When thinking About Points, Best To Suspend Logic

[Mokiechan]

As point allocations seem to be completely arbitrary

 

Folks,

Just did a minor upgrade to my primary 20th century type set by substituting a PF69 silver Clad 1976 Quarter for a MS66 of the same type. Here's where it gets confusing for me.

 

VALUE

MS66 1976 Quarter - 22.50

PF69 1976 quarter - 18.75 (NOT A CAMEO OR ULTRA CAMEO)

 

POINT VALUE

MS66 1976 Quarter - 59

PF69 1976 quarter - 237

 

I have managed to upgrade the point total of my set by substituting a non-cameo proof for a MS coin, with higher market value. This just seems wrong to me and I can't help but feel it is almost like cheating. I still maintain that all point values should be based on three factors.

 

a. Rarity

b. Grade

c. Market Value

 

No one factor tells the whole story of a coin, you must have all 3 factors to assign a logical point total for the coin.

 

Rant Over, thank you for your time and patience.

 

Later,

Malcolm

 

See more journals by BeawChan

[greysoldier]

Excellent point of discussion. I certainly have to agree from similar experiences with my foriegn sets. I guess "he who establishes the set decides the points". Perhaps magic is involved.

That is the nice part about having a custom or signature set ~ no points, just the rarest / choicest / most expensive (or not) set you care to design!

 

[CBC]

Want to see really confusing? I justr added a PF69 Cameo 1976 quarter to my Quarter Type set. Score - 237 points - sam eas your PF69 non-cameo. I agree - points seem to be somewhat arbitrary, even more so when you compare one series to another.

[JAA]

When it comes to US/Philippine coins the whole series is underrated point wise. There are also MANY inconsistencies and several high end grade rarities are severely underrated. At least for US/Philippine coins I believe that the point scores may be assigned by a computer program rather than a real person. How else can you explain point values for star and plus grades when US/Philippine coins are not eligible for star or plus designations.

[coinsbygary]

Check this out for points, I own a MS-68 1972-S silver-clad Eisenhower Dollar valued at $90 FMV. This coin is worth 304 points in my Mint State1971-78 Eisenhower Dollar set, 437 points in my 20th Century Type set, and a whopping 4565 points in my Basic US Type Set, with Gold (7070 + Page 5)! The slot in the basic type set is for a clad Eisenhower Dollar and since copper-nickel Eisenhower Dollars are non-existent in MS-68 the points reflect this rarity. Silver-clad Eisenhower Dollars are not rare in MS-68, however, since the slot calls for a clad coin it does not matter which clad you populate it with. Now I know this set intends for the copper-nickel coin but with no slot specifically for the silver-clad coin the temptation was incredibly intense to stuff it with the coin that garners the most points. The thought of a coin at two cents/point was more than I could resist. Sooner or later NGC will catch this at which point I will have to say easy come, easy go. Then I will have a MS-67 1971-D copper-nickel clad Eisenhower Dollar for that slot at a more reasonable 2754 points reflecting the rarity of the grade.

Gary

[Mokiechan]

gary, that is hilarious!!!! I sometimes suspect the reason I really traded my 09-S VDB for my Gettysburg Half was because the 09-S VDB, in XF40 was only worth 3 points.

 

Later,

Malcolm

[coinsbygary]

I know, I run into the same problem with certain Morgan Dollars. I call them "three-point wonders". It irks me to spend $300 on a coin that only gets me three miserable points. Lets see, oh that makes it $100/point as opposed to two-cents/point! I have been planning to write a post on the topic sometime soon, however I will approach the subject with a little different twist.

Gary

[jackson64]

I also find this "3 points for $100" in many of the classic sets. Especially with keys and semi-keys where a G4 or VG10 may cost a few hundred bucks ( many barber half dates) but NGC just gives 3 points to anything under VF or F..........

 

I stopped caring about overall points a few years ago. Not to dig at anyone's collection--just collect what you love, that's what it's about.. I have seen 100,000 point collections that have true market value of $100,000 full of PQ's, toners and classic coins......and I have also seen 100,000 point registry sets that wouldn't get $10,000 on the re-sale market.

 

In fact, most collectors of statehood quarters, prezzie dollars and many modern proofs or high grade modern lincolns, jeffs, Rosies etc...they'll probably lose quite a bit of money if they try and sell.

 

The cold, hard fact of these moderns with high points is that if you add in all of the auction percentages and shipping when you buy a coin worth $20-50..and then add in the sellers fees, paypal, shipping again or even grading costs..you'll lose quite a bit of money chasing after those over-inflated points on the moderns.

 

Again, I'm not saying this out of meanness or disparaging of what someone else likes to collect. I am telling this from the school of hard knocks. Several years ago when I was new to the registry and I had built the #1 ranked Jefferson Proof sets...eventually my interests changed and to free up money for other purchases, I decided to sell the entire set ( with Heritage)..needless to say I did not recoup nearly the money I had spent.