What one coin should be in everyone's collection?
MidLifeCrisis
Posts: 10,550 ✭✭✭✭✭
I collect colonial era coins. But I almost bought a high grade 09-S VDB a couple of weeks ago...and I'd have no problem adding a 55 DDO Lincoln or a 3 Legged Buffalo Nickel or a $10 Indian or a lot of other coins to my collection.
What one specific coin should be in everyone's collection, regardless of your primary focus or specialty?
Consider affordability, historical significance, grade (near perfection or widely used)...other factors?
My choice would either be a mid-grade Fugio or a high grade 09-S VDB...I think.
What one specific coin should be in everyone's collection, regardless of your primary focus or specialty?
Consider affordability, historical significance, grade (near perfection or widely used)...other factors?
My choice would either be a mid-grade Fugio or a high grade 09-S VDB...I think.
0
Comments
..........some might say a SBA dollar.
I believe theres a large amount of "must have" coins for every collector, granted this is just my personal belief.
I think a piece of early copper is a must, large cent, half cent, 2cent, colonial, whatev. Just some early copper is always awsome.
Also, any early commem. These coins are often overlooked and each of them has a really cool story if you take the time to study it.
And the Fugio is a great coin and should be in every collection too.
Key dates are great, but for the money, you can get afew other coins that tell a much cooler story.
The 55DDo also is a great choice IMHO. Always cool to look at.
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
Simple!
A coin that MEANS something to you other than a special rarity or an expensive coin (unless they have special meaning to you) or even the "popular" coin of the day!
It could be an obscure die variety discovery, or perhaps a Silver Dollar left or given to you by someone special, or even a 1964 quarter pulled from a coin star reject bin.
Anybody with a bazillion dollars can complete a collection of high grade rarities but having a collection that MEANS something to you is something totally different.
The name is LEE!
Depends on how many collectors there are. If the coin "should" be in everyone's collection, it would have to be a coin with at least as many specimens available as there are collectors. It would also mean that the coin would have to be available to collectors with very limited budgets. This automatically rules out any rare or even scarce coins.
Based on these criteria, my vote would be for a 1943 steel cent. Uncirculated if the collector can afford a few bucks, otherwise circulated.
My Adolph A. Weinman signature
I say this without hesitation.
It is a first year issue, and with the exception of ultra rare proofs, the only year struck in high relief.
It possesses a bold, sculptural beauty unlike any other US silver dollar. A true artist designed this coin, unlike the standard, clunky, hack engravers of the 19th century.
It is relatively affordable and easily found in most grades, so there's a 1921 Peace dollar for everyone!
Heres mine, which I vividly remember polishing with steel wool, probably age 5 or so.
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
<< <i>A Saint Gaudens double eagle---America's most beautiful coin and a true classic. >>
There are others you could make a good case for, but I think I have to agree with you!
Holding a Big 'ol chunk of Silver still impressives the average American.
They are cheap, and they are a prime example of 19th century government waste and political log rolling.
<< <i>Anything in Bust coinage. I've often said, there just aren't enough nice busts out there.
.........you mean.........
Coins I want to acquire sometime that aren't within my specialty include:
Fugio
Nova Constellatio
An 18th C. silver coin
Classic head gold
1913 Ty I Buffalo 5c in 65+
1916 Mercury 10c in 65FB+
1917 Ty I SLQ in 63FH+
A nice $20 Saint
1870-CC Seated dollar
1943 cent in MS67ish.
1909-S VDB cent.
Some are pretty darn spendy, some not, some are typical type coins. You could show any one of these to a non-collector and with a small amount of explanation get them to think you have something pretty darn cool. You could show a collector and they'd appreciate why you wanted every one of them even though they're outside your specialty.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
If you love U.S. History these are really representitive in design of U.S. patriotic inspiration, though manufactured in England.
Their specific history is also very interesting.
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
<< <i>...a 1955 DD because it looks freakin cool. >>
Now that's a pretty good reason!
<< <i>I love this question---there is no wrong answer. >>
Hmmm....
