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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Tom B, post: 1855849, member: 11854&quot;]I realize that yesterday I wrote this would not be a strategy I would advise, but that short post left out the reasons for it and I don&#039;t want the post to appear to be bitter or otherwise negative.&nbsp; Therefore the reasons, as best as can be written, are expanded upon in this post.&nbsp; Please keep in mind that anything I write here will of course be biased to an extent by my own likes and dislikes and part of your job is to tease away what is specific to me and what is of a more global nature.</p><p><br /></p><p>You&#039;ve laid out parameters for the set and this is an excellent start to any type set.&nbsp; They appear to be twentieth century issues that would be considered &quot;key dates&quot; with perhaps three or four purchases per year.&nbsp; That is well thought out start.&nbsp; In my opinion, type sets have the great luxury of being constituted however one would like as opposed to a date or date/mintmark set where the coins to include are largely determined prior to beginning the set.&nbsp; This gives type sets the possibility of having more of a personalized signature than other sets.&nbsp; When I look at your list the signature that comes to mind is &quot;better date, twentieth century, affordable&quot;.&nbsp; There is nothing wrong with this and if that is the ultimate goal then it would have to be considered at least partially successful.</p><p><br /></p><p>There are a few things I generally keep in mind and suggest that others keep in mind with these sets and these things are the audience, the market and the appearance of the coins.&nbsp; As currently constituted, I am confused at who your audience might be and what the coins may look like, but am fairly confident of your market and the market&#039;s ability to furnish these coins.&nbsp; Obviously, the set has to be satisfactory to <i>you </i> and it should bring joy or a sense of accomplishment to <i>you, </i> but most of us here prefer to also share our passion with others who are both likeminded (coin geeks) and not likeminded (family, friends and co-workers who may not be coin geeks).&nbsp; Given all of the above, below is my reaction to the set.</p><p><br /></p><p>The mixture of circulated, mint state and proof pieces really should not bother most folks, though the low grade circulated coins are going to stand out pretty strongly.&nbsp; However, I believe the non-geek audience will be lost or not grasp the significance of the 1901-S Barber quarter, 1916 SLQ and likely the 1916-D Merc because of the very low grades chosen for each.&nbsp; While other coins can retain a lot of meat as low as F12, the Merc series doesn&#039;t always afford much remaining meat at this grade level.&nbsp; This leaves a few coins that cost a bit of money in an arena where they actually showcase very little of the design of the type. </p><p><br /></p><p>Other coins, such as the 1937-D three-legged Buffalo and 1955 DDO Lincoln cent are listed with grades that will most likely yield fairly unattractive coins.&nbsp; The MS60/61 grade level is many times a barren wasteland for these series where one encounters nicked up, stained, poorly struck, thoroughly carbon spotted or fingerprinted coins that can be aesthetically challenging.&nbsp; An MS60/61 Buffalo may be an AU55/58 Buffalo on a different day while an MS60RD Lincoln cent might be covered in pox or may have one or two large gashes on the cheek that might result in a net graded on another day.&nbsp; They will both tie up a bit of money and both may be tough to move in the future and may also be difficult for both the geek and non-geek audience to get geeky about.&nbsp; The fact that they are &quot;key&quot; issues only because of a specific die marriage does not bother me in the least, though others might have issue with a common coin (both the 1937-D Buffalo and 1955 Lincoln are common) being considered &quot;key&quot; because of a specific die marriage.</p><p><br /></p><p>The remainder of the list seems like they would be fine choices for both the goal of better date coins as well as in a grade range that would yield attractive coins that might be appreciated, although I would suggest to avoid going below MS63 for most copper and the requirement for the RD designation will not necessarily give you a more attractive coin than the RB or BN designation.&nbsp; My opinion is that you only have a single coin in the list that might be difficult to find and that is the 1921-D WLH in EF/AU.&nbsp; Every other coin on that list will be found fairly easily and in quantity.</p><p><br /></p><p>You may want to work with a likeminded dealer who can screen coins for you or who at least might be used as a sounding board for ideas, directions or acquisitions.&nbsp; I have worked in this capacity for many folks in the past and I enjoy it greatly, but your goals and my niche do not overlap so we would not be a good paring.&nbsp; Good luck and please keep us updated on your progress.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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