Greeting Group, One of the 1st coins I received from an uncle when I was 13 was an XF 1854-(Sm.)O seated liberty quarter. (Now long gone) I have been thinking about replacing it but I'm also drawn to the proof seated liberty series.(No particular date.) Unfortunately I can afford only one or the other as discretionary income is short. (Est. cost $1000-1300) I aesthetically like both coins equally, but would prefer adding the one that's the best investment. There always seems to be buyers for a nice AU 54-O, but the proof seated liberty quarters are a much more limited collector base...or so it appears. If any members care to offer their opinion vis-a-vis this conundrum, Please do. Happy New One, J.T.
Thanks T-hunt & M- Man, That's what it seems to be. I still don't understand why early proof coinage has such a small collector base. It seems that if you really liked the design you'd want an excellent example for your collection. That and given the small mintages. I'm just finding it difficult to understand why. J.T.
Perhaps because the regular issues can be obtained in circ condition, and therefore, frequently cheaper
To one of your points first: I don't think either type of coin, business strike or proof, is going to be an "investment" in the grades and rarities your price points are pointing to. So, I would just stop thinking about this aspect of your choice except that you should seek out the very best coin of whatever type you settle on that you can afford. In this regard, it may be worth your while to "stretch" to achieve a better coin. No one ever regretted buying the better coin. To your other question: Why are proofs of Liberty Seated coinage not as popular as business strikes? There are many answers to this question that for an individual collector may operate alone or in concert with other reasons. That said, here's my speculation on the reasons, understanding that I can't see into the motives of other collectors and that most collectors have multiple, sometimes conflicting, motives. 1) Collectors of type sets, date/MM sets, and registry sets often desire to have the coins reflect a degree of similarity. For some, that similarity is with regard to grade; for others, it is similarity in toning; or a common TPG, or other reasons. So, since proofs are not available in all years and certainly not all MMs and certainly not in circulated grades (with exceptions), the collecting community generally eschews proofs when "similarity" is a collecting criterion. 2) Proofs are generally easier to find in high grades than high-grade business strikes because the proofs were almost always held in collectors' hands from the time of purchase from the mint. So, it is a greater challenge for the collector to achieve a high-grade collection in business strike than in proof. This could be called "The hunt is the purpose" reason. 3) For die variety collectors, there are usually far fewer and less challenging die varieties with the proof coins. There is not much point in collecting die varieties in proofs when the business strikes are so much more interesting. I am sure there are other reasons as well as nuances to the ones I've offered but I'll leave it to others to explore further. Good luck in your hunt.
