Help me decide which coin to get

Assuming both are genuine, I'd go for the CB quarter, because I don't have one and I think they are more interesting from a historical standpoint. I don't have a Franklin graded MS66, either, but I do have a few Franklins. But that's me. None of us can judge which you would be happier with. If you are thinking of investment, either is a gamble, because, as noted above, even rare coins can go up or down depending on collector/investor whim, and certainly that can happen with not-so-rare coins.

 

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I am ever so slightly leaning towards the quarter, since finding another affordable specimen will likely be much harder than finding another nicely toned Franklin. But, I don't know, the toning on that half-dollar is pretty sweet!

 

Good points. I shouldn't say the CB quarter is problem free since what do I know. But it does look nice and doesn't seem to have any glaring problems.

Coming into modern coins from ancients, I guess I don't have quite the ingrown revulsion to things like cleaning, holes, dings, etc. that many modern collectors do. That can cut two ways: I'm more likely to be able to afford and enjoy coins that others wouldn't, but I also won't be able to easily recoup costs if I ever decide to sell.

 

The older the better. In coins that is.
Best farm fresh from a field.

 

I'd go for the newer coin....PCGS graded MS-66....probably has very good eye-appeal.

 

While I do buy some raw coins for grading I mostly stick to graded coins. But I do like some of the nicely toned moderns. I would go for the graded coin - but my current type set contains VF to MS-67 (all moderns). I have yet to find the franklin with my type of toning that I would buy - of course since a modern I do not look real hard. I keep waiting for one of my favorite dealers to get one that I can just buy. I seem to lose all auctions I bid on.

 

A simple solution to losing auctions is to just bid higher. I think most coins at auctions will cost you more but higher bids does help.

 

Fun fact... a lot of the time, the dealer is your competition at the auction. I can't tell you the number of times I wasn't aggressive enough in bidding, only to see that same coin marked up a certain percentage sitting in some dealer's inventory.

If you bid a bit more, you can cut out the middleman. In the end, the auction will usually be cheaper.

 

LOL - well I know dealers can be competition. So far for these coins I have not seen them appear in dealers inventory that I buy from. So when I am dealing with common date moderns (at least to me) using a dealer is usually cheaper than heritage or great collections. So what I won't do is bid up on heritage on those coins - besides shipping, buyers fee and taxes - I end up losing and I can just wait for a dealer to get one and then overall it is cheaper. So for some of the tougher ones like an early quarter I might not worry about taxes and shipping, but for a $50-100 dollar coins I can wait for a dealer to get one. And at great collections the ones I like always go for more than I am willing pay - so I just wait. Anything 1930 or so on I can just wait for - or I can just buy some hole fillers that are blast white.

Now remember this is moderns and sometimes ebay is even cheaper on some of them than dealers like northeast or hjb. But for some of the classic stuff - I do find heritage is cheaper, but sometimes to get the coin you want you buy when ever and where ever it appears (dealer or heritage). Some of the classics I bid more aggressively - still lose lots of those.

 

I've never learned to love Franklin halves, and I've never owned a Bust quarter, so for me, it would be the quarter all the way. Except that I'm not really shopping right now.

 

If the quarter is a common date, it's a hard pass at $250 in G4, since the PCGS retail guide is $180. If it's an 1822, the price is OK, but I don't think it's a smart buy. The slope of the price curve through F-VF is fairly gentle for early capped bust quarters, so I'd rather save up a little for nicer coin.