Ugly and rare, or common and beautiful?

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Aesthetics and eye appeal for me.

 

For me it's aesthetics hands down. I have bought a very small number of ugly coins to fill a hole. I have nothing against attractive circulated coins. It's the ugly ones I avoid.

Here is the ugliest coin I ever paid big bucks for. I wanted to finish the cent date set from 1793 to date, and this coin filled the hole.



This coin was not quite what I wanted, but what I wanted was never available when I had the money for it. It's not really ugly, but I really wanted a VF. For those who don't collect the coins which go into these sets, both of these less than perfect coins, can't be had for less than 5 figures.

 

Yes, that was my attitude. When I was lacking the 1796-7 half dollar, a dealer had one in Poor condition that had been holed and polished. He wanted $9,000 for it. If I had mortaged my underwear, I could have raised that, but I wanted no part of that coin. It's better to have a hole in your collection than something like that.

 

Same here, I will add though, the mojority of the coins I buy are a variety/error of some sort. Eye appeal and MS are my go to style.

 

For the area I collect, picker tokens & tickets, I don't shy away from an ugly rare piece. Often that's just the nature of my collecting area I guess. Sometimes the only piece(s) known, only survived because it was buried, thrown down a well or the like.

For coins though, definitely eye appeal.

 

I have to say both. I persue rare varieties but my one caveat is that the coin must be attractive. As a matter of fact, the last thing I always do; I take a long look at any coin I am about to bid on or buy, if it doesn't give me a visceral thrill to look at, I let it go because there will always be another coin and I am one of those people who actually look at their coins almost daily. James

 

For me, emphatically both. For ancient coins, which make up the bulk of my collection, there are plenty of rarities to be had. I have a few that are unique, and many that are known from less then half-a-dozen specimens. And there are also some stunning examples of artistry to be had as well.

For modern coins, which I've been getting into more lately, I'll often combine both: having discovered a visually attractive type, I'll check mintage numbers and then keep my eye open for a rarer year before buying one.

 

Never heard of that one before! My first thought was, new entry on my wish list!

Um, then I checked ACSearch...

 

I'm also in the generalist/type collector category and value eye appeal, so the common nice looking coin wins for me.

 

It's all about eye appeal to me. At a young age I made the mistake of buying several ugly coins. None of them ever gained any value. At auction most brought less than I had paid.

 

So you're forcing me to choose! Okay!

I would say, then, that I'd probably lean towards the better-looking coin. Mostly because, as others have mentioned, I would enjoy looking at a pretty coin more than at an ugly one, even if it were rarity.
And to be honest, part of the enjoyment for me is showing the coin to others and seeing their enjoyment...and everybody enjoys a beautiful coin, whereas not as many will find the same enjoyment out of a decrepit rarity.

Whoa! Never heard of that one before, either, unsurprisingly. Yes, I would put up with some defects as well.

 

I am solidly in the eye appeal category. As a poor man coin collector my whole life I always settled for common, worn coins. And I still appreciate a historic coin that worked for a living. But I now only purchase attractive coins with little or no regard for rarity.

 

I would always say aesthetics , rarity is often a price barrier and I find little pleasure in knowing that I own something others couldn't and not interested in bragging rights. I probably wouldn't spare time looking at a Gloucester Courthouse Shilling Token as hundreds of more attractive coins would be picked up first. I could easily spend an hour or two pondering what great coins I could own for the price of the shilling token. No doubt it has given some one great pleasure in its possession and good luck to them, but its not for me. I totally agree with the comments @The Meat man made on this.