more demand in the keys makes for more visibility. They are therefore easier to find, but as in your example, sometimes, you just have to search a bit harder for the "common" coins or just be patient and wait for them to surface.
More money for the keys doesn't hurt either. But you are right Carl, most of the keys for any denomination are actually fairly common - they are just expensive. And that's why people should buy them early on in their collections because they tend to just keep getting more expensive as time passes. But they are certainly not hard to find nor are they rare by any definition. There are always coins in any set that are harder to find in higher grades than the keys are. A large part of that has to do with the cost. If the cost is low many dealers won't have examples on hand because the demand and thus the profit percentage is low.
Meanwhile back to the subject. I may be wrong but possibly your going at this all wrong. I mean the investment idea. As you mention money to parents, most have other ideas of where your and their money should be going. Even splitting the cost is still something they normally do not want to see flying out the window, so to speak. Why not try to discuss the educational concepts with your parents. Not sure how old you are but if at an age where your parents are concerned of your future, education may be more on thier minds than some silly old coin that may or may not be worth a dime tomorrow. That may sound harsh, but if your parents are not involved in coins, you may well be attempting to buy a Ferrari for all they know. Not knocking your parents, but they truely may be concerned about your future. Therefore, try pointing out the many interesting things about all coins. The educational factors of the State Quarters. The Presidential coins that may help people find out who some of the Presidents were. Then you could really hit them with the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln Cent and what that represents in our history. Mention how fantastic it would be for a FAMILY to have the first and the 100th anniversary item of a coin that is so historic in nature. Maybe as a past teacher I am just blowing off steam here but why not give it a try? An old saying by sailors is "Any port in a storm"
first off, im a freshman in highschool, my parents arent to worried about my future, i get all a's and run on cross country, and play french horn in my band. They've determined that if I want the coin bad enough than I will figure a way out to get one. without their help
Ok, here's what you do. You first find a good local charity that many people support. Then, go door to door to get sponsors to support you in a charity run where you get 10-20% towards your education and personal needs and the other 80%+ goes to the charity. You know how it works, people pledge to pay you "X" amount of dollars per mile ran. Depending on the size of your community, you could organize a larger event and get corperate sponsors. Hey, it's worth a shot.
Nice dealer(s) to give you an MS early Lincoln for FREE. That is more the exception than the rule. Again, it goes back to a combination of survival, mintage numbers, rarity, GRADE, and market demand. You are right...finding early Lincolns in MS grades are indeed rare...and with that, you will pay a premium for a 1920-D MS Lincoln over a 1920-D < MS grades. Why? Because the survival rate for an early Lincoln date in MS grades is expondentially less than they are in < MS grades. Most "common" date early Lincolns in a MS64Red grade will fetch hundreds and hundreds of dollars. That is a far cry from paying around $5 for that same 1920-D in VF condition. If you graph how much a given common Lincoln rises in price from VG8 to MS64Red, the graph will show an expondential curve in the relation of market price to the coin's grade. As for that 31S...Sure I would love to have an 31D in MS65Red over an 31S in the same grade. As collectors hoarded the last San Francisco minted Lincoln (at least they thought so), they did not hoard the 1931 and 1931-D's in the same ratios as they did the 31-S. Still, with only 866,000 31-S mintage numbers, this is the 2nd lowest mintage numbers only behind the 09SVDB and hence a reason for the prices it demands. Bottom line...it is NOT common to own a MS63 or above early date Lincoln...all things equal. It is the exception and it is indeed rare...which makes it more difficult to find and fuels its demand, which makes it more costly. Buy the keys and the BEST grades you can afford for your collection. The higher the grade for these early Lincolns, the higher they are and the faster they will increase in market value...all things being equal.
Good for you!! Instead of a "gimmee-gimmee-gimmee" mindset, you will APPRECIATE it more if YOU work for it and obtain it with your OWN resources. Too bad many citizens in this country wouldn't follow your advice.
To expand on what Midas is saying, the REAL key to the Lincoln Cent set would be the 1926-S. YEP. A great resource on this series, especially condition rarity ( scarcity) vs actual mintages is the David Lange book. EVERY Lincoln Cent collector should buy this book before they buy a single MS coin. IMHO Aj
Couldn't agree more...think about it...there is only ONE certified Lincoln 1926-S in MS65RD existance (mintage: 4,550,000) with NONE higher. Couple that with "mushy" strikes from worn dies (like many dates from the 1920's), you would be very lucky to find this coin in grades above EF. If you do find any in 'red' condiition, I would bet that it has been cleaned. As for David's Book...it is a MUST for any serious Lincoln collector.
I know it is kind of hard to tell, but that is the coin in my avatar. It sold for $150,000 last year. In case you are thinking of it, not to me.
