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Top 10 Collector Coins – The Key Coins for Every Collection according to PCGS-do you agree?

1630Boston1630Boston Posts: 14,111 ✭✭✭✭✭

Top 10 Collector Coins – The Key Coins for Every Collection
Which coins are the most popular coins to start a collection? PCGS has the answer
DO YOU AGREE ?
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Based on data from our website, we’ve compiled a definitive list of the top 10 Collector Coins. Chances are many of you started with the coins on this list. These are the key dates, most wanted by series collectors. See if you agree with the selections.
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https://youtu.be/JwJ394gXYIo

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Comments

  • 1630Boston1630Boston Posts: 14,111 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I may have to try this set someday :)

    Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb, Ricko

    Bad transactions with : nobody to date

  • TommyTypeTommyType Posts: 4,586 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have 2 of the 10....and very little desire to attain most of the others. :frowning:

    Think it's always a mistake to take any one coin, (or 10), and claim they are for EVERYONE!! Interests, and means, are too varied.

    Easily distracted Type Collector
  • ernie11ernie11 Posts: 1,994 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 14, 2020 12:59PM

    I have all of these except the doubled die. My only quibble here is with his use of the word "rare" - just a pet peeve with me, none of these are very rare overall, although some are condition rarities.

  • TurtleCatTurtleCat Posts: 4,628 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I currently have zero of these. I’m not in any big hurry to buy one. Also not feeling left out for not having one. If someone gave me one, I’d be happy of course.

  • oldabeintxoldabeintx Posts: 2,480 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Good list from my youth when one could find these in circulation (or Reno in the case of the $) if one got lucky. Lincolns were my thing. The 31S was also sought after at the time. I never found anything on the list, but my best friend found an SVDB. I think it was worth something like $50 at the time, an immense sum for a 10 year old.

  • keyman64keyman64 Posts: 15,548 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 14, 2020 2:25PM

    I've owned a few of these. When they addressed the 1928 Peace, I found it was interesting when they said that most circulated examples were not too far apart in value but the main standout was the 1928. It was nice to hear them go into that detail. So, when they got to the 1916-D Mercury Dime, I was a bit disappointed. Although I have not completed the research, I believe it is safe to say the 1916-D is the key in circulated grades due to the mintage figure that we all learned as children from the Redbook, overall demand that is driven by that mintage figure and the value that is created from that demand. I realize the video was meant to be quick and simple but the true key to the Mercury Dime series in Mint State or Mint State Full Band is the 1926-S. The 1916-D actually falls behind by a large margin. Me saying this over and over again will not change the reality with the demand nor will it change the education of everyone that has not gone beyond their childhood days of reading the Redbook mintage figures. So, when they went into a little detail of the circulated Peace dollars, it would have been nice for them to differentiate between the circulated key and the MS/MSFB key in the Mercury Dime Series. And this is without going into the varieties or true FB key, the 1945-P. I still have yet to update the below information but I will...

    https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/858446/mercury-dime-key-semi-key-analysis/

    "If it's not fun, it's not worth it." - KeyMan64
    Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners. :smile:
  • chesterbchesterb Posts: 962 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Half of the coins on the list are Lincoln cents or Mercury dimes. I wish it was a bit more diverse but can see how they'd come up with these particular coins if they had to limit it to 10.

  • scubafuelscubafuel Posts: 1,945 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Does the narrator sounds like the “inconceivable!” guy from princess bride or is it just me? I enjoyed it more imagining that it was him.

    All 10 are well known coins, but all 10 are coins one could buy tomorrow. I feel like the internet has forever changed what can be considered a “key”.

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,895 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have all but three (14-D cent, 32-D quarter, and the 21-D walker).
    It's an interesting list but I think most collectors would come up with a list that differ more or less from this list.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • BoosibriBoosibri Posts: 12,414 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Anyone care to summarize?

