roll v. bag, which has better coins

lava

This may be a stupid question, but if you are looking for a premium grade coin, would it be more likely to find it in a roll rather than a bag, because there is ongoing contact in a bag?

This thread got me thinking about this, which is totally outside my specialty. Thread Link

hamiltonjh

i would think rolls for the reason you mentioned: less contact hence less scratching/gouging etc.

The only advantage to bags, I guess, would be the ability to buy quantity at a lower price?

zenny

<< <i>This may be a stupid question, but if you are looking for a premium grade coin, would it be more likely to find it in a roll rather than a bag, because there is ongoing contact in a bag?

This thread got me thinking about this, which is totally outside my specialty. Thread Link >>





i think for "premium grade" coins you need mint sets, not rolls or bags.

cladking

As you probably know we've discussed this a lot and there doesn't appear to
be a single answer. Certainly some bags are mistreated and some old bags have
been mistreated for many years so these will be affected. Very old rolls are pro-
ably more susceptable to enviromental damage from the sulfur in the paper.

Generally speaking it makes little difference where you look for the really choice
gems because there isn't much difference in the chances of finding them. The
coins always used to originate in bags (or sets) and then be transferred so roll
coins had at least one extra step in handling. But most damage to coins seems
to originate deep in the mint often even before they get to the counting and
bagging operations so being rolled is insignificant in damaging most coins.

Mint sets are a great source for gems because most of the coins are nicely struck
so it narrows the search to unmarked coins. For some coins which are difficult to
find as gems in rolls and bags, looking for them in the mint sets is like shooting fish
in a barrel. But there are other coins which will be universally damaged (apparently
by the mint set packaging equipment) in the sets and you have to look in bags or
rolls.

In a nutshell there is no neat answer to this question and the gems are where you
find them which in some cases means a great deal of searching will be necessary.

Bothuwui

After the last bag I bought, I'm never going that route again!
See this thread