Set Builders: common or key date time?

Wondo

With the market being WHITE HOT, is there any advantage to picking up key dates over commons or vice versa? The ultimate goal is completing a date / mintmark set in high collector grade (probably not condition census). Does the series matter, i.e. IHC's vs. Liberty $20?

What are your thoughts?

mgoodm3

I think most of the WHITE HOTNESS is at the higher end. Key dates are probably more affected than the common dates.

JohnZ

Buy the keys first! I learned that the hard way. The market on keys just seems to go up.

Cladiator

Key dates will always be high $ and will always go up. The commons will be high when the market is high and low when the market is low. I try not to buy commons when the market is up.

merz2

Wondo
I have to agree with the rest.Get the Key dates ASAP.

jdimmick

Key(s) and semi key toughies first!

KUCH

Ditto for the keys. how about that 1909 S VDB in MS64 Red?

coinkat

depends on the series... but as a rule keys are always in demand.

Shamika

"Buy the keys first! I learned that the hard way. The market on keys just seems to go up."

I'd say that's about right!

lava

I would let the opportunities decide what you buy. The key dates available when you buy may be poor specimens, while they may be some primo non-key dates available. So, look at the coins first and buy what you things make the best buy at the time. This strategy seems to work for me.

ccex

<< <i>If completing a set for the lowest amount of money is the main goal, then I would agree that buying keys first is generally a good strategy. However, I do think they have gotten ahead of themselves in the current market. JMHO.

Bowers has an interesting contrarian view on this matter and one which I agree with, probably because I can be so fickle when it comes to coins. His recommendation is to pick up the common dates first so that you can validate whether you are truly interested in the series or not. That way, you haven't spent too much money on acquiring the keys. However, the advent of the internet has changed that to some extent in that you can recoup much more of your money if you need to sell ASAP. >>



I agree with you and QDB on this point. I think it's important to hone one's grading skills on the common dates and sell off a few duplicates before investing in the key dates in the desired grades. eBay and respectable slabs have made the learning curve less treacherous for a collector plunging into building a new set.

Yes, it makes sense to buy the keys sooner rather than later, since it is better to have them appreciate in your set rather than in your dealers' inventory (and they will appreciate in the long run). However, I look back at my first complete set, uncirculated Franklins, which I assembled in 1986. I dove into this set with a "bargain" $150 1949-S which the mail-order dealer described as "GEM BU" which the publication in which he advertised said should imply MS-65 by ANACS standards. When I filled out the set with lots of nice $10 common dates, I learned the importance of strike and that an MS-65 grade from a few years ago would bring at best MS-63 money in a market near its peak. Some of the the cheap common dates (a couple of which even had FBL) I purchased from fellow collectors made my 1949-s look like an MS-61 in comparison. Soon after I completed my set, I let it lie fallow for 13 years. I also harbored a long-standing grudge against those (including DHRC) who promoted high grade and easliy promotable Morgan Dollars in the late '80s. (Check out Les & Sue Fox' "Silver Dollar Fortune Telling" for a good laugh at what collector/investors of that era read.)

When I eventually returned to collecting, I looked at all my partially completed sets and decided that circulated Barber Dimes were a set of boring coins which were scarce enough in Fine to AU to ensure that they would never be the subject of a promotion like Frankies or Morgans were in the mid-to-late '80s. As I filled out my Barber Dime set, I learned how to grade, how to avoid ads which sounded too good to be true, and rekindled an old flame which burns to this day. I carefully bought a few key dates in lower grades and spent much enjoyable time chasing the last semi-keys I needed to complete my set.

Today I have two complete Barber Dime sets and three other partially filled albums. Thankfully, the grading and pricing of these coins has remained fairly stable over the last 4 years, although almost all of the key dates have appreciated. Since I ignore proof or better mint state Barber Dimes and collect raw coins, I don't have to worry about how a coin might cross at a different grading service or whether I will be buried with an expensive purchase.

Curiously enough, I have found that the Barber Dimes I buy at the lowest percentage of CDN bid are common dates in XF and AU. All Barber Dime collectors already have an example of the common date and most are too busy chasing key dates to bother looking at a $10 to $35 coin. The conventional wisdom to concentrate of the keys and semi-keys at the best grade within the budget can make the hunt for an original AU 100-year-old "common coin" enjoyable and affordable, if one knows how to grade. At the same time, eBay bidiots are paying G-4 prices for AG key dates in a desperate attempt to complete their sets. This makes selling off lower grade duplicates fun.

Yes the series makes a big difference, as does the market. Those who proclaim certain markets "white hot" or "nuclear" tend to ignore the bread and butter of collections assembled with time and joy by those of us who eschew registry set material and enjoy boring series in less grades not worth slabbing.

I would be a Barber Quarter collector if it weren't for the 1901-S, and would be a Seated Liberty Dime collector if it weren't for the 1874-CC. I will be a collector of these series only if I stumble across a surprise inheritance. I will never build a set of early half dimes because of the 1802. My 93-year-old mother-in-law is now in the hospital with abroken hip and my perfectionist 77-year old favorite rich uncle with leukemia is now counting the days between transfusions. Sorry to sound so morbid, but I am responding to a post which began with "If completing a set for the lowest amount of money is the main goal...."