Where Are All the Nice Mercury Dimes?

Walkerguy21D

I'm helping a fellow forum member assemble a set of Merc dimes, for a custom holder that he wants to have on display.
Ground rules are XF-AU, problem free, relatively matching original coins with decent strikes,, hold off on the 16D for now.
Sounded easy enough, as I hit a fair number of shows each year, and I assumed these were all common except the 16D and 21D.

The problem is, many of these coins apparently aren't so common after all....after 6 months, it's been somewhat akin to collecting walkers.

The later dates are readily available in flashy gem through AU, no problem there. Most of the dates from the 30's aren't too bad either. Generally you can pick from multiple coins for eye appeal and price shop.
It's the dates from the teens and twenties that are surprisingly tough. Other than the high mintage dates, I'm just not finding some of these coins. I'm checking cases, binders, boxed stock, etc. and generally finding low grade coins (abundant - I could have easily assembled a roll of 21P dimes in G/VG at Summer FUN yesterday) or a few higher grade coins, that are polished, scratched, stained, pitted, over graded, etc.

Wondering if anyone else has similar observations on this series....Should we punt and roll the dice on eBay? Just stay patient and know it's a worthwhile set we're building?

ricko

Be patient....they are out there... good ones I have found have been in B&M shops.... and usually at reasonable cost...Cheers, RickO

DIMEMAN

The teens and 20's are hard to find in those grades, but can be found if patient.

I do see the once in a while on ebay and in dealers inventory on websites.

If they are nice and in PCGS slabs they can be very pricey.

rhedden

Dates like 1919-d, 1920-d, 1923-s, 1925-d, 1927-s, etc. have never been readily available in nice XF-AU, but those are the grades many collectors want, so they disappear rapidly from shops/shows. This project will take a while to complete if the coins have to be nice for the grade.

fcloud

You will find them with time, but it is going to take you a lot more time than you thought. The range you refer to will be an adventure. Good luck!

Unknown

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erwindoc

Good to hear the struggles of others on this forum about the particular coins/grades. Should be a good looking set when completed though!!

DIMEMAN

One more thing about this grade range. Originality.......Mercs with this much detail have often been dipped to look unc. Thus true original Mercs in xf-au grades are very hard to find.

DeepCoin

Much depends upon if you are looking for coins graded by our hosts or are doing a raw set. Having put together a high grade No Bands set about 10 years ago, I can say that Mercs abound in some grades and dates, but not all grades and dates. The other issue is budget and how matched you would like the set to be, The funny part is that the 16D is perhaps the easiest coin to find in about any grade. Not cheap, but there to be had.

I still love the little ladies and wish you well in your search. For my part, if you are doing graded coins, I would not eschew eBay. However, if it is to be a raw set I would avoid it like the plague.

FYI, I noticed you were putting together a set for a special holder, but that does not mean you are not cracking out coins to populate it, thus my caveat regarding the source of the coins.

PTVETTER

I have been working on my mercury dime set since I was 16.

Darn that has been more years than I would like to admit to.

Deep coin and I went to high school together and were in the coin club in high school.

I need three dimes in the twenties 2 s, 1 d and a higher grade 16D

And there is always room to upgrade

Walkerguy21D

Thanks for the inputs and insights, everyone.
I did a Whitman folder of these back in junior high/high school also (like 197x), I think I had all but the 16D and 21D,
but the early dates were like Good or so, and the average grade of the set was probably Fine.
After getting it this far, I broke it up to help fund my walker set

gypsylea

<< <i>One more thing about this grade range. Originality.......Mercs with this much detail have often been dipped to look unc. Thus true original Mercs in xf-au grades are very hard to find. >>



Just like Walkers in the same date and grade ranges. The challenges really are about the same.

Justlooking

Got me ... I found a really gross 1942 in a Coinstar the other day ... along with about a dollar in pennies and clad dimes. No idea what went wrong there ... one of the dimes was bent.

GotTheBug

I have been working on a set of AU's myself and I can't tell you how many hundreds, if not thousands of Mercs I've had to look through to find a few that meet my standards. I've started resorting to picking up Mint State pieces in lieu of AU's, which is driving the cost of my set up a bit, but they sure do look nice.

The branch mint coins are killers - I've been working on my set now for about a year and a half and I have only found one in the 1920's - a 1926-D. I've learned to become more patient as I get older but at this rate I'll be 80 before I finish filling my Dansco LOL.

BLUEJAYWAY

Being this is my favorite set to collect since I started collecting, I had attempted to assemble an XF set back in the late 60's. Bought a Cap. Plastics holder and I was on my way, or so I thought. With ltd. funds at a young age I did not get too far. After 10-12 pieces I abandoned ship. Especially after realizing I would never be able to afford the 16-D. My wages back then were $3.20 hr. Back when I started that mission the 16-D was about $90.00 in Good. How I now wish I had lowered my sights and assembled a set in Good instead of going after XF's and getting discouraged and giving up. Good luck on the set completion and will look forward to any posted pix's of the set.

Patches

I finished my XF-AU set about a year ago, it also took much longer than I thought it would to complete. The date that was the toughest in that range with nice eye appeal for me was the 1923-S. Here is a link to the old thread of My Set Stay with it, good luck!

-Steve

Walkerguy21D

Very nice set, Patches!
That is the look we are going for, we even have a couple of toners in there like your set, to add some extra eye appeal.



<< <i>The date that was the toughest in that range with nice eye appeal for me was the 1923-S. >>


I lucked into the 23S at the Summer FUN show on Thur....forum member 1798Collector (David), a large cent specialist friend who
sets up with the venerable Tom Reynolds, had a small selection of 'other' US coins in a case at the end of their tables, so after I got done
perusing the large cents, I took a look, and not only found the 23S we needed, but also a very nice 29D. I wiped out about a quarter of their
dime inventory - LOL - but you never know where the coins will turn up!