I could change my mind about this, but I just saw some grading sets on PCGS and I am interested in them. I've narrowed my options down to two coins: The 1847 Seated Quarter and the 1917 Type 1 SLQ. The 1917 SLQ is a beautiful coin with great strikes, some of the best strikes in the series. However, it is quite common. The 1847 Seated quarter is a rather scarce coin, but still quite easy to find, with a mintage of ~730000 and survivorship of ~600. Which one to try at? If I change my mind but have already started, the great thing about coin collecting is that you can sell your coins right back and get at least most of your $$$ back. EDIT: I'll probably do the 1917 T1 SLQ.
I voted SLQ because it's a beautiful coin and a set you'll likely be able to put together. I'm not even sure an 1847 Seated quarter set is even possible. For example, PCGS lists only one sale of an F-12 1847 quarter, ever, and it wasn't even a PCGS coin. They don't list any at VF-25!
The first question which comes to my mind is, "How does he think he's going to acquire 5% of the entire surviving pieces of an issue?" You're going to need a quantity equal to a third of all auctions ever recorded by PCGS.
I like the SLQ idea simply because I see it as the most ignored collection of the twentieth century. Sure it's a difficult set to complete, but they shouldn't all be easy, what's the fun of that. The 1917 is the perfect choice for a grade set, they are rather easily found in top and bottom grades and everything in between.
I was never a big fan of SLQ's design, but just did a quick search on eBay and there are some nice ones I'll admit.
If you ever see Dr. Eugene Bruder at a show, you should ask to see his 1919 SLQ. It used to reside in a PCGS or NGC MS something FH holder, but now lives in an ICG UNC Details / Altered Surfaces holder. I have seen the coin and I have no idea what kind of drugs the ICG grader was on. Dr. Bruder thinks it should have straight graded as well. Ignore the weird purplish/yellowish stuff going on on the obverse between 3 and 5:00 near the rim. That's a photographic artifact, IIRC. Dr. Bruder is a far better numismatist than a photographer.
Actually, I can't really ignore it, since it's elsewhere on the obverse and on the reverse as well and is likely the cause of the questionable surfaces. Poor recovery from a prior dip and he needs to fix that because it's otherwise an outstanding coin. It's conceivable for a slab to cause a prismatic effect in an image, but that's not what it looks like. He has his white balance and color figured well enough: http://www.typecoins.com/store/product?pid=61032 He has some nice coins, and does not price unrealistically.