<< <i>..........some might say a SBA dollar. >>
1947-P & D; 1948-D; 1949-P & S; 1950-D & S; and 1952-S.
Any help locating any of these OBW rolls would be gratefully appreciated!
<< <i>I would say that everyone should have a colonial spanish 8 real. Its the basis for the money we use today. >>
I like this answer.
Rainbow Stars
No one mentioned the UHR.
<< <i>No one mentioned the UHR. >>
<< <i>I'm not sure there is a coin that should be in everyone's collection. I have almost splurged a few times to get a nice example from a series I don't collect. Yet once you see that one coin that does not fit what do you do? I guess it's the OCD in me.
That's funny, I feel the same, what do you do with one gold coin or one Morgan??
I grew up with my Dad saying things like " thats gonna cost more than two bits" . I was probably 15 or 16 before
I found out the true origins of that statement.
<< <i>
<< <i>I'm not sure there is a coin that should be in everyone's collection. I have almost splurged a few times to get a nice example from a series I don't collect. Yet once you see that one coin that does not fit what do you do? I guess it's the OCD in me.
That's funny, I feel the same, what do you do with one gold coin or one Morgan?? >>
If I had bought that 09-S VDB that I mentioned in my OP, it would not have fit in my collection of colonial era coins at all. That didn't matter to me, and was not the reason I decided not to buy it (the coin was just not nice enough for the money).
In building my colonial type set, I like to use the PCGS Registry Early American Coins and Tokens Basic Design Set (1616-1820) as a framework for my collection...yet there is no place in that registry set for my Pillar Dollar; it doesn't fit with the rest of the collection according to PCGS. I still love owning it though.
I once built a small collection of popular federal key dates. I had an 09-S VDB, a 14-D, an 1877 3CN, a 3 Legged Buffalo, etc. None of the coins went together...some would say they were an accumulation rather than a collection. So, obviously, it all depends on how you define your collection.
But is there one coin that you say to yourself, "I have this coin in my collection because I'm a coin collector and I'm supposed to"?
<< <i>I grew up with my Dad saying things like " thats gonna cost more than two bits" . I was probably 15 or 16 before
I found out the true origins of that statement. >>
I was in my 30s before I found out.
<< <i>But is there one coin that you say to yourself, "I have this coin in my collection because I'm a coin collector and I'm supposed to"? >>
No. I really couldn't care less about most of the coins that have been mentioned. So why would I want one? By the same token, others don't care for the bust material that I collect. Why would they need to have an example of a coin design that doesn't interest them?
For me its a moving target as the years go by, as my knowledge of Numismatics grow, and at least in regards to rarity...the pocket book.
Oh wait! One coin? How about a nice matte proof Lincoln?
Empty Nest Collection
<< <i>affordability, historical significance, grade (near perfection or widely used) >>
I would have to say the 1909 VDB Lincoln cent
Affordable to everyone even in high grade
Historical - first president on regular coinage (beginning of modern coinage)
Widely hoarded, collected
Formed the basis for most of us starting in coins
When I think of coin collecting, this is the coin that always comes to my mind. Any date (any condition), just as long there is at least one Saint Guadens gold double eagle, will make anyone's collection complete. IMHO.
Leo
The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!
My Jefferson Nickel Collection
alas the imposter the mint released seems to have cheapened the original
and this is a great thread, MidLife......Fugios seem to be a popular answer......i'm going to go with a common Spanish cob that can be picked up on the cheap (relative to their historical importance)........i wish we could know for sure how many are on the ocean floors; i'll bet they outnumber the fish!
www.brunkauctions.com
Rob
"Those guys weren't Fathers they were...Mothers."
<< <i>Regardless of what series one collects every collector should have at least one superb gem coin from their own birth year, if not a mint/proof set(s) of that year. >>
A few years ago I bought a proof set from the year my son was born...when I realized he just wasn't going to develop an interest in coins, I sold it.
Still, this is an interesting and good idea.
<< <i>every collection should have a Morgan Dollar. >>
Well said...
<< <i>
<< <i>every collection should have a Morgan Dollar. >>
Well said...
Why?