What Would You Rather Have? Five Superb GEMS or 100 Lesser ones?

braddick

Let's say, within your favorite Series, you have an opportunity to collect either five of the upmost, top Superb GEMS within that Series, or 100 in lesser grades? Assuming the coins are correctly graded and the value about the same within the two groupings. In other words, say you collect colorful Morgans. Would you rather have five absolute Cherries (the kind that even GSAGUY has to look twice!) or 100 rainbows that are not nearly as beautiful or stunning to behold.
Are you a Quality Seeker or a "Fill-the-Blue-Box" Seeker?

SeattleSlammer

Without question, I'd take the 5 gems.

Trooper

gimme the 5

Tom

LanLord

In time past I probably would have chosen the 100 just because I wanted to complete a set. But any more, I am moving more toward a smaller high dig collection.

baccaruda

I'd take 1 PR70 DCAM 63 Lincoln, sell it, and buy 500 PR69 DCAM 63 lincolns.

RGL

How about three killers and 40 lesser ones?

Dog97

I've got the 100's so I would go with door #5.

FC57Coins

Definitely take the 5 gems......


Unless we're talking SBA's - in which case I'd take the 100 - and treat myself to dinner and a movie

MFH

Gimme V

Jamericon

Quality over quantity. I will take the 5!

mdwoods

The 5 Gems for me. I've seen a couple of GSAGUY's keepers. I'd love to have 5 coins that would make him look twice.

tradedollarnut

In general, I'd take the five gems. However, I also am attracted to value so I'd want to know the particulars - like how much of a jump in price over the undergrade and how many undergrades there are for the gems.

Of course, if they were coins I'd read about for years - then there would be no doubt. You know - mondern collectors don't have that little bit of the hobby that entrances me. A coin with a 100 year pedigree that has been again off the market in a prominant collection for the past 20 years that suddenly becomes available. There's nothing like it!!!

foodude

5 Gems, they take up a lot less space.

fountainheadgold

5 gems

XpipedreamR

Five gems. To me, it's about quality over quantity. At least, that is my goal.

rainbowroosie

Forget the 5 and give me one super duper gem!

braddick

I appreciate the comments. I was going over a couple PCGS boxes of colorful Morgans I own. Nothing really stands out- mostly MS64'ish material with pretty colors. A couple are NGC MS65*, but the colors are not neon, bright and "in your face" beautiful.
I then watched, with extreme interest, the recent two Threads showing off colorful, stellar, top notch Morgans and it got me to re-think my Morgan collecting goals.
I believe I'll sell off 40 of my Morgans and look for one or two absolute head turners instead.

It's easy to find all the lesser quality coins. It's a chore to find the Stand Alones, and then when they're found, to step up and make claim to them.

291fifth

The five gems would be the most marketable. They could be promoted in a major auction.

Barry

100.
The barely discernable differences are not worth a 20:1 premium to me.

JrGMan2004

Quality over Quantity... and value you really has no meaning (Except for future rises in the prices), b/c he said that the 100 lessers would be the same value as the 5 gems... so value really means nothing... unless, like Franky said, it's 100 SBAs or SACs... cause then face would be more than collector value of the 5 gems... probally...

mgoodm3

I'll take the 5. Quality over quantity.

Fairlaneman

The 100.

Why ? Because I really like looking at different coins and if something happened that was out of my control money wise they are more liquid at the price you pay for them.

The Gems would be nice but within the coin market cycles you stand to lose more on them, if that concerns you at all.

The More ....The Merrier for me.

Ken

DMWJR

Would you rather have 5 Victoria Secret models, or 100 Lane Bryant models?

ARCO

I am a sick hoarder. I would take the 100 different coins all day long in every series of US coinage.

DMWJR - I would take the 100 Lane Bryant models too. No the aren't madison avenue slim, but they aren't bad at all and there would be 100 women VS just 5. With some wine, good music and dim lights they would all look like supermodels! LOL

Tyler

Peaceman

I have this problem right now... I opted for the 5 (well many more than that) 2 years ago and now that the markets gone up so much... I think I'd be nuts not to sell....

If I had a lot of coins... I'd be very easy to "let go"... now... I KNOW I won't be able to find them for any price.....

jim

Since I'm short on Morgans I would go for the 100 then worry about the gems later

FatMan

<< <i>What Would You Rather Have? Five Superb GEMS or 100 Lesser ones? >>



My first reaction is to go with the Five Superb Gems, but the more I think about this I am beginning to waffle.

I know the conventional wisdom is to go high end. But I like to play with my coins. I study the history of each and I sometimes find myself daydreaming of the time the coin was minted and thinking of the lives of the people who have held the coin in the past. I think I might get bored with only five coins in my collection in a short time.

Oh what the heck. It's usually best to go with your first instinct. Five Superb GEMS Please. Thanks for the offer braddick. I'll PM you with my address. Please send them registered mail.

1234567890

The 100 lesser ones hands down. I find the diffrent types and history behind each coin more intriguing than 5 flawless coins.

oreville

Hmmm 5 MS-70 1893-S Morgans or 100 MS-69 1893-S Morgans?

