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Message:: [QUOTE="Jaelus, post: 3071514, member: 46237"]I hear this argument brought up time and time again about how circulated coins have real history to them, as if somehow uncirculated coins of the same age do not. It's a flawed argument. A hundred year old coin is a hundred year old coin. A coin that has survived in mint state does not have any less history, it's just that it took a different path to get there. I definitely enjoy and appreciate the history of circulated coins, but I find the history of uncirculated coins to be much more interesting. You may speculate on who may have used a coin in commerce, but the odds are that it wasn't anyone of note, and the coins likely circulated a bit and then ended up in some box or drawer for a long time, which is why the example survived. Compare this to the history of a hundred year old mint state coin. Was the coin set aside and lost for a century to be found in pristine condition by accident, or kept in a coin cabinet with care for generations? Was it owned by a prominent collector or given to a dignitary as a specimen? Was it treasured by a family who passed it down from generation to generation? What extraordinary set of circumstances allowed a coin to survive for 100+ years in a hyper gem state? Aside from the appreciation of the sculptural beauty and the historical interest, I find pondering questions like these to be at least just as interesting as contemplating the life of a heavily-circulated coin.[/QUOTE]