So I know the often given advice about “buying what you like”. Problem is, I like them all! I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’m working on putting together a U.S Cent collection. My question. . . If you had to choose between a higher grade proof or business strike Indian Head Cent, which would you choose?
Buisness strike seems more of a classical approach. I always sorta considered proof coins to be a (for lack of better terms) legal replica of a buisness strike. I say Buisness. I would not advise mixing buisness and proof in 1 set.
Since there are only two mint-marked coins in the business strike set, the number of coins in each set is about the same. If you are doing business strikes, make them all XF-AU, otherwise, the proof set may be cheaper.
I would go with not mixing business and proof strikes in a set if you're going for a registry set - they are recognized separately.
Look at the Red Book to get an idea of what you're getting into. Then look at your wallet and decide what's possible. That generally makes the decision rather easy. In my case I long ago decided to ignore proofs. The only ones I have are in my birth year set. I like the idea that the coins I collect were either used in day-to-day transactions or, in the case of MS coins, could have been.
I'll add that I always think of Toys-R-Us whenever I see a proof coin. I am working on my third set of IHCs, and I haven't seen many proof versions available. Fortunately, there are enough high quality specimens to keep collectors happy.
