Cull coins 0

[B.L.21]

Hi, sorry for all the questions...but are “cull” cons worth buying? Reason I’m asking is I’m enjoying coins the more I’m understanding. Cull coin just means damaged right? Would it be worth the lowest grade per the red book? Or would they just be worth the silver (shield nickels).

 

[JKK]

Don't be sorry for asking questions. It's when someone posts a coin (only one side of course) without a question, expecting a psychic divination of their needs, that they should be sorry.

Shield nickels aren't silver. There is a 3c silver, little teeny thin things, that is silver and has a shield of sorts. Half dimes are silver, but no shields.

Everything is a question of what condition means to you. There's a collector in our club, rather a prominent one, who says: "Anything below MS-65 and it's dead to me. Why would you ever want a flawed coin?" Maybe he has the kind of money to complete a Mercury dime collection at MS-65. If he does and did, he hocked up five figures for the 1916-D, dead sure. Not everyone has that level of funding. I helped a friend finish his Mercs by picking him out an AG-3 16-D that cost in the mid-three figures. He wasn't rich either. I would rather fill a spot with a cull, hoping to replace it later, than leave a hole in a set--especially since a rare cull will usually have some value when one sells it at a future point.

As for value, depends why it's a cull. Usually that status describes a badly damaged coin: holed, barely identifiable, gouged, or otherwise seriously *spoon*ed up. Depends how bad. But if it's a rare issue, and certainly authentic, there is nearly always some sort of premium.

[szugelder]

I'll take a stab at it. I'm going to assume what you're calling cull coins most everyone else calls junk silver, coins with little or no collector value, dates worn completely off, little to no detail left on either side. Those are worth buying strictly for their silver content or melt value. The wife and I have been to a couple of coin shows this year and there are dealers selling them by the baggie full.