Your buying criteria

[Nordle11 564]

Leading on from another topic, I'm interested to know what you prioritise when buying a coin. For instance my criteria, in order, would be;

1. Eye appeal (although this might encompass some of the below)

2. Lustre

3. Grade

4. Rarity

5. Crispness of the strike

6. Price

Feel free to add any criteria that I haven't as this is surely geared toward collecting pennies. I'm sure you silver collectors and hammered collectors have very different lists!

[azda 973]

In order

5

3

6

4

1

Number 4 can mean 2 things, rare as in not many struck etc, or an exceptional high grade for a hammered coin.

Edited September 1, 2015 by azda

[Nordle11 564]

I was going for the former, being a penny guy I work from Freeman's scale of rarity usually. I guess number 3 would pick up the latter however.

[hazelman 44]

1.For me Eye appeal comes first.

2. I am not overly concerned with the amount of lustre but rather Tone & Strike - 2nd

3 - would be grade

4. Rarity

And price would be determined by a combination of the above

[TomGoodheart 373]

I find what's important to me in a coin can vary quite a bit, depending on my mood at the time .... and how long it is since I last bought a coin!

I tend to cite eye appeal as most important but thinking about it, 'balance' is also very important for me as a collector of hammered coins.

What do I mean by balance? Well, is the coin centrally struck (points will be lost for being off-centre)? Is the strike even (better if there aren't weak patches, though I'm usually more forgiving of weak legends or reverse if the portrait is well struck up)? Is the flan full (you can often get full weight coins on small flans. Personally my ideal is to have all the design from the edge beading inwards, in which case I'm not bothered if the weight is light).

Hammered coins are very rarely perfect, so it's usually a compromise between the above factors. If the coin is weak in some respect then there needs to be something about it to compensate .. that's the balance.

Lustre? Meh, I tend to prefer pleasing toning. While a crisp strike is good I find that sometimes a more worn coin will appeal a lot more if the toning brings out the detail. Grade? I don't really give my coins a grade or pay much attention to how a seller grades a potential purchase. Grade for me is part of the eye appeal thing I guess.

After eye appeal, balance and toning then things like rarity and provenance come into play. But I probably would not (now) buy a coin only because it was rare or had been owned by a particular collector. It would need to be attractive first.

.

.

[copper123 1,352]

Remember to a penny collector crispness of strike is always important but not so to say a farthing collector whos coin collection is not really upset by infrior strikes like a penny collectors is

[Nordle11 564]

Haha of course, although there's more important things to me hence it being 5th on my list..

[DaveG38 385]

And remember that if what you are about to buy is the last coin to fill that gap in your date run, and you've never seen one before, then everything except rarity becomes insignificant.

[Nutsaboutcoins 105]

I buy to the eye, so look and price / value for money are my main criteria.

Unfortunately I have better taste than I can afford

[Nordle11 564]

I buy to the eye, so look and price / value for money are my main criteria.

Unfortunately I have better taste than I can afford

Haha, hear, hear to that!

[Rob 2,996]

With the exception of a handful of people, we all suffer the same dilemma

[Paulus 1,942]

'Twas ever thus

Edited September 5, 2015 by Paulus

[Mr T 169]

Probably depends on the coin, but grade and strike more than anything (well-struck VF minimum, unless it's something really rare).

Being a completionist, rarity is irrelevant but if it's a coin I'm unlikely to see for sale again soon then I'd prioritise if over another purchase.

Lustre and eye appeal are of little to no consequence - as long as the coin is of reasonable grade and generally problem-free.

[scott 129]

rare and cheap

not done me badly so far

[Nordle11 564]

rare and cheap

not done me badly so far

:D

[Rob 2,996]

Criteria depend on which hat I'm wearing.

For the collection, firstly does it tick a box? Second depends on the eye appeal and if a well documented series, does the example in question feature high on the list in terms of quality in comparison to other available pieces? Or if not previously known to me, is it comparable? I like to make purchases with a view to never requiring an upgrade.

For the business there is only one criteria - do I think I can make money on it?