Low Grade Key Date vs. High Grade Common Date

You just changed the terms of the example. Why not get even more MS-63 DMPL's and save even more?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

When cost is a factor and you're trying to work on a Type Set as I am, then high-grade common is the way to go.

While I appreciate the wisdom of @mikenoodle and see his point, I want the set to show off the artistic designs of their creators. Some people can see the beauty in a coin that has seen some use whereas others prefer a pristine example (if they can afford it).

 

Most 63's are not that attractive while a 65 or 66 is generally just as attractive to me as a 67 so neither option that you listed makes sense for me to include in a type set.


















Of course, when discussing Morgan dollars NO grade is high enough to overcome the absolute ugliness of that obverse.

 

Them's fightin words!

I happen to think the Morgan is one of the most attractive designs.

 

Anna..

 

Let's explain it on an example.
Talk about the Mercury Dime series.
I don' like the 1916D or the 1921 in Fine nor I like a 1943 or 1944 in MS67.
The first two are to ugly in fine condition, the third and forth are to common.
So what to do?
Let's take a normal date, like a 1916 S or a 1929S in for example MS64.....good eye
appeal and not common in an absolute
sense.....that's my way to see this things.....

 

I am more in the middle. I am a budget collector and I cannot always afford a top grade example. I am also working on a tittle coin set. When I get the the early years the mid-high mint state coins are too expensive, but I do not like a coin I can barely see what it is. I collect on the VF-XF range giving me the ability to create a cohesive set while providing detail and cheaper coins. (Plus I like the aspect of having a set that has seen commerce and not just a safety deposit box and glass cases.)

Sent from my A463BG using Tapatalk

 

I understand why people can say that they like to have their collection with a uniform look, but I plan on upgrading my collection to eventually AU/MS. It'll take me years/decades, but eventually I hope to upgrade my key dates to match my higher quality examples. Unless the coin is rare in any condition (1793 chain/wreath), I'd like to save and buy higher quality common dates.

 

The main counter argument to @mikenoodle argument would be the fact key dates HAVE gone up so much in the past. US key dates are so overpriced versus rarity that it is not even funny. Will this abnormal appreciation continue? That is what you are betting on with his argument.

Myself, I am a coin collector. I like the nicest coin I can find. If I am going to own one mercury dime, I want the 67 over a G 1916d that others tell me is so scarce. If I have no intent on doing a date-mm set, why do I care?

I own many lower grade coins, I am not a condition snob. However, I simply do not find a mm or date on a coin a big enough difference to accept a horrible coin over a pristine one if I do not with to collect by dates or mm.

 

I'm an AU-55 or higher kind of collector. My first criteria is that I have to like the look of the coin. Once that criteria is met then everything else is gravy. Once, I bought an Australian Kangaroo coin at a coin show. I spotted the coin all the way across the bourse. I had no idea what it was till I got to the dealer's table. He gave me a price and I had the cash and bought it. I see that coin everyday.

When I first started collecting I bought a couple coins because I "had to have" an example of that coin. I hate those coins. They are low grade and ugly. That is when my attitude changed.

 

Same here. SVDB cent and 16-D Merc have actually slipped recently.

 

See, I understand what you are saying...but part of me feels the opposite. I'm not a date/mm set guy either...but for whatever reason, there is something special to me about having those "better" dates. Maybe I was brainwashed by the Red Book as a child...but I honestly think I would prefer to have a G 1916-D over a MS67 common date if I could only have one. I don't entirely know why I feel that day...but I do. Maybe the scarcer mintage just seems special to me.

Of course, I have neither a G 16-D or a 67 common. Haha.