POLL: What is the toughest 20th century non-gold business strike series to complete in any grade?

oldcameoproofsguy

The poll includes complete- overlapping 19th to 20th series. Consider a full run of coins with all dates and mint marks. Also consider the different types but exclude varieties. For example, Lincoln cents would include a full run of dates and mint marks with the wheat and the Lincoln memorial reverses but not varieties like the '55 or the '72 double dies.

For all you Lurkers the choices are:
Indian cents
Lincoln cents
Liberty Nickels
Buffalo Nickels
Jefferson Nickels
Barber dimes
Mercury dimes
Roosevelt dimes
Barber quarters
Standing Liberty quarters
Washington quarters
Barber halfs
Walking Liberty half dollars
Franklin half dollars
Kennedy Half dollars
Morgan dollars
Peace dollars
Ike dollars
Susan B Anthony dollars
Sacs

airplanenut

Morgans have many key dates... I vote for them

barberlover

It's impossible to complete the morgan series because all the known 1895 buisness strikes were melted, and i consider using a proof of that year as cheating.

2nd to the morgans I would say barber quarters because of a number of very expensive key dates even in circ grades.

CarlWohlforth

I voted Lincoln cents thinking there were more coins to find than any of the other series.

BUT, I misunderstood the question. I voted before I read the first post. It was only then that I realized that pre 1900 coins were included. There are lots of Morgans from the 1800s so I would probably have to vote for them but I should go look up Indian Cents and Barber coins to see how many date/mm coins there are pre-1900.

jom

I voted Barber Quarters. But I think Buffalo nickels should be higher on the list (my 2nd choice) but it might depend on what you mean by "tough". Do you mean tough to find or tough to pay for? In BOTH of these cases it is relative. A tough to find series depends on the approximate grades you are looking for. The tough to pay for depends how much dough you have to blow. BTW, you didn't make it much easier by ignoring the gold sets because the issues would have been the same.

Conclusion: I dunno...this is a tough question. If you, say, want to put together an average set, say in AU, then I would say the Barber Quarter wins. But, like I said, it's a GOOD tough question.

jom

PS: I don't think the Morgan should be anywhere near the top on this particular list.

Coulport

Barber quarters, hands down.

Next time you are in a shop, any shop, see how many of the three key dates they have available.


As for Morgans, one shop I frequent has 8 of every date and mint on display for sale. (NO, it doesn't include the '95 proof.) Tough series? Hardly.

prooflike

I had assumed for the Morgans that it would be only the 20th century dates and the same goes for the Barber's.

So I picked Buffalo Nickels, those overdates can be tough.

PTVETTER

that was a hard choice to make try to rerun the poll with the top 50% and see what happens then

Russ

Tough to find, or tough to pay for?

Russ, NCNE

LanLord

I was undecided between Barber quarters and Morgan dollars. Both have some real killers.

lclugza

I voted for Liberty nickels. I hear the 1913 is very hard to find.

If you only count regular issues, probably Barber quarters.

jeffnpcb

I chose Mercury dimes with an idea of all being FSB's. That 16-D, '21,'21-S and 42/1, 42/1-D and of course a 1945 in FSB! But then again, it needs to be based on a certain grade level, let's say MS-65!

Any Barber set and Morgans would be impossible in MS-65 or better because the populations and too many wore out ones especially even those straight out of the mint!

jcping

I thought we only limited ourselves to 1900-date coins so that 1895 Morgan should not be in the list to consider.
Since the rule said in any grade, my vote went to Barber quarter since 1901-S is very tough to find and 1913-S is also tough.
If I have two votes, the next one is standing liberty quarter since it also has two tough coins even in low grade, 1916 and 1918/7-S.

oldcameoproofsguy

I can't believe that no one has picked Walking Liberty Half dollars. That is a long hard series even in low grades. There are a number of stoppers; it could easily be one of the toughest.

keets

hey O.C.P.G.

you wouldn't think walkers were tough if you'd ever sorted through a few $800 bags of circs!!

i went with SLQ's because there are a couple of tough dates and so many coins, like buffalo's, which have a partial or very difficult to read date. besides, i think it's a sweet design with the best looking rim of any U.S. issue.

al h.

Conder101

It's got to be the Barber DIMES!! He said all dates and mints so that includes the 1894-S dime and I believe that even one of the low grade specimens of that is going to cost you more than a complete SET of any of the others. I think even the G-4 piece is a high five or low six figure coin isn't it?

roadrunner

Toss up between the Barber series depending on what grade. These earlier series had an extra 20 years of attrition than the later 20th cent sets plus less collectors were saving roll quantities of them. Very few people put away branch mint Barbers or rolls of uncs. Everything else just circulated away.

roadrunner

FC57Coins

SLQ's - you start with a stumper in the 1916, then you have the 1918/7, the 1919-21 coins are pretty tough, and then you have the issue of availability of nice collectible coins with full dates - a complete set of these is quite the accomplishment!

ccr

I went for the Barber Dimes for the same reasons as Condor101. The 1894 - S is a killer not only in the pocketbook but, try to find one. The V-nickels would be either a tie or a close second for the same reasons. Peace, Franklins, and Jeffersons are classic starter sets for new collectors to build. Easyly availible and largely inexpensive. The 1934 - S Peace can be a bit tough in the pocketbook but, still fairly availible.

jom

Like I said earlier (and Russ) it all comes down to what your criteria is: hard to find? hard to afford? etc etc Plus the original idea in this thread was to avoid varieties (such as 55 double dies and the like). What then is the toughest series? I like this thread....it's very interesting to me because I've always liked researching what dates are hard to find for the normal (not varieties etc) business strike dates and mintmarks. I'm curious what others have found out in their search for their particular favorite series dates/mintmarks.

jom

oldcameoproofsguy

ttt

To me this is really interesting. There is no clear cut answer. In fact the answers are quite diverse and there is no run away winner. Some, however, are really baffling to me.

I'm surprized by the number of people who chose Barber Half dollars and Barber dimes when IMO the quarters are far more difficult. There were very few for Lincoln cents which shear size alone would make it somewhat difficult. I am also surprized to see very few votes for Indian cents. It too is a long series with a number of stoppers.

SBA dollars got two votes. Maybe they are so ugly to look at, that the series becomes a tough one to collect let alone complete.

clw54

I picked Barber Quarters because of the 1901-S, but I'd forgotten about that 1894-S dime.

jonesy

After eyeballing the set registry, I have to say Barber Quarters with a bullett!!