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Ok, not talking collecting numies here. Just when I see deals come up, I have a grading system that takes into consideration
how much I enjoy a certain type of 90%. Here's my order of preference for "stacking."

Walker halves... barely beating out
Mercury dimes
Franklin halves
Rosie dimes*
Washington quarters*
Kennedy halves*

Not going to mention silver dollars (too expensive of a premium to stack) or Barbers (too worn to stack, along with... alas, Standing Liberty quarters )

Anyone have a different order?

* boring unless BU

Mercs
Mercs
Mercs
Mercs
Mercs
Rosies (someone slipped into my Mercs)

Walkers at #1 and Franklins at #2 for me over the past several months but it hasn't always been that way. Washington quarters used to be high up there on the list but I was buying so many of those and needed to diversify the stack.

Barber
Walker
Franklin
Kennedy

Mercs
Walker Halves
Franklin halves
Kennedy halves
Roosevelt dimes
WA quarters

When I can find decent barbers or dollars at same 90% premium, those jump to the top of the list

Pre 21 Morgans--haven't been able to get them at a decent premium for many years now!
21 Morgans--ditto
Peace--ditto
Walkers
Franklins
Kennedy Halves
Mercs
Roosies
WA quarters

I look for full weight then age then familiarity then size.

This ends up looking like this:

Franklin halfs
Kennedy halfs
Washington quarters
Roosevelt dimes
Silver nickels (yes, not 90% but still a priority)

Then whatever's available.

I have noticed there is a scarcity developing.

I go straight for the dimes. Obviously mercs are funner but roosies are usually fuller so either is fine.

Mercs
Franklin halves
Walkers

And my new fave, circulated Peace Dollars.

Stack it fellas.

coppernickel wrote:I look for full weight then age then familiarity then size.

This ends up looking like this:

Franklin halfs
Kennedy halfs
Washington quarters
Roosevelt dimes
Silver nickels (yes, not 90% but still a priority)

Then whatever's available.

I have noticed there is a scarcity developing.

Full weight is definitely a consideration. Might as well get what you are purportedly paying for, ounce wise. There's a lot of underweight stuff floating around out there... I'm finding as
much as fifteen percent heavily worn/dates barely discernable "slicks" in Merc lots, and ten percent in Walker lots. I will generally weed those out in put them into what used to be my
"sell to APMEX on the next silver spot spike" pile (Provident now pays better ).

For now, online buyers will purchase by face value regardless of the total weight of the coins, but that is bound to change in the future as spot leaps by multiples. Expect to sell by gram
wt when silver goes north of $100 an ounce. The Merc lots advertised on APMEX (and elsewhere) as .715 are closer to .700 (if they don't contain a lot of thins) and Walkers are worse.
Barbers and Standing Lib lots are MUCH lighter than 715 standard. If you wanted full wt (.715) rolls of Mercs you'd have to pay a hefty premium. Those coins are considered XF or better,
and sell for twice what "avg circ" dimes do.

As time passes, what constitutes junk lot bags will continue to deteriorate in quality and weight.

Started to post this hours ago but got side-tracked. Your favorite order is essentially mine, but my most numerous order (what I actually have, by quantity) is nearly reversed, to:

Kennedy halves*
Rosie dimes*
Washington quarters*
Franklin halves
Walker halves... barely beating out
Mercury dimes

beauanderos wrote:Ok, not talking collecting numies here. Just when I see deals come up, I have a grading system that takes into consideration
how much I enjoy a certain type of 90%. Here's my order of preference for "stacking."

Walker halves... barely beating out
Mercury dimes
Franklin halves
Rosie dimes*
Washington quarters*
Kennedy halves*

Not going to mention silver dollars (too expensive of a premium to stack) or Barbers (too worn to stack, along with... alas, Standing Liberty quarters )

Anyone have a different order?

* boring unless BU

Franklins
Mercs
Walkers

Will however toss in a few Peace dollars from time to time to make the pile more appealing to the eye!

For me it is...

1. '64 Kennedy's, full weight and less likely to be faked. 429.5 million minted.

2. Mercury and Roosevelt dimes, both have their upsides with age vs. full weight. A fat sack of silver dimes is a great feeling. 14 of them for a toz.

3. Morgan Dollars, premiums ugh!, but they are my favorite US coin. Pre-'21 is better. Many Morgans have a "beautiful" look to them. Not MS67++ bs, but a "I'm an old coin with so much history that I demand respect!" look to them. They feel heavy in your hand, real money!

I rescued this old gal from a garage sale last year for $20. 100 years older than me and she still looks good!


4. Peace Dollars, heavy coins, but BORING!!! Always a weak strike and a terrible follow-up to the Morgan. They stack well though.

5. Franklin's and Walking Liberty's, nice, old looking coins. You know they are old, without looking at the dates.

Way down the list...
Barber Dimes, Quarters, and Halves, I hate you! Any that I've ever had are thin and worn out!
Standing Liberty Quarters, you are the too thin and politically correct for me. I WILL buy the 2016 gold quarter though.
Washington Quarters, how I loathe thee. If I could rub two of you together and get a worn Franklin, I would. I'd almost trade you for two dimes if I had the chance. No love for you!

One reason that I buy PM's in the form of coins is the history behind them. If I had several million dollars, I would by all the 1936-1939 5 Reichsmarks that I could. No love for Hitler here, but his rise to power in a western country will be still be discussed for 200 years. From a prisoner for treason to fuher in 9 years to a nation is ruin in 12 years, is scary.
All my Roosevelt dimes are from the post-war boom of the late '40's to the early '60's.
All my '64 Kennedy's are a reminder of November '63 in Dallas, Texas.

