No Simple Matter
By now you can see that being a collector is no simple matter! Suppose that money were no object, and you could buy whatever you wanted. If you aspired to build a complete set of Morgan silver dollars in MS-65 grade, this would take planning in order to figure out which varieties you wanted to include, then it would take persistence in order to track down rarities. If you gave me a blank check it might take me months or even years to find superb MS-65 examples of such issues as 1892-S, 1893-S, 1895-O, 1896-O, and other varieties which are seldom seen in higher grade levels.
Being an accumulator poses no such problems. Tell me or any other dealer that you want to buy $100,000 worth of MS-65 dollars and that you don't care if you have any scarce varieties, and on your doorstep the next day can be a trunkful of 1881-S, 1884-O, 1885-O and other common issues. Actually, if you gave me such a purchase order, I would try to talk you out of the idea - and suggest that you start building a collection and buy rare dollars along with the common ones. But the point is that there is no lack of coins to buy if you are not particular about whether you acquire pieces which are scarce or rare, and are satisfied with common issues.
Common Coins: Advantages and Disadvantages
ADVANTAGES: Common coins offer these advantages:
- They are easy to buy, for there are plenty of them around.
- They are often available in high grades such as MS-65.
- You can spend your money quickly, for countless dealers and investment advisors would be delighted to move these coins from their bank vaults to yours.
DISADVANTAGE: Common coins offer this disadvantage:
- No one will get excited when the time comes for you to sell. Yawn.
PCGS Coin Guide Table Of Contents
