincoln cents and Jefferson nickels. And of those two, I only LOVE the Lincoln cents. The Jefferson nickels are nice because one can get a complete set in BU condition, often very gently toned to perfection, for very little money (less, in total, for instance, than a nice 1909-S VDB cent costs all by itself).
And, to differ in opinions, I would add Morgan dollars to the list. They were in circulation when I was a kid (especially in Nevada), and many of them still are quite reasonably priced even in high grade condition (where "reasonably priced" means "premium above melt value").
Of all the coin types I collect Morgans and Lincoln cents are my favorites.