Anyone collect by date only?
Nap
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Try to put together a one per year set and forget the mintmarks?
It’s an old fashioned way to collect and was popular before the 20th century, which is why branch mint rarities of the 19th century abound (nobody cared to collect and preserve them in decent grades). Is that kind of collecting gone and buried?
I always thought it was a neat way to build sets without the expensive key date stoppers.
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I am working on a set of 1936 Silver Commems. Just a type set at first, regardless of mint mark.
I think it's a good idea. I even did it on Morgans back in the 70's.
Like an idiot, I sold the entire run that I had in a Capital plastic holder.
I had ONLY GEMS!
With the exception of the slider 95-o.
I can still see in my mind's eye the 1921 Morgan and STILL can't believe how pristine and amazingly flashy it was.
BUT..... in those days, there wasn't the interest and I walked a show and got NO interest except from one dealer I knew who had a shop in SF.
$1200 for the entire run.
But remember also that these were the days of $3 BU and $5 for P/L on most of the commoner Morgans.
And gems from Carson City still needed to be clean cheeks.
Mint marks are too important to ignore in the U.S. series.
There is romance in the various mintmarks at various times, compared to the staid and proper and hardworking folks (and products) of old Philadelphia.
It was really easy with my birth year...1967. What is not so easy is finding a Cameo Lincoln Cent (within reason), so this one will have to do...for now.
...and then some Dark Siders as well;
BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore, Nickpatton, Namvet69,...
I collect by date only. It saves a ton of money and makes otherwise unaffordable sets affordable, at least for me.
Like expanded type set collecting. Not a bad way to collect. Different strategies keep things interesting.
I've started, stopped, sold, restarted... rinse, repeat... a Morgan Dollar date set numerous times. For that particular series, it's a much more approachable way to collect. If PMs continue their slide, I may do this again...
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
Then you must really hate type collectors who don't care about either the date or the mintmark.
Yes, a few series that I liked but not well enough and with too many stoppers. Limited funds applied to a few full sets and type.
@jmlanzaf I don't hate those "type" folks, although they may not have much imagination.
I'll bet every single one of those "type" folks still checks the Redbook or the sheet when they get a coin.
I tend to ignore what other folks are collecting. It's all about what good collecting opportunities are presented to one's own self that really count.
If someone strongly promotes one kind of coin collecting over another, I remind myself that "coins" is a very big spectrum AND I put my hand over my wallet.
One of those strategies is my high-color date set of Buffalos in Mint State. There's no way I could afford a full set in MS. I also tried a 100% full strike date set. That would be impossible to do with a full date-MM set as many dates don't exist with a true full strike. Even with the abbreviated date set there are a few dates that don't exist-these include 1929, 1930, 1931-S, and 1934.
Sure... early Half eagles, but that was before branch mints were even being considered...
We have a guy in our local coin club that put together, along with his father-in-law, a complete date set of Morgan Dollars he got for $1 each. He was living in Las Vegas in the '60s while stationed at Nellis, and was able to pull them from the dollars used for slots. He still has the set.
Sure, because branch mint buffaloes are just way out of my budget, a date set from 1913-1929 will do me just fine.
I started a date set of Morgan Dollars a couple of times, but lost interest in it. I have toyed with the idea of getting at least one U.S. coin from 1792 to date. I could probably do it without a lot of heavy lifting, but I'd have to draw up the list first. 1815 would probably be the "key year."
I have a one per date set of MS Walkers.
I didn't ignore the keys, though, at least not whenever possible.
I sidestepped the easier coins, in 1916 and 1917, and selected the key 16 S and 17 S obverse coins. This was because I was also building a full set at the time.
Some years, such as 1923, 1927, 1928 and 1933, have only one possible selection available and they are all from San Francisco and they are all rather tough in higher mint state grades.
I had a lot of fun building that set and won some awards with it ATS.
It was easier to build than a full set and gave me much needed confidence, satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. It also gave me inspiration to continue on with my full set.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
I started that with a birth year set... then decided to add the mints as well...just felt like the job was incomplete without them. Cheers, RickO
I'm working on a date set including the mints: 1932.
Me too. Liberty half-eagles that is. I've come to the conclusion that I'm probably not going to have a shot at that 1854-S that's up for grabs, or several other key dates including the proof 1875 for that matter, but a date set looks doable. I'm only missing four years.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
I think liberty half eagles lend themselves to this sort of collecting. You can get one of each year while also having an example of each of the 7 mints too without having to try to get some of the super rare ones (like 54-s, 75-p).
Other series also seem to be good fits for this approach, such as liberty double eagles, most of the seated coins. These are long series peppered with a few extreme rarities.
Yet despite the pluses, this form of collecting is not very popular. It may be more of a sign though that people aren’t really trying to collect sets of these long series of 19th century coins. Type collecting and branch mint specialization may be partly contributing.
What is this "mint mark" thing you're talking about?
Just in case this is a serious question
you bust collector you. Or in case novice collectors are wondering what we are talking about.
Take half eagles for example. For the years 1854 through 1859 each year was minted at five different mints, Philadelphia (no mint mark), Charlotte (C), Decathlon (D), New Orleans (O) and San Francisco (S). A complete set for those years would require 30 coins not counting major varieties while a date set would only require 6 coins.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
Decathalon???
really now?
bob
Collecting by date only was a common practiced up through through the 1950's. Adding the mint marks was a slow process and I doubt there are many "date only" collectors today.
I like to collect first and last year coins, I don’t specifically collect the, but it’s cool to have them
I'm working on a 1999 broadstruck error in ANACS small slab type set.