What does "buy the best grade you can afford" mean?

[Count_Erfit]

Is that a 93-S Morgan in XF

 

or

 

an 03-S in 65 ??

 

[MAULEMALL]

Is that a 93-S Morgan in XF

 

or

 

an 03-S in 65 ??

 

[Wihlborg]

It would depend on if you wanted 93-S Morgan and could only afford one in XF or if you wanted a 03-S Morgan and could afford it MS-65.

 

John

[RobertB]

Depends on which one you wanted more?

[proofs03-migration]

Buy the one with the highest return value that you like.

 

Steve

[spy88]

You want a new VW that can go 150 mph or a used Ferrari that cannot exceed 65?

 

You want a 45" tube TV or a 12" plasma?

 

Would you rather know the future or visit the past?

 

Everybody answers differently, based on their need, desire, finances, dreams, what makes you you and me, well, not you, and settles for something in-between.

 

David

[BillJones]

The advice to buy the best coin that you can afford is generally sound. Buying a lower grade coin and then upgrading later can get to be expensive. If the market is stable or declining you will probably lose when you sell the coin that you are replacing. If the market is in raising the replacement coin will cost you more. Bottom line: Buy the coin you want from the get-go and don't fool with Mr. Inbetween. Successful coin investors view their purchases are long term holds.

 

At the risk of getting more flack as a "modern coin basher" I will advise you that there is one exception to this rule. Paying outragious prices for ultra high grade coins that are super heated because of "registry fever" can hazardous to your financial health. In those cases, if an MS-68 costs $5,000 and an MS-67 costs $50, buy the MS-67 unless you don't care about money.

[IrishMike]

Good advice Bill and I will add in the 40 plus years of collecting I think the dumbest thing you can do is to pay high prices for high grade MS and Proof modern coins especially the PF and MS 70's.

 

Watch what these sets bring in the auction market when the owner tires of them. Many of them bring less than two thirds of what the owner paid for them and some of them get consigned to online dealers and they set there for sale for an eternity. All of this just to say you have a top five or ten or whatever registry set. If you have to have one, just buy one and enjoy it but don't invest big bucks into an entire set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tradedollarnut]

I think the dumbest thing you can do is to pay high prices for high grade MS and Proof coins

 

Whoa, Nellie! I'm in trouble on my trade dollars!

[gmarguli]

I think the dumbest thing you can do is to pay high prices for high grade MS and Proof coins

 

Whoa, Nellie! I'm in trouble on my trade dollars!

 

Aren't you the person who recently commented that you probably shouldn't have paid the extra money for an upgrade to one of your coins since you now cannot use that money to but other coins?

[Elcontador]

These last few posts are excellent. I collect 19th Century type Unc. coins.

A good example of "buy the best you can afford" is a small dentil Capped Bust Quarter. They're around 2K in MS 63, 4K to 4,500 in MS 64 & 10K in MS 65.

 

The difference between a nice 4 and a 5 may be just a minor scratch in the obverse field of the coin, or one contact mark too many on the obverse devices on what would otherwise be the same coin. Would you pay another 5-6K for the 5 under these circumstances?

 

Perhaps, if you're trying to put together a registry set of these coins. Personally, I'd get the 4 & take the 5K and go to Brasil.......

[Tradedollarnut]

Aren't you the person who recently commented that you probably shouldn't have paid the extra money for an upgrade to one of your coins since you now cannot use that money to but other coins?

 

Yes, I said that opportunity costs need to be factored into any decision to upgrade. But I don't necessarily agree that buying high grade coins is foolish - they have performed very well over the years. I think a better barometer of what is foolish would be to narrow the statement down from simply "high grade coins" to "high grade coins that are many multiples of the value of a common undergrade". Whereas the former tend to hold, or even increase, their value, it seems to me that the latter tend not to perform as well. Tons of undergrades means lots of shots at joining the top pop and diluting its value.

[IrishMike]

I think the dumbest thing you can do is to pay high prices for high grade MS and Proof coins

 

Whoa, Nellie! I'm in trouble on my trade dollars!

 

Tell Nellie how you edited out the word modern in my post. Do you own proof 70 and MS 70 Tradedollars?

[Tradedollarnut]

Do you own proof 70 and MS 70 Tradedollars?

 

I wish!

 

 

Tell Nellie how you edited out the word modern in my post.

 

Well, that makes more sense to me! But to be fair, before cladking shows up, it's not just moderns. I recently passed on a pop1 1877 PCGS MS65 trade dollar [that I wanted very badly] because of just this situation. An MS64 is worth only $3k or so and they were asking $35k for the MS65. There are 4 or 5 NGC MS65's that trade for about a third that price and about 80 MS64's between the two services. That to me was an unacceptable premium for a common date coin just because it was in the "right holder". I felt that eventually one or more of the NGC coins would cross or one or more of the undergrades would upgrade, thus turning a $35k coin into a $15k coin faster than you can say "Whoa, Nellie!"

 

 

[cladking]

Of course that $5,000 modern that Billjones disdains so much never went through any intervening points on the way to its current price. Since it never sold at $30, $300, or $3,000 it was impossible to make any money on it. The corrolary is that at $5,000 the only possible outcome is an imminent price collapse and it will then trade at its "historic" and "true" value of 10% over face.

 

And it follows that since the coin is so dramatically overpriced the only way anyone can have fun collecting it is if he enjoys watching his money evaporate in thin air.

 

 

[EZ_E]

Another example is a ms65 red 1909 S VDB sells for c. $5K but a ms 66 example is double that. I would personally rather have two for the price of one especially considering the great subjectivity of grading.

[proofs03-migration]

Anything you want, in any grade seperated by 100 years.