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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Publius2, post: 8610546, member: 105571&quot;]Since I can&#039;t know what you mean by &quot;decent&quot;, my comments must be somewhat</p><p>general.&nbsp;&nbsp; As far as I&#039;m concerned, decent coins run the entire grade gamut.&nbsp; If your goal is a coin that is very nice for the grade, then the key point to be made is to be able to identify those qualities that make it so and then make sure you have the resources needed to acquire it when the opportunity arises.&nbsp; Because if you&#039;re being really particular, those opportunities won&#039;t arise very often.</p><p><br /></p><p>By way of example, the 17-D in ANACS XF-45 that I mentioned above but did not show is a perfectly nice circulated coin that was purchased from a junk coin dealer at a local show.&nbsp; He just happened to have a nice coin amongst his usual dreck and I purchased it as a hole filler for the type set since it didn&#039;t meet my grade requirement for that set.&nbsp; But it did meet my grade and quality standard for my Circulated SLQ set.&nbsp; So the 17-D is a &quot;decent&quot; coin and perfectly suited for one of my collections but not for another.</p><p><br /></p><p>Of the three SLQs I pictured above, two were obtained from GC auctions and one was purchased at the FUN show from a well-known dealer of high-end late 19th and 20th century coins.&nbsp; I have scoured all types of sources looking for the coins that I want.&nbsp; I spent about three years searching for the three SLQs for my type set, rejecting about 95% of all coins looked at for one reason or another. </p><p><br /></p><p>Jim, I think the best place to search for value and quality or whatever mix of those two characteristics is right for you is---auctions.&nbsp; And that is primarily because you can see thousands of coins with good to great photos and do so from the comfort of your easy chair.&nbsp; The well-known auction houses are honest, professional and easy to deal with.&nbsp; It pays to familiarize yourself with their terms &amp; conditions.&nbsp; These would be Heritage, Great Collections, Stacks-Bowers, and even Legend if your blood is that aristocratic. </p><p><br /></p><p>But if auctions are out for you, then the second-best place is large coin shows.&nbsp; And I do mean the large ones like FUN, Baltimore, the ANA Money Show, Long Beach.&nbsp; That&#039;s because it draws the bigger dealers that usually, not always but usually, have the nicest and widest range of material.&nbsp; And there are a lot of dealers and thus a lot of material on display.&nbsp; The big shows nearly always host one of the big auction houses where you can do &quot;lot viewing&quot; to see and hold the actual coin you might be interested in bidding on.&nbsp; Local shows are not nearly as good a source for nice material but that&#039;s not to say you can&#039;t find something nice at them.&nbsp; It&#039;s just more likely to be a happenstance with the small, local shows.&nbsp; In either case, whether the show be large or small, you have to go to them and spend time looking.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The third is a trusted dealer - one that you know and have a good relationship with.&nbsp; Someone you can place a want list with and trust he/she knows what you&#039;re after in terms of quality, grade and price. </p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, and definitely in last place IMO, are places like eBay where the reputations and the photos can be definitely third-rate.&nbsp; Not that you can&#039;t find a gem of a dealer or a coin there but it&#039;s much more of a gamble.</p><p><br /></p><p>If I didn&#039;t answer your question, then PM me and we can discuss it further.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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