In your opinion....

what circulated grade would you want in your collection for each series? I really like the look of circulated issues and the back story of them being used, and want to do a circulated type set. Pictures are appreciated too, but this is just your opinion and not the standard. I am excluding AU issues just because of too much similarity too MS issues.
Thanks

 

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Well mostly it's eye appeal. What looks nice to you is what you should acquire. I collected a complete Dansco album of circulated Walkers and they look fantastic - (they have to as I could not afford to have done that with better condition coins). I have a circulated Franklin Dansco also that really looks nice. Before purchasing a coin just compare it to others for around the same price and condition - I've seen junk for 30$ and right next to it on Ebay is a beautiful circulated coin for the same amount of money. It's a "have some patience and gain experience" type of thing. Hope this helps.

 

If your going to use eye appeal for your AU and MS selections, let the peepers be your guide on lower graded coins. Plenty of XFs and VFs are fine looking coins for the grade, while others aren't - similar to doggy AUs and MSs that make you go

 

I do MS for twentieth century coins and XF or better on everything else. Of course there are many many exceptions to this rule. My type set is made of only proof (or SP) coins, so it's pretty unlikely that it will ever be complete. A small portion of my type set starting with my avatar coin; an original strike 1852 half cent.

 

High VF if ya held a gun to my head........

 

Those are beautiful coins - I could never have enough to buy one like that!

 

@Kirkuleez nice coins first of all, but this is where I differ. I like MS coins and all, but the it isn't as satisfying as owning a coin that has traveled all over the country, participated in trade, and everything else. Whereas a MS coin has just either sat in a safety deposit box, or carefully traded from dealer to collector back to dealer.

 

Theres quite a bit of history to an early proof coin as well.

 

Most people would probably pick XF if you eliminated AU and MS grades. Personally i would go 35/40 though if I really wanted to concentrate more on the circulated aspect I would go 20-30.

 

@Kirkuleez I am not bashing prrof coins, I really like them, but unfortunately do not have the budget for them. I do agree they do have unique stories behind the earlier issues and I like the look
If I had the money and collected gold coins, I would collect them ad proofs just because of the looks.

 

Exactly - anybody with money can collect a museum quality coin. But I appreciate the average coin collector, they spend what they can buy, and they love every coin they put into their collection!!!!

 

I guess it depends on the age of the series for me. If it's a series that's less than 100 years old I'd probably want VF-XF but if it's 200 years old and expensive I'm happy with a G4!

 

I'm not rich by any means; especially now with the oil and gas market in the tanks, but most of these coins are pretty easily had by even a modest collector. It seems that early proof coins scare people off, but the prices aren't all that bad considering the rarity of some of the issues.

 

Kirk has had the good fortune of coming from a family that collected coins.......and appreciated worthy examples in a time when most collectors only collected one date as an example. The family kept the collection together for future generations to enjoy. Know that alone is something to envy. If only our grandfathers and great grandfathers had saved a few examples of coins to pass on down to us.........

 

Kirk is right about a lot of the old proofs: they are not cheap but not out of sight for such limited mintages. One of the funnest things I did was getting a proof each of the Barber dime, quarter and half. V and shield nickels also are doable, along with half dimes.

 

Hey, you have outlined two major types of collectors: those who want the best example they can afford and those who want coins that show they have traveled through commerce. Both are interesting approaches -- and each produces collections that are interesting in different ways.

 

I like XF for my Vicky Cent collection. Affordably collectible for most dates and still enough of the pattern to enjoy.

 

I could see myself going totally over the edge and trying to get one of *everything* in low-mid AU....

 

For my type set Vf to xf for the early stuff except for a few that are too expensive in those grades like some of the early copper there vg- f will do. Xf to ms for the rest. I have a lot of au 58 coins and a lot of 19th c proofs and for my trade dollars I'm at au minimum preferably 55-58 ms for the more common and pr 62 and better for the proofs

 

I always liked the looks of VF/EF with silver. It was a bit easier to end up with a well matched set.