  • ElcontadorElcontador Posts: 7,695 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Whenever someone says I have to have something, I usually ignore them. This is not to disrespect PCGS, but I figure out what I like and then pursue it.

    "Vou invadir o Nordeste,
    "Seu cabra da peste,
    "Sou Mangueira......."
  • SmudgeSmudge Posts: 9,825 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Am I the only one who likes gold?

  • sparky64sparky64 Posts: 7,048 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I enjoyed the video.
    It was well narrated and light viewing.

    "If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"

    My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress

  • jayPemjayPem Posts: 4,082 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Boosibri said:
    Anyone care to summarize?

    Yeah, what are the ten?
    Don't feel like watching a video.. especially since it sounds like ten coins I would not be interested in.
    🤯

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,895 ✭✭✭✭✭

    1877 cent
    1909S VDB cent
    1914-D cent
    1955 DDO cent
    1937-D 3-Leg buffalo nickel
    1916-D dime
    1942/1 Dime
    1932-D quarter
    1921-D half
    1928 Dollar

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • ReadyFireAimReadyFireAim Posts: 1,835 ✭✭✭✭✭

    As a kid, I spent hours roll hunting for that 1950-D.
    My only hole in the Whitman folder for nickels.

  • goldengolden Posts: 9,999 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have been collecting U.S. coins for 59 years. I do not have any of those 10 coins. I have only owned 4 of them in the past.

  • OKbustchaserOKbustchaser Posts: 5,549 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Only 57 years for me, but the 21-D half is the not only one on the list that I have ever owned it is the only one on the list that I have ever had any desire to own.

    Just because I'm old doesn't mean I don't love to look at a pretty bust.
  • steelieleesteelielee Posts: 1,173 ✭✭✭

    thanks, good stuff!

    ************************************

    Many successful BST transactions with dozens of board members, references on request.
  • koynekwestkoynekwest Posts: 10,048 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 14, 2020 8:16PM

    Fairly good presentation but the narrator uses the term "Double die" for the 1955 cent. Please!

  • ShaunBC5ShaunBC5 Posts: 1,812 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I’ve got 2 on the list and have looked at getting several of them at different times. It’s a good list of well known coins that are popular and have been for a long time, and are likely to remain so.
    They probably aren’t my all on my top 10 list, but for everyone who started collecting as a mostly broke kid, at least a few of them were pined after at some point in your journey.

  • djmdjm Posts: 1,565 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @ReadyFireAim said:
    As a kid, I spent hours roll hunting for that 1950-D.
    My only hole in the Whitman folder for nickels.

    I found the 1950-D but never found the 1939-D.

  • MidLifeCrisisMidLifeCrisis Posts: 10,562 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I've owned four (1909S VDB cent, 1914-D cent, 1955 DDO cent, 1937-D 3-Leg buffalo nickel). I enjoyed owning them and would again. They enable me to go back in time about 40 years. Good memories.

  • koynekwestkoynekwest Posts: 10,048 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I still have my '37-D 3 legger and I used to have an AU 55/55 cent. Never had any of the others.

  • oih82w8oih82w8 Posts: 12,614 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I am the possessor of none of these...perhaps one day.

    oih82w8 = Oh I Hate To Wait _defectus patientia_aka...Dr. Defecto - Curator of RMO's

    BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore, Nickpatton, Namvet69,...
  • scubafuelscubafuel Posts: 1,945 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Are key coins like classic cars? i.e when you turn 50-something you want to own the ones you lusted after in high school?
    If so, I wonder which coins will be key for the next crop of coin collectors? I was in high school in the late '90s and never remember wanting to own any of the stuff on that list ('cept maybe the 1955). My "keys" were early gold, classic errors and bust quarters.
    Come to think of it, they still are.

  • ZoinsZoins Posts: 34,401 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @PerryHall said:
    1877 cent
    1909S VDB cent
    1914-D cent
    1955 DDO cent
    1937-D 3-Leg buffalo nickel
    1916-D dime
    1942/1 Dime
    1932-D quarter
    1921-D half
    1928 Dollar

    I'd love to have a 1955 DDO Cent.

