Do you prefer Circulated coins or BU

Every time I look at my Morgan and Peace dollars I like the look of the BU coins, but when I look at the AU, EF, VF and even the G's I can't help but wonder where these things went, who held them, if they were part of some giant bar-brawl over who needed to pay for the whiskey????and the questions keep on rolling through my mind....who owned the register they went in, did somebody hide it, steal it, send it home to the wife to feed the family???

That's just me though, I think sitting in a vault for 75 to 130 years would be pretty boring. Having some minister throw more bags of my cousins on top of me is even more insulting???

What do you say?

 

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Circulated gets my vote.

 

BU would be nice but my bank account and my wife say NO.:crying:

 

Best I can afford.
BU then Au then xf...you get the idea.

Dont get me wrong a worn out coin is great too but if I can get a better quality one I'm in for that.

 

I prefer circulated as a general rule. I love history...and circulated coins MADE history. However, I prefer uncirculated for some designs. And I like having at least one uncirculated example for each design (type) although that really only gets me back to the 1930s, and not even in every US design. I have 4 uncirculated Mercury dimes, two uncirculated Silver quarters (that I won in a contest on CoinTalk!), and a handfull of uncirculated wheats. My oldest uncirculated nickel would probably be 80s only, nickels seem to take a beating around here. That's it!

For modern coins though, I try to get the best I can, and I am always on the lookout for upgrades.

For cents, I want full mint red, barring that, I want it to be a nice even Milk Chocolate color.

I do save circulated examples of newer stuff if I like the way it looks. Even if I have an uncirculated example already in my collection, if I see a coin with an interesting wear pattern, I save it.

Some of the early State Quarters are now showing some significant wear on them, and some of them look pretty good when they are worn. I think Virginia's is the nicest worn State quarter so far.

I collect by date and mintmark...for most of the coins, the ones that would be considered uncirculated by the people who are into assigning grades would really only be from the mid 1990s to today, not inclusive of all years/mintmarks on any of the denominations. But I do have some uncirculated examples in some of them going back.

One other additional note: I don't like Uncirulated Morgans. I know they are supposedly the most popular coin series in history, but I just don't like them. All of them that I have seen, probably in the lower triple digits (most of that number at my one and only to date show) just didn't look good to me. I don't like coins with marks all over them, and Morgans seem to have them more than any other design. I think, in all those coins, and all the coins I've seen on the net, I've only seen three uncirculated Morgans that I actually liked.

Since I am not that big a fan of them even in circulated grades, I have not paid too much attention to circulated examples, but lately I have seen some that I actually liked, so I have been paying a little more attention to them. I have never purchased one, though! (actually, since I started buying coins sporadically, I have not purchased any silver dollars, even the Peace which is one of my all time favorite coin designs...can't afford them!)

 

I prefer BU but do have a number of non-BU coins as well. TC

 

I prefer my women uncirculated, but there are times when I will go for one who has been broken in a bit.

Chris

 

For my high interest sets I prefer XF or better BUT not MS-60, -61 or -62.
There are a few exceptions (some VF's) but they are candidates for replacement in the future.

All other sets are a trade-off between price and grade. Most of the keys in these sets are down at the G/VG level.

 

Yeaaa, a nice golden glossy tan, ya just can't beat that. When they start turning red they just seem to lose their attractiveness. And thats how I like my cents...:kewl:

 

lol too true but some people like them beat up and holed

 

For me it depends on the series. My Morgan set is all uncirculated grades except for about three key dates. I like that look for that coin. Barbers look a lot better worn down. Lincolns have more character after some use. Buffalo nickels....could go either way depending on a lot of things. The state of my collection varies, though when I put sets together I do try to match the coins as best as possible, whether it be uncirculated or circulated.
Guy~

 

...i like mine uncirculated, at a circulated price. :kewl:

 

I like them both, but what really matters to me is the coin's personality, of course a few BU and proof wouldn't hurt, especially if they are 100 or so years old

 

BU or hopefuly higher

 

circulated gets my vote

 

Circulated for me. The older coins that look brand new just don't look real. I like my coins broke in.

I live in the Chicago area. It's neat thinking my Peace dollar might have been used in Al Capone's speakeasy or was in John Dillinger's pocket. That's way cool!!!

 

BU gets my vote. I want the best quality coin, that fits my budget of course. If the BU coin is 65K and the AU coin is 1K, I'm going to go on the hunt for an AU slider, that would be a coin of nearly the same quality, for a lower price. (Same situation if we are dealing with VF or EF)
I think I'd rather go with the more boring, nicer looking coin. Although, I wish coins could talk.

 

I would certainly prefer unc but have found that often a "slider" au is more in my price range for better coins but it certainly depends upon what you collect. A savy old collector told me "buy the best coins you can afford", makes sense!

 

i voted that i just like coins. i prefer the ones with more detail in upper grades but cant really afford AU draped bust and liberty cap cents. some which dont have alot of detail to be lost like the classic head or chain cents look better worn.

 

I collect coin for their historical connection. I tend to think XF is the sweet spot but I love a good chop mark too. Check out the like for some coins that went from the wild wild west to the far east.

http://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/showcase.aspx?sc=1012