Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="medoraman, post: 3259280, member: 26302"]The reason for the "buy the keys first" advice was that for decades keys went more more by percentage every year than average coins do. However, it really is advice for experienced collectors, like "hey, I completed my Morgan set and am looking at getting into barber quarters, any advice?". One, it makes collectors come to grips with the price of the keys up front, and maybe choose barber halves instead of quarters, and two it was a way to "lock in" the price of the keys so they do not become unaffordable in the future. Having said that, this is ASSUMING keys will continue to go up more than the rest of the series. As modern collectors get into more modern issues, type sets, etc. this is not a bet I would be willing to make. In fact, I think the old "keys" that old men like us know by heart, (09s VDB, 1877 cent, 1916d dime, 1916 quarter, 01s quarter, etc) are horribly overpriced versus real scarcity and are really precariously priced. In fact, I could see each of them cheaper in 20 years than today. How many younger (in our hobby sub-40) collectors do you really find pursuing these sets nowadays? The demand for these are that they are pronounced "key", so many people think they are the "best". However, the hobby has forgotten these coins are ONLY desired if you have tens of thousands of collectors wanting to complete a date/mm set. Take that demand away, and a 1916d dime is actually fairly common.[/QUOTE]