    For the rest, I'd prefer eye appeal over date/mintmark, assuming I'd be able to get a much more eye appealing coin with the same money.

  • BryceMBryceM Posts: 11,863 ✭✭✭✭✭

    1877 cent - don’t know a thing about this
    1909S VDB cent - no special desire to own one
    1914-D cent - no
    1955 DDO cent - very cool, but not a priority
    1937-D 3-Leg buffalo nickel - no desire
    1916-D dime - no desire
    1942/1 Dime - kind of cool, but not a priority
    1932-D quarter - meh
    1921-D half - own one, G06 I think
    1928 Dollar - have owned several, one in 65+ none at present

  • BLUEJAYWAYBLUEJAYWAY Posts: 10,162 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Surprised they called the 1955 a Double Die. It is after all a Doubled Die. Nevertheless glad to see it made the list. Would of like to have seen the Saint Gauden on the list.

    Successful transactions:Tookybandit. "Everyone is equal, some are more equal than others".
  • ZoinsZoins Posts: 34,401 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 15, 2020 2:25AM

    To me, the top 10 coins should be something more general like the following.

    And it should be more like "10 Great Coins to Have" vs. 10 coins everyone should have.

    1. Indian Head Cent
    2. Lincoln Steel Wheat Cent
    3. Buffalo Nickel
    4. Jefferson War Nickel
    5. Capped Bust Half Dollar
    6. Walking Liberty Half Dollar
    7. Franklin Half Dollar
    8. Morgan Dollar
    9. Peace Dollar
    10. St. Gaudens Double Eagle
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,895 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Zoins ---Those aren't coins. Those are series. ;)

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • ZoinsZoins Posts: 34,401 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @PerryHall said:
    @Zoins ---Those aren't coins. Those are series. ;)

    Well, going that way, a date/mm isn't a coin either. Some call it an issue.

    Of course, if you have one, it is a coin ;)

  • BillJonesBillJones Posts: 34,847 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 15, 2020 4:12AM

    As a collector I have held five of them at one time or another, all of the cents plus the three legged Buffalo. Today I have the three Lincoln Cents. As a dealer I handled all of them except for the 1921-D half. The one good Walker customer I had wanted one but he was a Mint State only collector, and that coin was beyond his budget.

    As for the list, it’s good for beginning to intermediate collectors who are still into set collecting, but there are so many other coins out there that are much more interesting. Of course some of them, like the 1848 CAL. quarter eagle and the 1907 High Relief $20 gold are very expensive. Others, like the 1908-S Indian, which was the first branch mint cent, and the 1912-D and S nickels, which were also the first branch mint coins of that denomination, are more affordable.

    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I had a couple of the '55DDO's as a kid...disappeared from my 'stuff' when I joined the Navy....also have a '14D somewhere that someone had put on their car battery (they used to do that to limit terminal corrosion) for a while....not good condition at all... Wish I still had those '55's though...Cheers, RickO

  • SonorandesertratSonorandesertrat Posts: 5,695 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I owned 5 of those coins--all purchased decades ago---but I sold them in a 'purge' in 2007. I don't miss them, and don't find them very interesting for the most part (excluding the 3-legger Buffalo, 1942/1 dime, and 1955 DDO cent).

    Member: EAC, NBS, C4, CWTS, ANA

    RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'

    CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
  • neildrobertsonneildrobertson Posts: 1,259 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Most of those coins are relevant for people that collect that particular series, so I don't think they're relevant for every collection.

    IG: DeCourcyCoinsEbay: neilrobertson
    "Numismatic categorizations, if left unconstrained, will increase spontaneously over time." -me

  • CoinHoarderCoinHoarder Posts: 2,644 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 15, 2020 9:08AM

    I have six of them:

    1921 D Walking Liberty Half
    1932 D Washington Quarter
    1942/1 Mercury Dime
    1916 D Mercury Dime
    1914 D Lincoln Cent
    1909 S VDB Lincoln Cent

  • JimnightJimnight Posts: 10,846 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I tend to agree with their list.

