Which do you perfer to buy: high grade common date or low grade key date?
fivecents
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Given the choice of the two......do you like common date condition rarities or low grade key dates?
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Cameron Kiefer
My favorites are scarcer coins in the better collector grades. For coins like Morgan Dollars, and 19th century type, that means MS-63 or better still a really nice PQ MS-64. For early coins and really scarce date, choice VF (VF-30) to AU or low end Mint State is good range.
My least favorite coins a very expensive modern coins that are said to be "the finest known examples" for coins with very high mintages and high survival rates. When the population is in the 100's of millions, saying that something is "the finest known" is pure speculation.
For investing....key's regardless of the grade (Don't own to many of these)
A rare coin will always be a rare coin (unless a hoard is discovered) and maintain its value with minor market fluctuations. A high grade common date is expensive in part due to a flawed grading system, subject to fluctuations in grade, changing its value, and bubbles in the market.
<< <i>For collecting......high grades (primarily what I buy)
For investing....key's regardless of the grade (Don't own to many of these) >>
I don't really own that many key dates either, unless you want to talk about the Chain Cent, 1796 Quarter and 1792 half disme. I buy and sell them as part of the business, but I have not been holding on to them unless they are part of my collection.
Someday this key coin market will run itself out like every other cyclical market. There are just too many people driving it up who are not the ultimate consumers. Speculators have a habit of ruining their own markets.
Tom
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<< <i>
My least favorite coins a very expensive modern coins that are said to be "the finest known examples" for coins with very high mintages and high survival rates. When the population is in the 100's of millions, saying that something is "the finest known" is pure speculation. >>
It's curious that on sometimes the experience of one collector of moderns won't
quite match the experience of another. This is especially true when comparing
coins with very poor survival rates in different parts of the country where neither
collector has been able to find many coins. However it is certainly not speculation
when you've seen thousands of examples of a coin over several decades and sim-
ply can't find high grade examples or find them only rarely. There are not great
hordes of most of these coins because few people believed they could ever have
any value. If you don't like moderns then by all means don't collect them. You don't
even have to look at them. But when blanket statements are made about all mod-
erns it's a safe bet it's very wrong. It's not even correct that all condition rare mod-
erns sell for "moon money". The only thing these coins really share is their era of
manufacture.
something or other, might think again if the choice was between a super high grade common Morgan and a low grade 1792 half disme!
Looking for PCGS AU58 Washington's, 32-63.
(I do have my 32-D & S washingtons in AG03 and VG10....)
Dates are meaningless - high grade common type
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Tom, formerly in Albuquerque, NM.
Complete Set of Chopmarked Trade Dollars
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<< <i>Dates are meaningless - high grade common type >>
Relayer....You are a true "dyed in wool" type collector.
for example in the seated half dime series the 1860 is the common date and there is one coin graded ngc ms68 star that is a moose in terms of toning i would love this coin in terms of having a common date as it is good looking and great for type
another example would be proof trade dollars the common date 1881 proof traded dollar and there is one coin graded ngc proof 64 ultra cameo i would love this coin as it is a higher grade and is neatly cameoed and higher grade 64++ and just not buying the lower grade proof 62 really a proof 60 1885 trade dollar and looks like a dog rat pig in terms of eye appeal
and the last example a common later date ngc ms67* 1886 seated dime i think a pop one coin with killer eye appeal a great type coin and a common date to boot
michael
michael
<< <i>................ I just can't see paying big money for a low grade unatractive coin. >>
Not all low-grade coins are unattractive.
I have completed a few date/mint sets. In Barber and Mercury Dimes key dates keep increasing in popularity and in price. I'll keep my $500 1895-O or $500 1916-D. If I had common dates in these series currently selling at $500 each, I'd sell them off to get better grade key dates.
In many newer series, the "key dates" are still relatively common and are affordable in better grades. Who buys a circulated Franklin half just because that is one of the less common dates.
For older series, I'd rather have a low grade key if there are very many others interested in those key dates. I'd love to be able to afford any CC Seated Dime or Quarter from the early 1870s in any condition slabbable by the majors, but can't get too excited about the most common dates in MS-63, even though that is a high grade for Seated Liberty coins.
If practically no one collects a series, then low grade coins make little sense, as long as higher grades are available. Look at 3 cent nickels, especially those after 1875, for example.
For a type set, of course, I buy the best grade I can afford in a common date, unless a slightly better date is also available at the same price.
as I once pointed out to a friend that dabbles in coins. He was showing me his nearly full whitman albums and asked what I collected. I pointed and said "I collect the holes".
Bill
It seems like every single day, someone posts yet another mega-grade cameo Kennedy half they "scored", yet I have not seen even one other poster put up a pic of an 1801 half, and would be willing to bet that besides myself, Nysoto, Preturb, and maybe one or two other members, none have even seen one in person, much less have an example of their own. (edit: and I'm talking collectors here, not dealers, but even among dealers, the coin is RARE)
Though not even in Fine, I'm very proud of this recent acquisition, and would rather have this coin than a whole roll of top-pop Kennedies (just to use an example, I do own Kennedy halves, but in pedestrian grades like PF 66 and 67) Here's my "new" 1801:
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
The example of a series not in with the collectors was/is a great way to put thing in perspective.
al h.