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Message:: [QUOTE="satootoko, post: 24691, member: 669"]Let's get back to basics for a moment.  If the primary purpose of coin design were to attract collector interest, we probably wouldn't have so many dead presidents and eagles! Bear in mind that historically even the lowest denomination coins were often silver, and of substantial buying power in their economies.  The original fundamental basis for government-issued coinage was the certification of weight and fineness. Reeding and edge lettering were developed to protect against disguising the fact that part of the value had been removed by scraping, at a time when the monetary value of a coin directly depended upon its bullion content. The original intent of hammering, casting or striking a complex design was to make counterfeiting more difficult, and even though in our "modern" economy coins are generally of too small a value to make counterfeiting profitable, old habits die hard. The hunt for "full steps", "split bands", and similar evidence of excellent strikes is just that - a hunt for excellent strikes, usually by specialists in a particular series, and virtually never by those who seek out circulated coins since normal wear can be expected to remove - or at least obscure - such design details. There is certainly room in the hobby for collectors with different tasts.  After all, as a wise old man once said:  If everybody liked the same thing, everybody would want my wife![/QUOTE]