I would ask you what you mean by a desirable set? do you like it? do you
care what another collector thinks? did you buy it for investment or your
own enjoyment? there are a number of things to consider when buying
buffalos, I'm sure everyone has heard the term "weak strike" this is oh so
true with the buffs....... the dies were swapped around so much you can have
a coin with an exf obverse and a vg reverse, because the dies were over used
and the money just wasn't there to make new ones each year. some dies were
"soft" and wore out quickly and not replaced while others were damaged and
tooled to keep them in use. all these factors go into the price of a coin
when buying . you can have a coin that is ms64 that is sharp and another one
that is mushy or weak but both graded ms 64 the difference being the sale
price. i have been collecting buffs for about 40 years now and i keep
trying to upgrade my set all the time as i can afford it. most all of mine
are now in ex fine to ms 66 with only 3 in veryfine including the overdate.
to me it is enjoyment and also investment. i have no retirement so when i am
old and starving they will go up for auction. (one at a time) I accumulated
them one at a time picking each one out for its quality and price. you
bought yours in a one shot deal. i am very proud of my set although i did
make a few mistakes along the way. at a very early stage in the collecting
i was told to get the keys first as they will go up in price much faster.
at first i was getting the easy common ones first. big mistake. they don't
go anywhere in price so i made the change and got the keys, I'm glad i did.
i have all of them in exf now. What i am seeing is the few common coins in
the thirties have gone from being a $3 nickel to a $40 nickel in ms
condition. If you are happy with your set than let it go at that, if i
were to start over again, i would buy a set i can afford and upgrade each
one as i could. i hope this answers your question.

btw,
when grading buffs i go by the old school method of veryfine is a FULL horn,
extra fine is a full rounded horn. 99.999% of the coins you see graded today
on ebay are over graded by 2 to 3 grades!! it is obscene. and some of them
are slabbed that way by the get rich quick new grading companies out there
which are set up in someone's basement. Because of the fact that some of the
buffs are "weak strike" you will have a very hard time finding full horns
(including the tip) on some like the 25 D and the 26 D, if you find a full
horn on them, it will be very expensive.

sr



wrote in message
ups.com...
I bought a set of 65 circulated Buffalo Nickels, all have dates which
all four digits are readable, no acid coins. No rare oddities, but a
rather nice set. At first I was dissapointed, but after looking
around I guess a nicer set would be very, very expensive, especially
for the more rare ones in XF or better. My coins range from mostly
VG8-10 to a handfull of F12-XF45. At least a portion of horn can be
seen on all. I guess I'm wondering if this is a desirable set for
Buffalo collectors, or are my expectations too high?

Jim