I think I will go for the hundred!

razorface1027

I'd go for the 100...

relayer

5 Gems (I already have 100 lesser ones)

Bikingnut

5 gems

BAJJERFAN

I'll take the 5 gems and the 100 lesser ones.

DMWJR

<< <i>DMWJR - I would take the 100 Lane Bryant models too. No the aren't madison avenue slim, but they aren't bad at all and there would be 100 women VS just 5. With some wine, good music and dim lights they would all look like supermodels! LOL

Tyler >>



LOL! I took the term "Lesser ones" in the thread title to mean gems, but not "supurb gems." Lane Bryant models are not "lesser" but they can be gems! LOL!!!!

lordmarcovan

Depends on what kind of coins we're talkin' about, but in most cases, I'd go for the five gems. Quality over quantity.

cladking

All else being equal I'd go for the five superb gems, but in many cases all else isn't
equal. In modern series the gems can be as scarce as the superb gems. I'd want
the most bang for my buck.

Conder101

Put me down in the 100 column. I'm a collector and a variety addict. I can fill a lot more holes and I'll have a lot more fun going over 100 lesser grade coins than I would just 5 gems. I don't plan on selling so I don't care about future potential value appreciation.

Trime

I am a gem guy but every package is different .

dorkkarl

it's a no-brainer. i'll take 100 ms-65 draped bust quarters any day, any time, any way over 5 ms-67 draped bust quarters. dunno what kind of brainless retard would do otherwise.

K S

dorkkarl

for that matter, i'd take 100 ms-65 large cents, half-cents, new-jersey's, connecticuts, pillar dollars, continental dollars, flowing-hair halves, lord baltimore shillings, etc etc etc over 5 ms-67's. in fact, the number of series where i'd take the 100 over 5 is overwhelming, but you asked about "favorite" series.

if i were stuck w/ morgan dollars or kennedy halves, i'd take the 5 ms-67's because it wouldn't take nearly as long to dump as it would 100.

K S

Gandyjai

That's about the ratio I'm getting!

For every 5 GEM coins I make at PCGS.....I seem to end up with 100 "lesser" ones that I am quickly running out of space for!

Don't get me wrong,.....they are still nice coins,.....but as my collection "evolves"....my tastes is changing more towards "head-turners".
I want to be able to pick up one of my coins and look at it and go: "WOW, that is a REALLY NICE coin!"

I am presently trying to "liquidate" all of those "lesser" ones so that I can go out and buy a couple more of those "head-turning" gems.

Gandyjai

RiffRaff1967

I guess it depends on the coin -

If we are talking Morgans - I'd take the 100 (I would enjoy going through these more than the 5).

If we are talking Franklins - I'd take the 5 - Not only would I enjoy the superb quality of these 5, I know I would not want to have 100 lower quality Franklins (too small of a series, and there are too many lower quality ones available).

MadMonk

5 superb gems, of course!

Shamika

Hard to say. As a youngster 30 years ago and with few coins, I'd take the 100 lesser ones. However, now that I have about 150 slabs and hundreds of raw coins, I think I'd opt for the 5 stellar coins.

HEY LOOK EVERYONE! THE GRASS IS GREENER OVER THEIR!!

Dennis88

I would prefer the five. I like top Lincolns (my series) 10000000000000% more than lower grade coins. Unfortanly, I can't buy top pop coins now........

Dennis

Jaywalker

In the series I'm working on, Standing Lib quarters, I would take 100 MS64s over 5 MS67s or 68s. I like variety, and like someone else mentioned, I would get a lot of pleasure out of looking at 100 different coins. Plus they can look really good in MS64 and difficult to tell from gems unless you look very closely.

But if the 5 gems were key dates, I would take those because I could always find the rest.

Gilbert

<< <i>five of the upmost, top Superb GEMS within that Series... >>

leaves a lot of room for some really nice coins, so I would likely go for the 100. Now if you want to further qualify the "lesser" coins to infer they are just not desirable, well I would go for the five. As your question stands, one might consider five MS67 Morgans over one hundred 65s and 66s. That ain't hard for me at all.

Now I see you mentioned "colorful" 64s and 65s. I guess I should have asked if by "superb GEM" you mean a "toned 64" versus a "monster toned rainbow 64." In that case I would take the five coins.

Baley

Well, given the same value, put me in the camp with the compromisers who would choose one superb gem, plus 10 really nice but slightly lesser gems, plus 40 or so really really nice and still gem coins. Or some other mix, not the strict 5 or 100 offered. If forced to choose, I would probably still take the 100 coins.

coinlieutenant

Give me the five gems baby!!!

Nysoto

Easy decision, 100 lesser grades. Bust half dollars by die variety, a collection of only 5 coins would be very boring, regardless of the grade. An original VF30 bust half looks better than a dipped MS65 any day. Bust coins that have completed a full tour in commerce have a lot of character.

IndianHeadMan

It depends upon what the difference is in the lesser ones. If it is IHC's in 66 as the gems and IHC's in 64 as the lesser ones. I would take the lesser ones.