I just bought this. What do you think it graded?

Not a terrible price given the demand I guess, but I am always astounded by the number of people willing to pay this much for a 16D in VG. The 16D is NOT a rare coin in lower grades. If you are into early date Mercs, my recommendation is to buy a 17D in MS66 for $1000.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

The 1916-D is not a "rare" coin by any means in any grade. It is a joke when people try to tell anyone it is "rare", bla bla bla only 264K minted, etc. However, it is an IMPORTANT coin, a key date, and a famous coin, no matter how you slice it or dice it. The 1917-D is not, and will always be eclipsed by 1916-D in terms of desire. I'm not big on collecting "condition rarities", but that's just me. I fail to see the excitement in collecting a coin for my personal collection that if I remove from the slab and accidentally touch across the face once, I have destroyed $500 of value or more. My focus is on key date Dimes in circulated grades. And yes, I have a bit of an obsession with 1916-D.

 

That isn't too bad of a price for a 1916-D. I wouldn't have wanted to pay much over $1K, though, for the grade. I have a 16-D, but it is an AG-03. BUT... I got it for $250, so that's OK! ;-P

 

*DROOL* How in the blazes did you buy one for $250??? Was that in the early 2000's? I love the darker original fields and surfaces on yours. NGC typically grades these far better than PCGS.

 

Well, I "work" at a coin store on Saturdays. That helps. I bought it probably a year ago or so... you really can't find an AG-03 for less than $400-500 most places anymore.

But, the coin store owner really didn't want much more than that for it, so I didn't get a Huge Discount. Really it was just being at the right place / right time.

And MY favorite thing about my '16-D is the Very Prominent "D" (for an AG coin). There's definitely no doubt about the mint mark!

 

Nice, wholesome coin! Gem AG (by which I don't mean it should be graded G).

 

I think we agree. My intended point was not that the 17D is especially rare, it was that a 17D in 66 is significantly rarer than the 16D in VG and also a heck of a lot better looking. But this point is moot for those that prefer circulated to uncirculated coins.

I do have some nostalgia for the magic of pushing circulated mercs into albums as a kid. However, with the internet, you can put together a circulated set of mercs in an afternoon at a very reasonable cost. So to me, the magic of the search and collection of circulated mercs has long since disappeared.