For years, veteran collectors would always tell you that the best chance for finding the higher-grade business strikes was from the Mint Sets. We are now in the 6th year of the Satin Finish Mint Sets, so where does everyone get their MS68 & MS69 business strikes? Do you search bags & rolls from the Mint? Do you hope that your bank gets a few OBW rolls of your favorite denomination? Or, do you wait until the big dealers get them from their bulk submissions and make you pay a substantial premium for them? Even before the introduction of the Satin Finish Mint Sets, I had been searching bags for high grades. I never found any MS69's, but I did find my fair share of MS68 Sac's, Kennedy's & SQ's. What about the rest of you? Chris
Chris I am assuming, based on your comments, that when you say MS68 & 69 business strikes, you are referring to only the satin finish coins - is this correct ? I ask because prior to the advent of the satin finish 68's were quite scarce, 69's all but unheard of. So, do you consider the satin finsih coins to be business strikes ? Personally I would not as they not intended for circulation. That said, there are more than a few of the satin finish coins that are lacking the satin finish. And I also believe that the TPGs either mistake these coins for business strikes, or at the least grade them as business strikes because the satin finish is not there. While I have never searched bags of coins looking for high grade examples, there was a time when I searched mint rolls for them. Haven't done it in years though. I always thought that finding 67's was tough. Don't know that I would say that I ever found a 68, let alone a 69.
No! The satin finish is used only for the Mint Sets, and they receive special handling much the same as proof coins. Business strikes are those coins intended only for circulation. Until 2005, there was no distinction between business strikes and Mint Set coins because the same dies were used for both. My question concerns high-grade business strikes. Chris PS. I stopped buying Mint Sets after I received my first order of the satin finish sets in 2005. About 80% of the coins were MS70, and I knew that it would be a waste of time. Heck, if I were still buying the Mint Sets, and I received a shipment that had any MS68's in it, I would return them to the Mint because of the poor quality.
Yeah, I know all that. But I had to wonder because of your comments of finding 68 business strikes. Admittedly I do not follow the moderns much anymore, and I have not checked grade populations in several years. But you have always struck me as being a pretty knowledgeable collector. So if you tell me that you find 68 business strikes, I'm inclinced to believe you. I wouldn't believe most people. But as I said earlier, 68 business strikes were quite scarce, some would even say rare. At least they were all the years I kept up with moderns. So that's why I was questioning. I just find it hard to believe that you find enough 68's to speak of it as if it were even semi-commonplace.
We have a customer at the shop that will buy only "shotgun" rolls for his searches. Another customer (that once ran a shop) sends them in for him. Apparently in his last batch he sent in 129 coins. None came back lower than a 66 and apparently he had 18 come back as 68. I have no reason to doubt the word of the man that sent them in. He is highly regarded for his honesty and integrity. What I do wonder is how many rolls the guy went through to choose the 129 he sent in.
Let's just say that I have had moderate success finding 68's out of bags, and I have no trouble at all finding 67's. One of my best scores was the 2007-P Sacagawea. I submitted 54 coins to NGC and got: 14 - MS68, 38 - MS67 and 2 - MS66. NGC's Census records 44 - MS68 with only one higher. Chris
6 of the 9 I have left have a small clash in the field at the juncture of her chin and neck from the very small wing feathers of the eagle. Chris
Chris, I have found all of high grade state quarter via roll searching!! I have a few connection at some of the banks so it makes it easy getting rolls. I have got a few MS69 coins and lots of MS68. Here is one that I have left Link My greatest find is while searching 50 2005 Satin Finish sets!!
Amazing ! Again, amazing ! This is for both of you - what dates are these coins ? I ask because either mint has gotten a whole lot better or the TPGs have loosened the standards. I say that because the last time I checked, and it was not that long ago, there were but a handful of 68's in any denomination. Either way, you Chris and Clembo's guy, are obviously quite good at picking the winners :thumb:
I was about to post a new thread when I came across this one. I am getting into "modern" prof coins 1930-1964. Is it rare to find them higer then pf67? If i rember right some time in the 60's the mint changed the machines they used to punch the coins? I guess my question is for proof or business strike is 67+ a hard find in the not so modern modern coins. Thank you all for any advice. Here is an example of a coin that I own that I like and didn't pay to much money for that fits in my date range and question range. http://www.ngccoin.com/certlookup/CertResults.aspx?CertNumber=1205708-002
