do you

MacCoin

sell off some of the coins you have had for a while to buy better ones? say like three or four vf/xf barbers to buy an nice AU or even may a MS barber. I have been thinking about it but its hard to part with them old girls. I do think I like an MS bqrber quarter in my type set.

XpipedreamR

Over the past year or so, I have become much more comfortable with making a simple bottom-line decision about a coin I am buying or selling--Do I really like it? vs. Am I just filling a hole in an album?. If Ilike it I'll buyit or keep it. If for any reason the coin doesn't do it for me, I'll pass on it or dump it in a second. I'm no longer interested in filling holes.

To get back to your question, I think that if you find your vf/xf Barbers pleasing for any reason, you should definitely keep them. If you need more $$ for an MS version, then sell the car!

foodude

Yes. In the case of my MS Franklin set, I have replaced several dates , 4, or 5 times, but I buy the new coin before I sell the old coin. . Typically, the new coin is at a higher grade, or is an FBL replacing a non-FBL. However, in several cases the new coin was just a better example at the same grade.

Shamika

I do it from time to time.

mintluster

YES. ABSOLUTELY! You should always go for the higher quality. It looks better and is worth much more in the end.
I am always "upgrading" my PCGS Morgan collection by trading a MS64 + cash for a MS65 or 66. Or trading 2 or 3 extra MS65's to get an MS66 I don't have. This is one of the many great things about coins and this hobby!

morganbarber

I used to believe that I liked circulated pieces and that I wanted to own complete sets at the expense of grade. The more I look at MS Morgans, the more I want a complete set in MS65-DMPL63. I will end up trading in many pieces.

Myriads

My situation is a touch different. But I've struggled, and am struggling with a similar sort of issue.

When my father died back in the '80's I got his collection, which was a American type set in grades that ranged from filler up to some nice proofs. He was a man who bought what he liked, and condition was not always his priority. He liked being able to say he owned a specific type.

While I always enjoyed looking at my fathers collection, I have never had much emotional attachment to it. So I slowly sold it off to fund the Liberty Nickel set that I'm now working on. There was no questions in my mind that I would enjoy the coins that I bought myself, over the ones I held from the old collection of my fathers. Trading them for proof Liberty Nickels was always a good deal in my mind. And I did :-) I also like to think that he would agree that in selling those coins, others could and would come to enjoy them and love them as he did, which is far better then having them moulder in my security box.

Now I'm left with a harder choice. A Gold Type set. It was built for me by my Grandparents over my first twelve birthdays. (the 3 types of $1's, the Coronet $2.50, $5, $10 $20, Eagle $2.50, The $3, the Indian $5, and $10, and Gaudens $20) I do feel a bit for these coins, but I don't have a special love of them AS coins. More what they symbolized. Letting go of them is harder, mostly because I've kept them based on habit and history (They were always 'The GOLD coins' and to a 5 year old, Gold seems so... special). But I also think that perhaps selling them is the right thing to do, based on the 'let others enjoy them' argument. I've not even taken time to look at them for a decade and a half, so why hold on? I should get coins that I can look at and enjoy daily.

My parents would say 'they were an investment'. But I wager that the High grade 1912-S Liberty Nickel and Proof 1877 Three Cent Piece I may buy with the proceeds of the sale would be better ones. So that argument dies on the floor.

Emotional attachment is hard to wrestle with. Though writing out the above has helped me work it out a bit more.

To answer the first question posed by MacCoin, I'd say if you think that the new coin you buy will make you happy, then sell the lower pieces for it. The memory of them will live on in your collection. Each time you look at that new MS Barber, you'll think with a smile about the four or five 'lesser' coins that you sold to others to get it. For example, when I look at my '08 Nickel I remember the Barber dime of dads that I sold, which paid for it. That coin will always be about in spirit.

Best of luck whith your choice!

Myriads