I have a couple of strikes in my collection that I picked up at a casino cage that were out of their cases. Some of them have beautiful toning on them that makes the entire strike look like a proof of a brass, gold or bronze color. In my collection amongst all the white coins they really stand out and display extremely interestingly.

When I went to the cage to ask for them, the person at the cage was almost always reluctant to bring them out because they were imperfect and they assumed I would not want them. They are usually shocked when I buy them. I personally enjoy them immensely even with a few scratches underneath the beautiful toning. My point is: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and with so many different varieties of strikes coming out all the time and all of them available in a perfect Mint State some of my flawed coins have more character and are far more interesting.

I have to wonder if someone who has 500-1500 or even 4000 perfect Mint State 65-70 coins in their collection goes to pick up that one older coin they have been desperately looking for, and the only one they can find is flawed (a Mint State 60-62) will it matter as much as it does with a smaller coin collection of 50-100 coins such as in a run of U.S. Coinage? Just the way I see it.

Enjoy your collecting and your collections and forget about how the other guy does it!

Best Regards,
Avram