My silver is real money and history that you can hold in your hands.

Shoutout to post-'92 90% dimes, quarters, and halves! Nothing but love for you. Modern 90% dollars, toss off!

I forgot about the proof silver states series quarters. If they can be had for a small premium, they rank high on my list

Yep, Austin... the historical aspect makes all the difference when comparing stacking 90% vs generic modern .999 rounds.

beauanderos wrote:I forgot about the proof silver quarters. If they can be had for a small premium, they rank high on my list

Yep, Austin... the historical aspect makes all the difference when comparing stacking 90% vs generic modern .999 rounds.

I'm glad someone took the time to read my post. I spent too much time putting that together.

The historical aspect of 90% outweighs any modern .999 design in my mind. I cannot wait to teach the next generation of my family about why we should own PM's.
Heck, my 2 year old godson had 20 toz. of ASE's the day he was born.
Old guys collecting coins is fine, but younger folks that are interested in it keep coins and their history alive.

Nobody listed Washington quarters as their favorite and it appears most people don't even have them near the top. I think part of the reasoning is that the series has been in existence since 1932 and people like variety instead of looking at the same old thing all the time.

Recyclersteve wrote:Nobody listed Washington quarters as their favorite and it appears most people don't even have them near the top. I think part of the reasoning is that the series has been in existence since 1932 and people like variety instead of looking at the same old thing all the time.

Also, many of them are worn out. Quarters are very popular in vending machines. They are picked over and worn out.

I'm partial to Franklins. That said, I have less than $10 face of 90% in my stack, and it's mostly from Super Bowl contests here

Here's my order of preference for 90% "stacking." However, my fondness is for very historical SILVER from abroad from centuries ago. In addition, some modern 90% or Sterling foreign BU or proof is exceptionally nice to stack in limited quantities.

Franklins - unique and different, almost always full weight. Can't go wrong here - and they are a different design from the Kennedy's.
Walkers - unique and different too, but better stacked from 1934-1947. Earlier ones are usually worn down, but have some numi value if decent. Note that wear on halves is far less than dimes and quarters.
Kennedy '64s - always full weight or better, but the design is the same as the clads.

I'm not too fussy on any of these halves; and they sell at better premium too! Once vending machines started to appear in the '50s, halves really stopped circulating because the machines generally only took quarters and dimes.

Roosie dimes -nearly full weight, your best value on dimes
Mercury dimes - good premium, but too many slicks abound. Most higher grades have been pulled out of lots as of today. When buying these by weight at some time in the future, these will be great.
Commemorative SILVER dollars - OK to stack if bought near spot, as a long term hold for future much higher SILVER prices. But, hard to sell and little demand for these right now.
SILVER dollars - nice stuff lightly circulated (non-cull, non-slickish), but very high premiums to stack in quantity. But, good resale value here.
Washington quarters - generally too many worn '40s in the mix these days. However, the states quarters have some merit if obtained at low premium!
SLQs - too much wear for me. The good ones are bought as numi's these days. When was the last time you got a full weight roll of SLQs?
Barbers - OK to collect and put in folders. Unless bought by weight, not too valuable to stack.

Nice post, Country. Lots of grist for the mill. Good point about the vending machines, although not too many of us remember the 50's
as well as you might.

Man... I would love to have a time machine and go back to 1964. But I'll bet that even then you couldn't get full wt rolls of Standing Liberties without
paying a fortune. Now you'd likely pay in excess of $1200 for one (XF 40 examples go for $31).

But, boy howdy... you coulda backed the truck up on Morgan's... if only we had known And BU Franklin rolls

according to the inflation calculator I was just playing on http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ you could have bought a full wt roll of Standing Liberties in 1964 for

drum beat...

wait for it....

$160! $4 apiece back then. But $4 was a lot of money for a thirteen year old kid with only a 25 cent a week allowance, and a propensity
for buying ten cent comic books and penny candy.

beauanderos wrote:
Man... I would love to have a time machine and go back to 1964. But I'll bet that even then you couldn't get full wt rolls of Standing Liberties without
paying a fortune. Now you'd likely pay in excess of $1200 for one (XF 40 examples go for $31).

:

Even if you could go back to 1964, there would be two problems. First, there was a coin shortage for several years back then, so you wouldn't have found as much as you might think. Secondly, you probably didn't have quite as much money 52 years ago as you do now. So how much could you have spent- even if you bought back then at face value?

Some litigious sort (Lemon Thrower, where are you) should step up and buy a roll from APMEX, which they state weigh "approx" 7.15 oz per $10
face value. I've weighed a lot of Standing Libs through the years. A full wt roll would need to be in excess of 6.17 grams to hit 715, whereas the avg
dated SLB will run from 5.8 to 6.03. Quite a discrepancy. The dateless ones run from 5.4 to 5.9, with the mean about 5.71. Barber coins are even
lighter.

I'm surprised the online dealers still intimate that you'll get 715 on any roll that predominantly contains coins from prior to 1940.

Back when I was blogging I wrote this:

http://coppermillions.blogspot.com/2009/12/worse-for-wear.html

Finding silver in change must not have been to hard through the 80s. I had a stack of mercs collected from change and it wasnt like I had a lot of money as a kid.

Another 90% coin I try to stack, when available, are the pre-54 commemorative halves. Columbians, BTW's and Washington-Carvers when I can find them at junk prices. It doesn't happen often, but it's another cool way to diversify the stack!