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Message:: [QUOTE="mark_h, post: 965271, member: 3726"]Not a type coin collector and maybe I should not answer, but you ask for opinions and I can always come up with one of those.  Of the four coins listed I am going to assume the coins posted contain typical strike characteristics for the dates and the grade. I did not consider price or population. I think the 20 shows a better strike than the other 3 coins display.  I think I see more and stronger details on the obverse and reverse. Could just be the toning but I don't think so - the strike seems more crisp to me.  Now having said that I don't think that means you can not find equally well struck coins in other dates(not a mercury expert).  At the same time maybe the coins posted besides the 20 are great strikes from the dies they used, but I think the 20 shows the design as intended better. My opinion only and I think I eliminated the toning as part of the consideration - or otherwise I would automatically have eliminate the last two because I just don't like the toning on those two. I tried to just look at design elements and how strong they looked in the picture. Now when I think of the optimum grade for a coin in a series - I think of it as usually meaning well struck examples are readily available in some grade for a specific date. I guess I don't usually think of them as having a population of 2.  Never really thought about it a whole lot.  But just my humble opinion on a sleepless night.[/QUOTE]