What means/meant more to you: Finding rare/semi-rare coin in the wild or purchasing a long sought af
BLUEJAYWAY
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For myself it was finding error coinage or semi-key dates in circulation. This because of the unexpectedness of the find. Buying has more of an expected feel to it. Providing said coin comes up for sale often. If that coin rarely shows up I assume if one was looking to purchase it for years and years it would garner the same excitement as a rare coin found in the wild.
Successful transactions:Tookybandit. "Everyone is equal, some are more equal than others".
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Definitely cherrypicking die varieties. That is/was a real thrill when finding some of the good ones.
There is NOTHING like Cherrypicking a Top Pop Variety! The rush is crazy good and then the joy of sharing the find with friends just can't be beat. When I cherrypicked the 1941 DDO FS-101 Merc RAW and paid about $50 for it due to the attractive toning....and then it graded Top Pop MS-65 at PCGS and was the ONLY MS example. Crazy good feeling. Sadly, I needed to sell but it sold for $1800 at auction which added a bit more to the good feeling....but then I was sad because it was gone. People had been looking for a Mint State example for 10-20 years and I found the first one after 4 years of my own searching. Now the coin(along with 4 others) is owned by someone that of course gives no credit and likely cares none about the variety itself. Not that it is required...but there is a big difference between passionately cherrypicking/building a collection or set and just buying everything.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
Agree all of the above! What I really get a kick out of is when I'm looking for a certain high graded coin (PCGS) non-variety, but then when I buy it. Later, I get it home then actually find out it was some sort of Variety! Bonus buy!
"Jesus died for you and for me, Thank you,Jesus"!!!
--- If it should happen I die and leave this world and you want to remember me. Please only remember my opening Sig Line.I concur. However, if the dealer was a friend (only a couple were) I would let them know what they had.
It was very satisfying cherrypicking my set of Washington quarter doubled dies. It took me over ten years to do it. I also cherrypicked some of my Buffalo 5c proofs and assembled the rest by selling other cherrypicked varieties. I never would have been able to afford it otherwise.
To finish the loooong thread title: "or purchasing a long sought after coin".
To me, finding rare/semi-rare coin in the wild has generally meant more than purchasing something long sought after. I just guess that means I need to aim higher for things I seek!
Cherrypicking is more fun for me and feels like more of an accomplishment.
I prefer to buy my coins raw which falls within the scope of what I consider to be "in the wild" and submit what I believe is submission worthy. As an example, my 1918-1945 set of Mexican Peso coins contains all raw and self submitted coins... However I still have not found the right 1918 or 1919. So there will possibly be a compromise at some point. I see this approach as the greatest challenge and adds satisfaction along the way. Unfortunately, this style of buying/collecting is not well suited for all series depending on the set objectives.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Purchasing is my way!
I almost exclusively buy at auction. The last few years, I have bought a few coins that I hadn't seen before, though mostly this was in decent quality. Yes, I'm a little nervous during live bidding that I might not win it and relieved/a little excited when I do.
But mostly, practically every coin is so easy to buy now that I have become somewhat jaded and cynical which probably shows in my posts.
Although I have purchased many, many coins.... the real thrill - for me - is finding a special coin in the wild...I still scrutinize all my change....and even look through the 'take a cent, leave a cent' tray (in which I have found a couple of wheaties). Scoring a find in change, or a roll search, is great fun. Cheers, RickO
Years ago, as I was searching for nice cameos, I realized that I could also be looking for proof varieties simultaneously thus enhancing my "score" rate. Cameos were usually evident to the dealer when they priced proof sets, but most dealers knew nothing about the varieties and didn't care (presumably because they didn't have time). I cherrypicked a bunch of varieties right along with the cameos.
Best find was several of these from one dealer.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
It is way easier (and more fun) to BUY rather than to find.
This from someone who has roll searched ( no longer doing that) tens of thousands of coins