Guidelines For When To Buy Highest Grade - Low Pop Pieces

Typetone

Just returned from Memorial Day weekend on Kodiak Island, AK. Mostly went to support my wife who ran a 43 mile ultra-marathon around the island. She finished 3rd, congratulations Linda. Had some fun myself. Took my three boys on a fishing charter and caught a 1/2 dozen sea bass. Quite good. While eating a juicy king crab, I watched the ultramarathoners come in looking totally drenched and dazed.

On to the subject. As we all know, many coins have a jump of many x when you go to low pop finest from next to finest. This is especially true for moderns. See the excellent related thread on the 42P Lincoln in MS67. We have all debated whether these coins are worth the premium. Here are my guidelines which I follow when considering a finest low pop piece.

1. I have to be a sophisticated collector of the series.

2. The finest grade low pop coin has to look significantly better than most of the next to finest.

3. I have to have a reason to believe there will not be a lot more of the finest grade made.

4. The coin has to be priced corrrectly.

If I am not a serious collector of the series, I won't really know if the coin has a premium look, and whether its fairly priced. Frankly, a premium piece will be worth more to a premium collector of the series. For example, several months ago an MS68FS early date Jeff Nickel was offered on this board. I thought it would be a neat type coin and so bid $5,000 for it. Can you imagine, paying $5,000 for a Jeff. Well I wasn't even close as the coin went for over $10,000. I simple was not a serious enough Jeff collector to know or appreciate the full value. On the other hand, I think I am a serious IKE collector. I own several MS67 CN pieces and paid alot for them. In this case, I know the price they should go for, and I know if they have the killer look. I also know when to pass. Recall, a while ago a 78P in MS67 went on ebay for $4,400. It just didn't seem to have the right look/price combo. I later saw the piece and was very glad to have passed. It was not the kind of coin I would have wanted in my collection at that price, regardless of what it might sell for in the future.

The coin has to look much better than the next lower grade pieces. Each of my low pop finest graded IKEs look much better than the next lower grade. They might cost 20X but at least I know I am getting quality. Mitch mentioned that the 42P Linolns in MS67 simply look better than the MS66 or NGC MS67 pieces. For truly high quality, price will be high. I used to be a serious Washington quarter collector. I never believed that common MS68s were worth $10,000 or more when 67s are usually available for a few hundred. I was sure the difference was slight. But when I saw the pictures of the MS68s on Mitch's site, I realized that the quality was out of this world. If I was still collecting Washingtons I would try to buy one. Lesson, if it doesn't look much better to you, don't buy it. If it really looks better, and you know the series, consider it.

Greg S.

CarlWohlforth

That sounds like great advice.

I did buy some of the low pop finest proof Jeffersons before I had the benefit of your advice. There is a subtle difference between cameo levels so the second tier should satisfy most people.

keithdagen

Good "rules."

For Type collecting, I have a hard and fast rule that I won't buy a piece in X grade unless there are at least 10 coins graded X in a single date. If the coins are spread out among several dates, I won't consider the coin at that grade, but at the next lowest grade. Only time I have lost money in selling pieces is when I did not follow that rule.

braddick

Terrific rules to live by. The fun lesson also learned is the more you know about your particular series the easier it truly is the see and appreciate the difference between an MS66 and an MS67 and then the MS68. The less you know (or care to know) the more the coins blend into looking the "same".
I did get to a point where I knew what a PCGS MS67 Kennedy looked like. The difference between one and a MS66 grew the more I studied and appreciated the differences! Yet, I'm sure I could also look at a Jefferson and not be able to spot the difference in appearance between the grades as readily.
Great Thread Typetone! Thanks for the info.

tradedollarnut

I agree with Typetone's rules and I agree with Braddick's statement that the more you study your series, the more the differences between the grades become apparent. Unfortunately, so does the aggravation of the crossover game since you can tell when a coin definitely should have crossed but didn't!! Since a series expert can tell when a coin is good for the grade, a series expert shouldn't have to care which holder it's in - true?

Bcsican

Greg congratulations to your wife that is quite a feat, no pun intended. Good advice of when to upgrade or buy those finest known pop coins. I consider myself an expert in my series but wouldnt know what to look for in other series as to years of good strikes wear, etc, it takes years to learn these and if your not active in them its easy to overlook.

I recently bought a 1984 P Kennedy MS 67. Its a coin with a pop of 15. It is one of the worst years struck by the mint for high grade coins, it tends to be weak, flat, poor quality, too many coins struck on worn dies, and so- so planchets with many spots.

The price was in line but the coin is borderline in the quality I look for. I have the chance to return the coin with no problems or questions asked. I decided to keep it as it just makes MS 67, a low end MS 67, but it is a difficult year to find.

So for now I have a coin that ends up being a "grade holder" for the set im putting together untill I find one that`s better. The problem is not many of those are any better. I too use your guidelines for picking coins, if you dont know the series to start with and become somewhat of an expert in it, some of those low pop coins and prices will sting you.

PS the 1988 I got from you was a top notch coin,

thanks

Matt