Just wondering the condition of coins that people collect . Is it only proof, unc, or slabbed coins. I just get rolls from the bank trying get each coin from every year not worring too much about its condition. Of course I have to buy the earlier dates. They wont be money makers for me but I figure I can at least display them some way and not be too concerned with them being stolen. I do have proof sets and ASE's which I will continue to purchase
We're mostly with you on this. We collect out of change for Thalia Elizabeth's folders. I do get some proofs but that's a pretty limited number.
For my Lincolns I haven't worried much about the condition. My Jefferson's are all BU or Proof. For my Type Set & Ancients a coin generally needs to be EF or better (VF for the right coin). A few are in slabs, but I'm not really a huge slab fan
All Regisrty Sets of Gold, SIlver and Platinum is slabbed PCGS....Coins from Mint are as shipped and packed, ASE rolls are in tubes from Mint....95 % of all Paper Money collection is graded and in sleeves. Other bullion gold is raw and in airtights....wow!! I never really looked at it that way. RickieB
Depends - my modern stuff is either keep in the mint boxes or graded by PCGS. Other coins are in all types of grades and conditions.
I have a lot of sets. I don't collect any slabs yet but will. Some of my coins should be in slabs already but I just haven't gotten around to it. I collect clad dimes and quarters from circulation in the best condition I can find and from mint sets and rolls in the best condition available. I collect British cents in AU/U and various tokens in the best condition that I see. With all my collections I'll upgrade any time I find a nicer example. My clad quarter set has a lot of work in it and most of the coins are MS-67 or 68. The varieties tend to be lower (sometimes much lower). All the modern sets represent quite a lot of work.
Most of the coins in my series collections (albums) are all in circulated condition, except for my Franklins which are mostly BU. All of the others range from AG to BU. My IHCs average grade VF, Lincolns average grade VF, Liberty (V) Nickels average grade G, Buffalos average grade F, Jeffersons average grade AU, Mercury Dimes average grade VF, Roosevelts average grade XF, SLQs average grade F, Washington quarters average grade F, Walkers average grade F, Morgans average grade BU, Peace dollars average grade AU. I also collect proof and mint sets. Alot of the additions to my newer collections are pulled from circulation like the Statehood quarters and so on.
Sounds to me like your doing it the right way. If you can pull your coins out of circulation and you don't worry to much about the condition and it makes you a happy collector? Your on the right track! Happy Hunting Chuck
Except for the last 5 Walking Liberties I had to buy to complete my collection, the whole set came from pocket change, and ranges from F to Unc. (no plastic tombs). The rest of my inactive and incomplete US sets were all pulled from circulation, not purchased. With many early Meiji coins being valued at $250 or less in grades up to VF, and in the thousands or tens of thousands for XF, AU and Unc. examples, the vast majority of my Japanese coinage is almost entirely F to XF, with a few better. I've never seen a Japanese occupation coin from China or Korea (outside of a museum) in XF or better, so except for a couple of AGs, my entire collection of those is G to VF. Japanese gold, except for a few commems minted at the end of the last century or in this one, is horribly expensive, and poorly represented in my collection. Like many others, I enjoy being able to handle circulated coins without fear of fingerprinting them, and contemplating the history they may have seen.
Except for some recent proofs, most of my collection is fairly well circulated. I always aim for as good a condition as I can afford, but don't mind pieces that look like they've seen some history and weren't just tucked away in a box right after it was minted. Trying to get a US type set done and have more interest in that than in series... though my first start in coin collecting was trying to finish the Lincoln cent series, and hope to finish that some day. Have the Kennedy half business strikes done... some well circulated, some uncirculated or nearly so. My huge foreign coin set is made up entirely of circulated coins... few of them I actually bought, most are from my travels or the travels of firends and family. Quite a few are from US circulation lol... you'd be amazed about how many coins migrate here and get mixed in with US coinage. The few foreign coins I actually bought are mostly Japanese coins (I love Meiji era coins from when their modern coinage was just getting started.) I only have one coin in a slab, a 1986 Statue of Liberty half dollar. I had it put in one myself because I no longer had the original packaging and the plastic capsule it came in was scratched. Despite being PF-69 DCAM it still isn't worth what it cost to slab it lol... but did it for presentation purposes not investment purposes.
I own only a handful of uncirculated US coins, a few are slabbed. Two proofs (proofs are definitely not my thing). All the rest are circulated, for US coins my minimum grade depends on the set, but generally I will not buy less than F12, am trying to work up to a minimum of VF.
Average grade on my early date large cent die variety collection is Good 4. Average grade on my 18th century Conder token collection is XF 45 to AU 50.
It varies but my prized coins are handled with the white linen glove type of thing until they are encapsuled and stored then vaulted in a bank for the occassional visit with the kids.
I'm completely agnostic on this. I have slabbed coins in circulated and uncirculated condition, and raw coins in circulated and uncirculated condition. I tend to focus more on getting what I want at a price I like than I do about condition. Most of my older coins are circulated and most of the modern coins are uncirculated.
I like this answer lol. Personally, it doesn't matter a whole lot to me, but I do love proof coins. Phoenix
