Collecting clad dimes or quarters for fun or for profit:
cladking
Posts: 28,636 ✭✭✭✭✭
OK, I lied. I just wanted to get a few more people to look at the thread so tossed in the
"for profit" part. It's not a good idea to buy collectibles for profit and certainly clad dimes
and quarters are no exception.
I've gotten several PM's from people over the last few weeks at this site and others asking
about a good way to start a collection of these so there may be some interest in this thread.
You can buy a set and work on upgrading it but in most cases this is inadvisable. Most of
the sets advertised are of pretty low quality and by the time you're done upgrading all of
the original set will have been replaced. ............................................................... There are ex-
ceptions to this since these are sometimes composed of mint set coins and will contain many
choice coins and even an occassional gem. The best bet is to look through mint sets for the
coins. Generally it will require only two or three sets to find a nice choice dime and three or
four to find a nice choice quarter. There are some that will require a great deal more seaching.
The '69 quarter will generally require about a dozen sets to find a choice coin. '71 dimes will
require about eight sets. This will flesh out most of a collection without any of the varieties.
The other coins will prove a little more difficult. The '65 to '67 coins will turn up in rolls once
in a while but even if you locate a roll the odds of a choice coin in the roll are poor. This will
also be true for the '82-P, and '83-P&D, but these have the additional problem of being much
more difficult to find in rolls. The best bet for these dates is to keep an eye on dealer stock.
They (and the '82-D) tend to evaporate pretty quickly now days when they get into stock, but
it's the best bet to find them cheap. If you don't want to wait you can usually find the souvenir
mint sets for about $50 each. While this may sound expensive remember some of these coins
have very high roll prices and $50 for sets with mintages between 10,000 and 20,000 isn't all
that high. You'll need about four of each of the Phillys and two of the Denvers to get choice is-
sues. As you're searching dealers' stock for needed coins, keep your eyes open for varieties.
These are often available for the same price as the commoner coins. Some like the '69-D/D dime
and the early DDR's can be found in the mint sets. The '81-P type "d" reverse quarter is also
available in the mint sets.
Big sellers of mint sets generally pull out the finest coins for slabbing but they do sometimes try
to sell nice choice sets to the retail buyers. Finding nice coins is much more likely if you have multi-
ple lots of sets to look at.
It will actually help to understand these coins if you look at your pocket change once in a while.
Coins which are rarely nice in circulation are rarely nice in rolls and sets. There are many varieties
in circulation which are unavailable elsewhere so you may spot one of these too.
Good luck.
edited to add bold text.
"for profit" part. It's not a good idea to buy collectibles for profit and certainly clad dimes
and quarters are no exception.
I've gotten several PM's from people over the last few weeks at this site and others asking
about a good way to start a collection of these so there may be some interest in this thread.
You can buy a set and work on upgrading it but in most cases this is inadvisable. Most of
the sets advertised are of pretty low quality and by the time you're done upgrading all of
the original set will have been replaced. ............................................................... There are ex-
ceptions to this since these are sometimes composed of mint set coins and will contain many
choice coins and even an occassional gem. The best bet is to look through mint sets for the
coins. Generally it will require only two or three sets to find a nice choice dime and three or
four to find a nice choice quarter. There are some that will require a great deal more seaching.
The '69 quarter will generally require about a dozen sets to find a choice coin. '71 dimes will
require about eight sets. This will flesh out most of a collection without any of the varieties.
The other coins will prove a little more difficult. The '65 to '67 coins will turn up in rolls once
in a while but even if you locate a roll the odds of a choice coin in the roll are poor. This will
also be true for the '82-P, and '83-P&D, but these have the additional problem of being much
more difficult to find in rolls. The best bet for these dates is to keep an eye on dealer stock.
They (and the '82-D) tend to evaporate pretty quickly now days when they get into stock, but
it's the best bet to find them cheap. If you don't want to wait you can usually find the souvenir
mint sets for about $50 each. While this may sound expensive remember some of these coins
have very high roll prices and $50 for sets with mintages between 10,000 and 20,000 isn't all
that high. You'll need about four of each of the Phillys and two of the Denvers to get choice is-
sues. As you're searching dealers' stock for needed coins, keep your eyes open for varieties.
These are often available for the same price as the commoner coins. Some like the '69-D/D dime
and the early DDR's can be found in the mint sets. The '81-P type "d" reverse quarter is also
available in the mint sets.
Big sellers of mint sets generally pull out the finest coins for slabbing but they do sometimes try
to sell nice choice sets to the retail buyers. Finding nice coins is much more likely if you have multi-
ple lots of sets to look at.
It will actually help to understand these coins if you look at your pocket change once in a while.
Coins which are rarely nice in circulation are rarely nice in rolls and sets. There are many varieties
in circulation which are unavailable elsewhere so you may spot one of these too.
Good luck.
edited to add bold text.
Tempus fugit.
0
Comments
It is turning in to a fun and inexpensive endeavor that compliments my more expensive coin pursuits.
I enjoy reading your posts on the topic of clads. Keep it up, todays moderns that are saved become the next generation's special coins.
And any of you gem clad coin collectors, please give me a message if you have a great duplicate to trade/sell or want to know about my tons of duplicates!
Edited to say: I want to thank cladking for his post and for all the help and information he gives us!
<< <i>One thing I've found: clad coins are held to a higher standard marks-wise than their silver counterparts. >>
Are you serious? I thought the exact opposite! I've bought a dozen pcgs ms66 quarters to try to fill in missing dates in my set, and they all looked like ms64's to me. I cracked out the only 2 I liked and resold the other 10 on ebay.
<< <i>
And any of you gem clad coin collectors, please give me a message if you have a great duplicate to trade/sell or want to know about my tons of duplicates!
Edited to say: I want to thank cladking for his post and for all the help and information he gives us! >>
It's a pleasure.
My preference is for the gems also. Many of these do get more complicated but for
the main part they just take more looking. Watch for the rolls if you can find them;
some of the late '80's and '90's dates can be pretty good in them sometimes. Also
watch for the privately assembled '82 and '83 sets. Some of the gems don't appear
in the souvenir sets.