What's your grade?

[coppercoins]

Just wondering, if a person had a budget of, say, $150 a month to spend on an Indian Head set (by date and mintmark only), what grade would you suggest they collect so the whole set would have a nice match to it?

[Art]

There's no easy answer to this one. I struggled with this question last year when I decided to get into collecting again.

Personal preferences and patience play a large part in the decision. 150 a month is a pretty healthy budget for an Indian Cent collection. BU coins can be had for less than that amount but the 1860's and 1870's are rather expensive and difficult to find.

If you are the type of person who wants to make multiple buys quickly, I'd suggest you try a matched set in VG8. It's not all that easy and some of the coins are quite pricey. Of course the keys, will still require months of savings. 73 Dbl Liberty ($200-300); 77 ($600-900); 09-S ($300-400). The rest of the series can be acquired pretty easily and a low/moderate costs, many in the $3-5 range. Caution: lots of poor grading going on and some coins much harder to find than indicated by price.

Fine moves the prices and find difficulty up a bit, but not too much. In F you really have to watch the grading - lots of VG cents get labelled F.

I personally chose XF for prices I can afford in that grade and VF for the more expensive coins. Most of the late 60's and early 70's coins would require multiple months of savings on that budget. They typically run in the 200-350 range (1869 - 1872 in particular). They're also difficult to find. A lot of Indians are damaged and exhibit porousity.

Well, that's my 2-cents.

OK so it's not quite my whole 2-cents worth. Before I stated heavily into collecting Indians, I'd buy a few books. Q. David Bowers has an excellent book for Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cent Collectors. Probably available on Amazon. I also like Rick Snow's attribution guides. And of course a few grading guides. Use the grading as input -- you have to decide what's acceptable for you.

[Art]

Cybercoins currently has the Bowers book, "A Buyer's and Enthusiasts's Guide to Flying Eagle and Indian Cents".
I'll attempt to include a link directly to the book page. Their site is a little hard for finding books. They're in supplies.


[url]http://store.cybercoins.net/ [/url]

OK I couldn't get the direct link to work. This link should take you to their website.

Hope this helps.

Art

[fivecents]

Hi, I am new to these boards. I love Indians and Lincoln cents.
With a budget of $150 per month I would collect Xf- AU Indians with nice original color.

[GarryN]

hi Toothpuller, are you in Chicago, so am I, I get to Harlan Berks once on a while. Ive bought some nice Morgan Dollars there and a few Lincolns