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<p>[QUOTE="Al Kowsky, post: 3275330, member: 97383"]I began collecting U.S. coins in the 1950s when stamp collecting was more popular than coin collecting. I bought a copy of the "Red Book" & the "Blue Book" along with a number of blue Whitman folders that showed only one side of the coin. In those days it was possible to find scarce, rare, & old coins in circulation. All my spare time was spent learning about U.S. coins & searching through circulated coinage. I had one big advantage most kids didn't have, my mother worked as a bank teller & every week would bring home rolls of coins for me to inspect. I was amazed at what could be found with a little searching; Liberty V nickels, Barber dimes & quarters, commemorative half dollars, & even Indian head pennies. Over several years I managed to fill most of the holes in those Whitman folders except for the key dates, & even built a complete collection of Peace dollars except of the 1921. With an allowance of $1.00 a week & a part time summer job of selling balloons, cotton candy, & souvenirs at parades & county fairs I still couldn't afford to fill those few remaining holes in the Whitman folders. In 1963 I began high school & took an interest in ancient history, especially Roman history. I went to as many local coin shows as possible with my father & started looking closer at ancient Roman coins. I was amazed to see late Roman bronze coins larger than Lincoln pennies in near mint condition for as little as $2.00 each. My first purchase was three of those $2.00 coins. The dealer I bought them from had a mint state denarius of Septimius Severus for $15.00 that I fell in love with. I asked the dealer if he would hold the coin until I had enough money to buy it & he said yes. When we got home my father presented the coin to me along with more work responsibilities around the house, I was elated. From that day on Roman coins took priority over all other coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>Over the years U.S. coins have escalated in value to absurd highs, especially with the advent of 3rd party grading companies in the 1980s. Key date U.S. coins in choice "mint state" condition are untouchable except for very wealthy collectors & investment consortium's. Last night Great Collections Co. auctioned a 1925 Peace dollar in a PCGS slab, graded MS67+ with a "green bean" sticker for $30,661.88, see photos below. There were 10,198,000 Peace dollars minted in 1925, & PCGS has graded a total of three coins graded MS67+ with one example graded higher. Their value guide for this grade is $30,000.00, & for a MS65+ they value at $180.00. The difference between a MS65+ & a MS67+ is so slight many collectors would struggle to see the difference! Is the price spread between these two grades rational? About a year ago I sold a group of ancient Roman coins at a Heritage auction. One coin pictured below in a NGC slab graded Ch XF, Strike 5/5, Surface 3/5, is an extremely rare tetradrachm picturing Volusian, with only three examples known of this coin it sold for $109.00. That's why I prefer ancient Roman coins over U.S. coins. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]864805[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]864806[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]864810[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Al Kowsky, post: 3275330, member: 97383"]I began collecting U.S. coins in the 1950s when stamp collecting was more popular than coin collecting. I bought a copy of the "Red Book" & the "Blue Book" along with a number of blue Whitman folders that showed only one side of the coin. In those days it was possible to find scarce, rare, & old coins in circulation. All my spare time was spent learning about U.S. coins & searching through circulated coinage. I had one big advantage most kids didn't have, my mother worked as a bank teller & every week would bring home rolls of coins for me to inspect. I was amazed at what could be found with a little searching; Liberty V nickels, Barber dimes & quarters, commemorative half dollars, & even Indian head pennies. Over several years I managed to fill most of the holes in those Whitman folders except for the key dates, & even built a complete collection of Peace dollars except of the 1921. With an allowance of $1.00 a week & a part time summer job of selling balloons, cotton candy, & souvenirs at parades & county fairs I still couldn't afford to fill those few remaining holes in the Whitman folders. In 1963 I began high school & took an interest in ancient history, especially Roman history. I went to as many local coin shows as possible with my father & started looking closer at ancient Roman coins. I was amazed to see late Roman bronze coins larger than Lincoln pennies in near mint condition for as little as $2.00 each. My first purchase was three of those $2.00 coins. The dealer I bought them from had a mint state denarius of Septimius Severus for $15.00 that I fell in love with. I asked the dealer if he would hold the coin until I had enough money to buy it & he said yes. When we got home my father presented the coin to me along with more work responsibilities around the house, I was elated. From that day on Roman coins took priority over all other coins. Over the years U.S. coins have escalated in value to absurd highs, especially with the advent of 3rd party grading companies in the 1980s. Key date U.S. coins in choice "mint state" condition are untouchable except for very wealthy collectors & investment consortium's. Last night Great Collections Co. auctioned a 1925 Peace dollar in a PCGS slab, graded MS67+ with a "green bean" sticker for $30,661.88, see photos below. There were 10,198,000 Peace dollars minted in 1925, & PCGS has graded a total of three coins graded MS67+ with one example graded higher. Their value guide for this grade is $30,000.00, & for a MS65+ they value at $180.00. The difference between a MS65+ & a MS67+ is so slight many collectors would struggle to see the difference! Is the price spread between these two grades rational? About a year ago I sold a group of ancient Roman coins at a Heritage auction. One coin pictured below in a NGC slab graded Ch XF, Strike 5/5, Surface 3/5, is an extremely rare tetradrachm picturing Volusian, with only three examples known of this coin it sold for $109.00. That's why I prefer ancient Roman coins over U.S. coins. ;) [ATTACH=full]864805[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]864806[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]864810[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
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