Ten coins every collector should own!

I'm asking for a list of the ten coins every collector should own. Any coin the U.S. made goes or you could just say a series.

 

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Everyone should definitely own whatever I've currently got up for sale on eBay.

 

I would love to but I can't seem to find your page

 

In the USA, I would say a "transitional year" set to cover history. Maybe start with the affordable ones. 1909 Indian / Wheat, 1921 Morgan / Peace, and then one of each coin throughout history - as budget allows (Barber half, Walking Liberty, Franklin, Kennedy, and a clad - Barber quarter - standing liberty, washington silver, washington clad). Common dates are relatively affordable until you get back to the earliest coins. The gold will get pricey, but they can be a stretch goal of their own.

 

1 of each denomination...

1/2¢
1¢
2¢
3¢
5¢
10¢
20¢
25¢
50¢
$1

add the Half-dime to make it 11 coins.

 

Don't get your hopes up for the 1913 transitional nickel pair.

 

Neat list.

Thinking...

okay:
[Note: You did not mention grades].
1795 Bust half dollar
Barber quarters: 1896 S, 1913 S and if possible: 1901 S.

Barber dimes: 1895 P,O,S.

Barber half dollar: 1914 P - still undervalued

Merc: 1916 D, 1942/1 P; 1942/1 D

Lincolns: 1909 S; 1909 S VDB; 1914 D

okay, that is 14, so pick & choose.

Too many others to list.

 

add to that the $1 gold, $2.50 gold, $3 gold, ($4 gold), $5 gold, $10 gold, $20 gold and the $50 gold Pan Pac?

edit: that almost makes a "box of 20"

 

I believe the only answer can be 10 coins that THEY love. In coin collecting, since its our hobby, no one has the right to say what anyone should collect. Maybe the person wants 10 1877 indian head cents. If that is what makes them happy, I am glad for them.

 

Reminds me of Jay Leno's "Top Ten List."

 

To get serious for a moment:

"Every collector" is simply too broad. Even leaving out foreign or ancient coins, most collectors find some series uninteresting or unattainable. (I'd love to start a pattern collection, but the ones I want are out of the question.)

When I was starting out as a small child, I wanted a wheat cent, a Buffalo nickel, a Mercury dime, and so on -- denominations I was familiar with, but in different designs. I think a lot of collectors start out the same way. That's a reasonable goal, and attainable for most collectors.

Later, I wanted obsolete denominations -- two-cent, three-cent, twenty-cent, and so on. Here, we're already getting into more money than a small child could easily spend, but many adults can manage it.

Does every collector need any of these, though? Of course not. You could spend years just working on one date set, or a grading set for one coin (although who would do a thing like that?). Or you could be a Morgan collector, or a Lincoln collector... anything that makes you happy. Heck, you could go emo and specialize in coins that make you unhappy.

 

Every US collector should have a nice example of these for type:

Saint Gaudens Double Eagle
Walking Liberty Half Dollar
T1 Standing Liberty Quarter
T2 Standing Liberty Quarter
Mercury Dime
Peace Dollar
Braided Hair Large Cent
Barber Quarter
Capped Bust Half
Morgan Dollar

 

Why the Barber quarter and the Capped Bust half, instead of any other denominations of the design? And why not any Seated Liberty issue? (I'm not very excited by Seated stuff, either, but I also can't seem to muster any enthusiasm for Large Cents.)

 

I actually found the oddest part of his list to be both Type I and Type II standing liberty quarters.

This gets to the issue though. I am sure @Jaelus loves SL quarters. Good for him. However, many others probably wouldn't want one in the top 20, let alone 2 types. This is the slippery slope of such "lists", they are simply irrelevant to most collectors. I can see it as a thread discussion though, as long as everyone remembers there is no absolute right or wrong answer even possible.

 

So, I will participate, but change it a little. Since I refuse to say what people should own, I will simply state my opinion on the prettiest US coins, ignoring patterns and commemoratives.

1. SG $20
2. SG $10
3. WL half
4. Mercury dime
5. Buffalo nickel
6. Draped Bust
7. Liberty cap cent
8. 1921 high relief Peace dollar
9. Standing Liberty quarter
10. Coronet gold

No particular order, just how they came to me. Again, no way any list is "right", but a list of the prettiest US coins is a little more "debatable" in my view.

 

The Barber quarter is the most iconic and the capped bust half is the most ubiquitous (additionally it gives you the option to go lettered or reeded edge). Specialized collectors may wish to substitute another denomination in place of those. I prefer capped bust quarters to the halves myself (and do not own a bust half), but the quarters are considerably scarcer. I'm not super excited by any seated liberty issues and I'm not much of a copper collector either, but I think large cents are important enough to have one nice example.

 

Although not minted in the U.S., the Spanish milled dollar would be a good candidate for the list.

 

Interesting. Actually I tried to be objective. My two favorite US series are Washington quarters through 1998 and capped bust quarters, and I didn't include either of them on the list. I omitted Washingtons because I don't consider them to be one of the top 10, and I omitted capped bust quarters because the average collector isn't going to want one. They are extremely scarce and high grade examples are prohibitively expensive.

The top 6 were the coins generally considered to have the most attractive designs. I listed both T1 and T2 SLQs because they are plentiful in high grades and the designs on both the obverse and reverse were so significantly changed between the types that it is historically significant. I didn't list the T3 because the date recessing is minor.

 

Since it seems to be we're focusing on U.S. coinage I believe anyone who collects U.S. coinage should have some of the U.S. issued Philippine coinage in their collection. Pretty easy to acquire a type set featuring one of each issue and also make neat conversation pieces for people not familiar with them.

 

Do you mean David letterman?

Or did Leno do the same schstick?