A while back I bought edited ~ language rules-read them 1987 (or so) Silver Eagle (no longer in my possession). Strangely enough, this coin was definitely circulated, or looked like it had been through a couple of hands. Now this makes zero sense, because by 1987 silver had LONG been done away with, and Ike dollars were already on the decline too, I would imagine. How could one possibly have circulated a silver eagle? In a related question, how do commemoratives get circulated as well? I was under the impression that folks had to specially buy those coins for more than face value - so why would they go out and spend it?
Maybe someone used the '87 ASE as a pocket piece and just carried it around for a while. I think commems could have been circulated back in the day as they were legal tender. Today's commems likely circulate because kids of collectors dip into the kitty and spend them...
Many people used ASE's as pocket pieces when they came out. Back then a lot of collectors grew up with silver dollars, and were used to carrying one around with them. They switched over to ASE's when they came out since they were "just silver". They did it with Ike's before that. I knew a guy who went through a couple of Ike's a year. He wore it down, (horrible low relief), in about six months and got another one to carry. I never thought about it, but those might be desirable now with those crazy low grade collectors.
Pocket piece. I've got one, just can't find a blasted picture of it. As for commemoratives having circulation.....sometimes the government dumped them into circulation after the offering period, when they didn't sell out. Columbian exposition (1893) half dollar for instance.
True Ken. Also remember, though, that the cost for a commemorative half dollar was just $1, so I imagine when times got tough they went from the coin collection into circulation as well. Also, never underestimate kids wanting to buy ice cream, and dad having a whole half dollar just sitting there in his den........
Wait - low grade collectors exist? Haha, where can I find one - I need to get rid of a bunch of culls
Oh they exist. The coin needs to be as low grade as possible, but no damage and still identifiable. A poor 1 coin in a clean slab of something like a 1964 Kennedy can bring big money. I simply do not understand it myself, but there is a good sized group who "compete" this way in registry sets. Eh, whatever. More power to them, since most would hate the ugly coins I collect as well.
Hehe... I used to collect horribly worn and ruined coins myself until I realize that I'm just wasting pocket change! My crown jewel was this 1970s or 1980s quarter that was worn to near unidentifiability. It was nice and smooth and would have been great for a skipping stone. I think I bought some ice cream with it I also had a few new (ie 2000-and up) coins that looked like they had gone through war zones. I had never seen anything so bad, save for those nasty Roman coins that underwent 2000 years of corrosion.
Many of your early commems circulated when times got hard. There seems to be a pretty good market for lowballs and circulated examples as set collection popularity grows. I personally like many of the designs in worn circulated grades as they seem to tell a story and have tons of character.
Mainly pocket pieces. Chromerunner is correct about commems used during hard times. Before I moved I need a few places that would barter their mdse. for silver bullion.
They sure do exist. A lot of them actually. I'm neither a lowball guy or an MS guy. I like them in the middle (VF). It's pretty much the only grade range I collect.
Me too. VF and XF are nice because they are worn enough to be interesting, but still have most details intact. MS coins are too "sterile" I guess would be the word.
"Circulated" Silver Eagles can be a good buy if you're a bullion stacker because usually they're much closer to melt and lose the premium. I was getting them for the same price over spot as generic rounds.
Here's my pocket piece cleaned 1921 Morgan. I use this to decide fateful decisions...like whether or not I would like fries with that.
Most of the early Commemorative s I seen were , minted prior to the Depression . Also like Ken said they did dump a lot of unbought Columbian halves into circulation . I also tend to see a lot of Booker T Washington halves probably because they made so many and many went unsold .
All of my silver Eagles were stolen in 1994 by a family member and when I did get a few of them back they looked amazingly bad for the length of time they'd been gone. If I saw something like that, my first thought would be someone who didn't have a clue what it was and just trying to buy cigarettes with it.
IMO buying circ ASE's is penny wise & dollar foolish. Why save a dollar to buy diminished possible numismatic value? When a circ ASE walks into the shop, since I don't want it, I offer half of melt and since the seller is, well let's say not a numismatist, they usually take the offer.
