Have your collecting goals changed through the years?

AlanSki

I started with toned Morgan’s and sold 90% off when the color craze peaked. After that I moved to BN Lincoln wheats/memorials.

After much thought I’ve decided to focus on toned small ANACS. I’d like to have at least 1 coin of each denomination with the best color my wallet can afford.

david3142

I don’t think the toned Morgan (or any denomination) craze has peaked. I have expanded my collection to include more series in all slabbed MS (as opposed to circ/MS in albums) and I can afford nicer coins than before, but I largely collect the same types of coins as I did 20 years ago.

AlanSki

@david3142 said:
I don’t think the toned Morgan (or any denomination) craze has peaked. I have expanded my collection to include more series in all slabbed MS (as opposed to circ/MS in albums) and I can afford nicer coins than before, but I largely collect the same types of coins as I did 20 years ago.

I sold this for $2500 on Instagram without fees. It passed hands a few times since I sold it and recently sold at auction (I believe GC) for around what I sold it for. The seller, I assume with fees, lost $$. This is what I mean by peaked.

MWallace

Maybe a different type of goal than you mean, but my basic goal, no matter what my current interest is, is to get the nicest coin I can afford. That has never changed.

Edited to add that when the time comes to sell, quality will always sell.

coinbuf

I was hyper focused on my 09-58 Lincoln set for close to 20 years, once that goal was achieved I was unsure where to go next. Since then I have dabbled with a few smaller type sets and picked up the odd coin here and there that I like. So while I still look at Lincolns almost every week in auctions or dealer sites, yes my goals have changed over time.

124Spider

Indeed, my goals have changed!

I started about 60 years ago, as an impecunious child, collecting Lincoln cents. Over the next few years, I branched out to everything then still in circulation (buffalo and Jefferson nickels; Mercury and Roosevelt dimes; SLQ and WQ; and WLHD on the rare occasion I could afford to park $0.50), all in Whitman folders.

Late in high school, life overtook things like stamp and coin collecting, and I put the collections away for decades. When I hauled them out, interested again (and with critical resources of time, energy, attention and funds available), I got serious (and added Morgan and peace dollars).

Now, I've completed all sets (except I still don't have a 1916 SLQ), and I'm losing interest in upgrading. I started a "box of 20" last year (random coins that interest me, like a nice Pine Tree Shilling), and I suspect that that's where I'll be heading more exclusively when/if I get a 1916 SLQ that I like.

bidask

Gave up US coinage fall 2016.
Had graduated to collecting proof US gold but found it US high in quality somewhat crowded and sticker crazy .

Classic world coinage I had been collecting since the early 1990’s

After giving up US coinage and with the sale of my US collection in one shot I dove in head first into foreign coinage

Mainly crowns and more specifically
cap & rays 8 reales 🤓

Kliao

I went from anything that seemed remotely interesting to me and accumulated a bunch of stuff. This went from when I first got interested in coins till a few years ago.

Now, I'm very picky with coins that I buy for my collection and am focused on 19th century type coinage.

hfjacinto

I believe every one changes their collection goals and strategies over time. Sadly I’ve been doing the same thing for several decades. But even I changed what I purchase , the biggest change has been higher grade. I didn’t and still don’t mind circulated coins but when some are available in higher grade I have been known to upgrade.

But looking at what I collected since I was 7, I didn’t branch out too much. Well I did buy slabbed coins, that was a change as from 7 to 48 years old I only had raw coins. Buying my first slabbed coin about 6 years ago. Still have it.

BryceM

I've moved from having collecting goals to simply having the goal of having fun. I'm currently enjoying selling the bulk of my collection, and yes, that can be plenty fun too.

Rollerman

Wow! I've been at this a long time and my collecting interests has changed many times in 60+ years. If I remember the sequence right it was: Circ Lincoln set,circ set of IHC's, Mercury dime set, then picking up nice Morgans that I could afford (married with two kids and a morgage), Type sets, first a 20th century and then on to a Dansco 7070, circ sets of Walkers, circ set of Buffalo nickles, a raw MS short set of Walkers, and a PCGS MS short set of Walkers, followed by a set of ASE's, a raw year set of Morgans (all but the 92, 93, 94 and 95 MS, then a mostly PCGS year set of Morgans just like the described raw set, back to a 2nd 7070 Type set along with a year set of CBH's, and a complete set of 2 cent pieces. Of course there has been updating all along and I have sold a good portion of this material since no one in my family has any interest and I had lost some interest in parts of the collection. Oh, a high grade (mostly AU's and XF year set of standing liberty quarters and a few Redfield Morgans (see below).

