Just finished a short term contract and the folks there gave me a leaving gift of roughly $100 in the knowledge I plan to visit a coin show in Florida next week. I have a fun dilemma and thought I'd include those who may be interested in playing along. What would you aim to buy? I like gold and silver, less interested in World coins and have no particular themes to follow. I have a few ancients, lots of bullion silver and not too troubled by buying raw coins as long as I can trust the seller. As far as US coins go, I have a few Indian and wheat cents, a few early 1900s nickels and dimes. I have most of the Ike, SBA and native $1 and don't need more $1 coins but like the idea of early US. It could be 1,2 or more coins totalling about $100. Slabbed or not. What would you aim to buy?
Id buy a nice early bust half. They are relatively affordable for being such a early issue. Plenty to choose from I am sure.
If you don't have one, you could get a nice F-VF bust half in the $100 range or an XF-AU seated half. Depends on the date of course.
Most importantly, I'd make sure whatever I bought was something I was proud to have in my collection, not just an excuse to spend $100. Here are some things I bought for less than $100 each that I have pictures of:
I would aim to buy what I collect. You appear to have no real "focus" to your collecting - nothing wrong with that - so I'd advise walking around to see what catches your eye. Do the whole floor once first, see everything, then start contemplating what you're going to buy. If you don't have a concentration, you have an advantage over those of us who do. I will say, at $100 there is little in a slab which would be an advantageous purchase. If I've read you correctly as a native of Great Britain on a visit to this side of the pond, and desirous of a "representative" Classic US issue, this would be a good chance to score a nice raw Morgan Dollar (relatively rare and dangerous in your home). $100 well-spent will get you a very nice coin of the more common dates. 1880-S thru 1882-S ought to be had in MS64 condition for that budget, and they're among the finest of strikes in the series. Show dealers are by and large a friendly, social lot. That's one of the reasons they do shows. You could leverage your (I assume) accent and temporary presence in the US into an even better deal, I should think.
First off you should make it a point to walk the entire floor and at least glance through every dealers displays before spending any money. After that just buy anything that catches your eye and seems fairly priced. I'm similar to you in that I don't have a particular them to follow, other than Franklins. I usually just look around and buy whatever I like that particular day. Last year at a show I bought a modern 5 cent coin from New Zealand. I don't particularly care for moderns and don't collect world coins but that one just made me look twice and the price was right.
Buy $6 or $7 face value in obsolete 90% silver . . . Barbers, Walkers, standing quarters or mercury dimes, and start building a set of one of them. After that, you can recycle the duplicates for other dates you don't have, continually filling in the dates you don't have, and upgrading the dates you do. After a while, and before you spend a lot on expensive upgrades, you'll want to get a good book to learn the nuances within the series you have chosen. That's important, but not necessarily when you're first building your set out of 90% silver. Before you know it, you'll be hooked, and without having paid a great premium for your enjoyment.
I would think a couple of nice type coins is always a winner. I especially like denominations that are no longer used. Half cents, 2 cent coins, 3 cent nickel and 3 cent silver pieces and even half dimes are great conversation pieces.
Thanks guys. I fully intend to exploit the accent - may go either for me or be classed as a dumb Brit! I like to chat and will certainly walk the floor and enjoy the morning. To be honest all the ideas sound great and whilst I understand $100 needs to be properly spent, what ever I buy will be the gift and that is really nice. Thinking that the 90% is something I had not considered but is certainly an option, as are the 1/2, 2, 3 cent /nickels. The idea of a nice slabbed Morgan - or at least a single slabbed coin may be the nicest idea. I'll let you know how I get on - but if there are any more thoughts, please let me have them.
Do you have the chops to cherrypick vams or varieties? If so I say go on the hunt. You may just get one hell of a bang for that Benjamin
If you consider a Morgan, take to heart my mention of a raw example vs. a slabbed one. I feel your chances of buying a genuine example to be greatly enhanced by purchasing from a US dealer who tends to specialize in them, and your value for money should be considerably higher than a slabbed example. The early '80's San Francisco coins, for example, are essentially not worth slabbing below MS65 due to their commonality in high grade. The same can be said of mid-1880's New Orleans issues, although their strikes tend to suffer by comparison. Neither are a "red flag" if found for sale raw. To illustrate, there are (to my knowledge) only 9 Morgan Dollars graded MS69 by PCGS. 8 of those 9 are either 1880-S or 1881-S. Just over 550 of their 610 MS68's are from 1879-1882 San Francisco mintages.