    I was surprised to see the 1955/55 doubled die cent called 1955/55 Double die.

  • MeltdownMeltdown Posts: 9,003 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I'd like to have the 55 Lincoln at some point. I'm still thinking I will find a 42 over 1 Merc one of these days in the wild.

  • privatecoinprivatecoin Posts: 3,652 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I only have 3 of them. 1909 s vdb, 1932 D, and 1921 D

    Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc

  • BaleyBaley Posts: 22,663 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I've got a 1928 dollar, but in over 45 years of collecting, have never even considered buying any of the others.

    Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry

  • BillJonesBillJones Posts: 34,847 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @neildrobertson said:
    Most of those coins are relevant for people that collect that particular series, so I don't think they're relevant for every collection.

    Buying only key dates is not a great way to collect in my opinion. You might be missing out on some other coins that interesting, but cost a lot less. Key dates are mostly pieces with low mintage within a series. They often not rare at all, but have high values because lots of collectors are chasing them. When that's all they are chasing, and skipping everything else, the prices can really get out of wack.

    Remember, you can overpay for anything, even when it's rare. I know that from hard experience.

    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
  • amwldcoinamwldcoin Posts: 11,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    That's a lame list! Looks like it was created for us when we were young uns pushing coins into whitman folders!

    @PerryHall said:
    1877 cent
    1909S VDB cent
    1914-D cent
    1955 DDO cent
    1937-D 3-Leg buffalo nickel
    1916-D dime
    1942/1 Dime
    1932-D quarter
    1921-D half
    1928 Dollar

  • jesbrokenjesbroken Posts: 10,629 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have had all but the errors(42 mercury dime, 55 dbld die Lincoln and the three legged 37 D Buffalo Nickel) and 21 D Walker. Still have most other than the 77 IHC which has been sold.
    BTW, I was lucky and found a 50 D Jefferson Nickel in a roll search in the early 60's. Still in my Jefferson Collection. Never found a 39 D Jeff.
    Jim


    When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln

    Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
  • CoinJunkieCoinJunkie Posts: 8,772 ✭✭✭✭✭

    0-for-10 here. Guess I've never felt like paying the popularity tax required to own one.

  • CoinHoarderCoinHoarder Posts: 2,644 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I acquired mine back in the 1990s. Some I had to put on layaway At my LCS, and pay for over time. I am very glad that I acquired these pieces. I am an old school collector, who always dreamed of owning a 1909 S VDB and a 1916 D Merc. No intent to ever sell these coins.

  • erwindocerwindoc Posts: 5,289 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wonder what modern coins will make the list(if any) over the next 20-30 years?

  • ashelandasheland Posts: 23,784 ✭✭✭✭✭

    There are coins a lot rarer and more interesting that can had for the same price or less

  • roadrunnerroadrunner Posts: 28,313 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 16, 2020 9:28AM

    @CoinJunkie said:
    0-for-10 here. Guess I've never felt like paying the popularity tax required to own one.

    Me too. Rather, I created my own list of "affordable" key date 19th century coins to own back in the 1970's and found it much more rewarding. I don't ever recall purchasing ANY 20th century "key date" coin. They were always too common and easy to find. Never got the urge for 19th century "key dates" like 1856 FE cent, 1877 IH cent, 1893-s Morgan, etc. And you could do the same thing for better date gold, better type, etc.

    1. 1802 half dollar
    2. 1804 dime
    3. 1874-cc dime
    4. 1872-s quarter
    5. 1871-s quarter
    6. 1860-s quarter
    7. 1866-s quarter
    8. 1867-s quarter
    9. 1852-0 quarter
    10. 1851-0 quarter
    Barbarous Relic No More, LSCC -GoldSeek--shadow stats--SafeHaven--321gold

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