Rollerman

may

Look at my name.

may

I used to be into lincoln’s for a very short time, then I was into Morgans, and now I’m putting together a 7070. I’m a seated collector at heart, though.

Raybo

Have your collecting goals changed through the years?

Yes!

Dropdaflag

@Ownerofawheatiehorde said:
Look at my name.

@coinbuf said:
I was hyper focused on my 09-58 Lincoln set for close to 20 years, once that goal was achieved I was unsure where to go next. Since then I have dabbled with a few smaller type sets and picked up the odd coin here and there that I like. So while I still look at Lincolns almost every week in auctions or dealer sites, yes my goals have changed over time.

Everything I had to say, has already been said.

WCC

Almost exclusively collect Bolivia and Peru pillar coinage since 2010. Also have two side collections, Lion & Castle quarter real and Bolivia Republic decimal coinage, but almost never buy anything for either.

Used to primarily collect South Africa Union coinage after resuming collecting in 1998. Sold most of it during the bubble years. Still also have coins from side collections that I would mostly like to sell but have not.

Not much interest in anything else. Don't have budget for it but even if I did, I'm not interested in having much more of my assets in coins. Maybe if I can afford it in retirement when I don't have to work for the money.

Walkerfan

Spent 12 years building my Walker set. Finished at the very end of 2021. Was exclusively focused on it for all that time. Have no current plans to upgrade or sell it, as I worked too long and hard on it to just deal it away. Now that it’s complete; I am working on other sets like Morgans and SLQs.

david3142

@AlanSki said:

@david3142 said:
I don’t think the toned Morgan (or any denomination) craze has peaked. I have expanded my collection to include more series in all slabbed MS (as opposed to circ/MS in albums) and I can afford nicer coins than before, but I largely collect the same types of coins as I did 20 years ago.

I sold this for $2500 on Instagram without fees. It passed hands a few times since I sold it and recently sold at auction (I believe GC) for around what I sold it for. The seller, I assume with fees, lost $$. This is what I mean by peaked.

Yes, I think you did very well with that one. Looking back, I didn’t answer your original question very well so here’s a (much more detailed!) history:

I started collecting Lincolns in albums from circulation 33 years ago and soon added Jeffersons. I finished the Jeff set in a couple of years after purchasing the 15 or so coins I couldn’t find and eventually finished the Lincoln set about 20 years ago. Before graduating college I started working on albums for Roosevelt dimes, Buffalo Nickels, and a 7070. After graduating I started collecting more seriously, attending shows and spending a few $K per year on coins. As I got close to finishing those albums, I started my Morgan collection (first in albums but later in slabs). Around this time I also started to collect toned coins, mostly Morgans although I picked up a Lincoln here or cheap Roosevelt or Franklin there. Eventually I had a few of them and decided it would be fun to try a complete 20th century set, all rainbow toned.

About 8 years ago I started to really appreciate toned Lincolns from the few I had acquired as part of my type set. I didn’t want to commit to a full date/MM set (because many of them don’t come nicely toned and because the date set has no real stoppers or super-expensive coins).

Along the way I also thought it would be cool to build complete modern toned sets - something I wouldn’t have thought was even possible a few years earlier. I now have a complete toned set of Ikes and I’m 1 away from a complete toned SBA set. I am pretty close to completing my toned type set, my Morgan set was complete (although now one coin short), and my Lincolns are almost done. I upgrade all of these whenever I can but I wanted a new challenge so I started a toned Buffalo date set. Again, for the same reason as the Lincolns. I want every coin to be a wow coin and that simply isn’t possible for all dates/MMs.

I still upgrade my Dansco albums from 20+ years ago so I have a lot of continuity across time. However, my collection has broadened substantially to expand from a representative type or two, to a date set or even a complete set. Also, as mentioned in my first post I have gotten more selective and at this point I try to buy coins that will never need upgrading (not from a grade standpoint but in terms of eye appeal). As an example, my 79-S Morgan is only a 64DPL but it’s one of the most black and white cameos I’ve ever seen for any date.

mirabela

Yes, definitely -- Whitman folders -> 7070 -> selloff -> unc Jeffersons -> 7070 again in lower grades -> gold type; classic commems now and then throughout.

oldabeintx

From series (completed and sold) to strictly type. More focused generally on coins with historic interest. Working on Coin Act sets currently. 1965 and 1873 are cool years, for example.

