I have been focusing on buying higher quality examples, 63 or higher. Am I missing something by ignoring lower quality examples. My feeling has been that they tend to be more over priced but I might be dead wrong. So what do you guy think?
I think condition is only relevant to the price, what im trying to say is that i would be more than happy to own a circulated rare note but i would be unhappy to own a common run of the mill note that has been circulated. I look at condition relative to price and proceed from there always trying to get the best i can afford even if its not high quality.
I guess I am worried I would get on a treadmill buying and rebuying the same note at slightly higher quality and end up paying a lot more than if I had bit the bullet in the first place.
I agree with coinguy-matthew. When it comes to a more normally available coin or note, I try to look at price/quality levels and buy where I thought the best buy was at. Concerning rarities, you buy what you can. I have a coin from the Ostrogoths that is very historically important. Its a VG at best, but I am happy since its hard to find ANY in any condition. Same with notes. Sometimes if you want your collection broader you have to accept lower grades.
It also depends on what kind of bills you collect. Regular small size Federal Reserve Notes might be affordable even in high grade with some exceptions. Sometimes there are some rare notes that don't exist in high grade, or its too expensive. Also if you're just collecting for enjoyment rather then investing. You can find many bills in XF condition with lots of eye appeal. And there usually much cheaper when graded too.
I've no problem spending a few € for a lowball/ugly coin, for higher prices I want better condition, and if it comes to decide between a common coin in outstanding condition and a scarce coin in a bad condition for the same price it will always be the high grader that wins.
Like icerain said, it all depends on the note. If you like obsoletes, there are many, many examples that simply cannot be had in any gradeable condition, at any price. Half a specimen held together by dust may be the finest example in existence for a great many notes and passing up the chance to buy may mean you'll never see another. Guy
I think it depends what you are looking for and what your collection focuses on. I would buy the best note you can find...but if you are into really rare notes, sometimes you gotta buy what comes along. I recently purchased an extremely low grade note...but only 6 are known to exist. In that case, I took what I could find.
