Would you add damaged coins to your collection?

As a relative newbie compared to most people here, I was more okay with damaged coins until I tried to sell a few and found that others did not like them as much as I did! Now I avoid them unless I think a much better one will be prohibitively expensive or won't show up for several more years.

Only if rare and to costly otherwise for US coins. As for Latin American coins many of us are just happy to own an example since there are so many very rare coins.

Generally not, as there are enough coins to buy without dealing with problem coins. In fact, I even try not to buy non-mint state coins or medals.

But I have done so for very special coins in exceptional cases.

@bidask said:
Hell no !

What about coins you need that simply do not exist in mint state? You are OK with never owning an example? How can you complete a series that way?

I guess to each their own.

It depends on the coin in my opinion. As I prefer Non-damaged coins but some times that is just not an option. So when it come to a rare or normally expensive coins I don't mind if it has been cleaned or artificial toned as these coins are mostly over looked by collectors.

TPGs have a lot to answer for. Damage is fine. It should make a coin proportionately cheaper, of course. But it's not the binary nonsense the TPGs instill in moderns collectors.

Yes, I will usually go first for a coin that isn't damaged. But a collection of perfect coins would cost more than I will ever have. If a coin is damaged, my preference is for 'natural' damage (environmental, wear, knocks, corrosion, saltwater) or damage caused during the coin's use (countermarks, peck marks, test cuts, clipping). Holes may or may not be ok depending how I think they got there. In fact, I have specifically bought coins with peck marks, test cuts and holes, as well as shipwreck coins, because of their historical significance over less 'damaged' coins.

Cleaning is fine too, to a certain extent (especially with hammered coins). I'm not hugely worried about ex-mounted. The bottom of the list are tooled coins, which I will usually never buy, but there may be some combination of rarity and price that tempts me.

I have a couple rare coins with holes because the holes are old and the coins are still charming somehow, and I have some medieval and ancient coins that have been worked on, but usually I prefer the combination of rarity, high grade and eye appeal

One of two that I’m aware of. I would pay up for any of these that come to market.

I usually avoid damaged or "details" graded coins. I have a few. Most of them are hammered British pieces which have been clipped. Dishonest individuals clipped coins and then passed them for their full weight.

This Alfred the Great penny (ruled 871 to 899 AD) was clipped, but all of the wording is readable. These coins are not easy to find these days, and get really expensive when they don't have some problem.

This Aethelstan (ruled 924 to 939) portrait penny was clipped, but once again all of the wording is readable. Portrait pennies from this era are wicked expensive and hard to find. This one, which is certified, was not cheap at auction.

I buy them intact when I can. Here is a Eadwig penny which is very hard to find. This guy, who was a "black sheep of the family" ruled only from 955 to 959.

Why was he a "black sheep?" At his coronation feast, he slipping out to have a menage a trois with a maiden named Aelfgifu and her mother, Aethelgifu. That was not a way to begin in your reign as the King of England!

It depends on the coin type in question. I have several that only exist as a single known item that happens to be damaged. Hobson's Choice makes such a coin grade as acceptable. Sure I'll choose a nice one over one with defects, so with common coins I prefer to wait for something decent, but have no qualms going after things the number chasers avoid if needs must. My two point grading system of acceptable or not allows me to buy what I like and not what I'm told I should be collecting.

so here's another old lump of coal I was foolish enough to actually pay real money for recently, and it fits into this conversation... it's a 46mm 68g copper ishcal minted in Kaffa/Feodosia, Crimea in about 1782. It's a rare coin in any grade, and they usually come with bad planchets and weak strikes. An extraordinarily nice one, the DuPont/Michailovich coin looks like this... https://www.si.edu/object/1-ischal-crimea-1780-1781:nmah_1164100 though it's a different variety. This one was special to me because it has the more floral design and it's unusually well struck, so while I'll keep my eyes open for different varieties and better grades, I'll probably keep this one even if I find another I like.