Farmer1961

As a kid in the 60's I focused on wheat cents and found quite a few out of rolls at the bank. As I git older I focused on key date or rare dates from seated liberty coins to gold cois and cherry picking varieties like 42/1 mercury dimes, Buffalo nickel varities etc.

Manifest_Destiny

Yes

LanLord

Significantly changed since I started collecting.
I started in the late 60s at which time I was gifted a Dansco 7070. As I began filling holes I took interest in many of the type coins in the type set and began filling other dansco albums.
When my father passed away, he left me a number of PCGS graded coins.
There was a nearly complete set of classic commems as well as many nice type coins.
That is when I eventually found this place and turned to a whole different interest. A certified type set since dansco really hosed their customer base by missing years of dates in some modern albums.

A major life change put out the fire of my collecting interest, I simply didn't look at coins for 3 years (give or take a few weeks). When I emerged on the other side, I had an interest in the certified type set, but not in all the albums I'd been collecting. With the help of John at Silicon Valley Coins, I have been getting rid of the coins of little or no interest to me and adding to the certified type set.

The "Keeper" collection is now under 150 really nice coins as opposed to an accumulation of thousands of ok/nice coins.

I probably have some form of attention deficit disorder, but I just can't see how anyone can collect the exact same thing at 65+ years of age that they started at 10 years of age! But it took decades and the loss of a spouse to finally rip that bandaid off!

Sapyx

I started collecting as an eight year old kid with an interest in world coins. One from every country! This core interest has not changed, over 40 years later. It can "stay the same" because "country" has a very broad, flexible definition; if you choose to include all the ancient Greek city-states, all the German states, all the Islamic dynasties and all the Indian states, there are tens of thousands of "countries" to try to find and collect. And so I have chosen.

What has changed for me are areas of interest on the fringes. And this is primarily due to my joining a coin club. The folks at the coin club collected all sorts of oddities and exonumia, along with coins - and these, particularly those talked about at club meetings or written about in the club magazine, are now must-have items for me too. There's no way that eight-year-old-me would have been interested in buying any Duchy of Avram pseudo-coins - they're "not real coins", from a "fake country". But someone wrote an article about them in the club magazine, so I wanted an example, and eventually bought a set when I found one for sale. Cheap, too.

NeophyteNumismatist

I am not quite into my 4th year of collecting (Started 2020), but still my collecting strategies have changed a LOT. This is mostly due to education. I started as a pocket change collector and I had rolls of worthless stuff like Bicentennial Quarters and 2017-P cents (think I still have the 2017 P cents somewhere). Then, I learned about the W Quarters and successfully CRH for them for months. I really didn't know anything about coins, except what a few people told me. Then the coin shortage hit, and I was sidelined.

After a few weeks of not being able to get get coins from the bank, I decided to go to a coin shop (thinking they would sell me boxes of circulated coins). Of course the coin shop was not what I thought it would be. I was amazed at the old coins in the shop and horrified at the prices. Still, the owners son talked to me for a while, and he suggested a type set (and taught me what that was). Every week, I would study a type and go to the shop and buy a coin. I found I liked the study as much as the coin, but when I had them both I am hooked.

After about a year I put a decent dent in the type set, and loved the copper coins. I especially loved large cents. I saved for a nice Classic Head (AU50) and Draped Bust (MS60) Large Cent, and knew that collecting those coins as a series (in those grades) was beyond my budget. I found that I could get very similar designs in high grade Half Cents at a deep discount over their LC counterpart. So, I did some math and decided that I would go after a modified date set of Half Cents. This set would consist of all business strike dates (with the exception of 1796). Eventually, I also added some varieties and die states - I just got into it (and still am).

Today, I have 4 coins left in my Half Cent set. All of them are challenging and expensive. I am dedicated to finishing this set, but am starting to look for something new. This has brought upon new study and some starts/stops, as I choose a direction. Frankly, I do not know what I will do next. I do know that I learn toward shorter sets (large sets intimidate me), and I like classic coins. I plan on continuing to explore and learn until I find my next numismatic adventure. Stay tuned !