If we can put aside mintage rarity, grade rarity, survival population, and just focus on collector's understanding and acceptability, will you go for Proof or BU coins? I was reading the jibi forum and noticed they don't seems to understand proof coins, at least they are more familiar with BU coins. A respected collector in the forum who is familiar with proof is doing the education work. Good. I read all his articles and I learnt a lot. He submitted a batch of proof from his collection to NGC and mostly came back below PF69, with quite a number of PF66. His conclusion: In China, the way they assess coin condition is by the white spots and sign of oxidation (toning). If the coin is free of white spots and toning, then it is OK to buy the coins regardless of the numerical grading. He suggest people to not chase the high number. NOW, as a sophisticated collector (hahahaha), do you see this an opportunity to buy every nice proof you can find, in the hope when these Chinese collectors realized the quality of proof coins, they will push up the price and you reap the rewards. Just in case you are wondering, I have no agenda in asking. I am not buying, selling or speculating. You can consider I am just a keen watcher. With that in mind, I appreciate your thoughts on this subject. Thanks.
Regarding PF vs BU: I would go for whatever I feel like at that current point in time. I have no preference between PF and MS BU Pandas or any other Chinese coins. An awesome rare coin will be an awesome rare coin regardless of quality (BU/PF-wise). You should understand that collectors aren't one directional beasts, there are collectors for circulated coins . There might be some people that prefer PF or prefer BU and a common situation is seeing a PF coin sell for more than a BU coin but I believe it's influenced by mintage more than the quality. The newer Chinese coins are very high quality, proof-like finishes so buying BU or PF depends on the coin design or mintage for me, if BU and PF same design and same mintage I would go for the cheaper one. The older Chinese coins tend to be still pretty decent. Even the BU old pandas have amazing finishes and strikes that aren't too bad. Regarding grades, my belief: The older generation in China are diehard collectors of OMP and 'trust nobody but themselves' when it comes to grading. As long as they think it is good they will pay top dollar for the coin. They do not think chasing a high number coin which has white spots is good, they would rather chase say a '68 with no obvious flaws'. As for me, I chase both OMP and 69's with the occasional 68. I have seen 67's of coins that I wanted but decided against it due to lack of money. By lack of money I mean that there are more than enough 69 coins out there for me to buy without considering lower grades. Opportunity cost and all that. In fact I am now currently in deep thought as to whether or not to purchase a set of 4 x OMP Proof MCC @ $1000 or buy a set PF69x3 + PF68 at $1350. The arguments for and against a PF68 makes me wonder.
Thanks fishball. Appreciate your reply. I came from a background of collecting only old circulated coins, then into only old UNC coins (MS62-MS65) and MS66 used to be a very high grade for me, MS67 is considered super coin. Also in the old coins, there are very significant difference between business strike and proof. It is interesting when come to modern Chinese coins, the difference is insignificance. My heart is still with old coins. I will keep reading and watching the development of the modern coinage.
Proof I would go for the proof over the BU! But that's cos I like the quality of the Proofs over the quality of the BU's (though recently the quality of BU's are also fantastic). [imgz=http://forums.silverstackers.com/uploads/675_1989buf.jpg][/imgz][imgz=http://forums.silverstackers.com/uploads/675_1989pf.jpeg][/imgz][imgz=http://forums.silverstackers.com/uploads/675_img_3129.jpeg][/imgz][imgz=http://forums.silverstackers.com/uploads/675_img_3132.jpeg][/imgz] Plus Proofs use to come in a pretty box
In terms of collecting, proofs are just better looking. Hands down. For investment, the Chinese buyers are very unsophisticated at this point in time. This is normal for a group where collecting is a fairly new thing. As the Chinese market matures, they will begin to see the benefits of conservation, grading, and higher grades - just like every other art/stamp/antique buying group has over the years.
