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A new member, a Washington quarter collector.
WashqrtrsRme
Posts: 137
Good afternoon. My name is Tom Schiera, and I am new to this forum (as an author). I often read the threads and always find them to be interesting, but just as of today became a member. I would like to share a little about my collecting interests with you.
I am primarily a Washington quarter collector, and I especially enjoy the 1932-1964 basic set. I have collected this series for about the past 20 years, and I love the early dates, especially the "D" and "S" mint dates in the 30's and I love coins with nice toning. I have been fortunate to have begun collecting this series when many people didn't pay much attention to it. This series is my passion in coin collecting. I am also a PCGS Set Registry participant, and I am currently in 5th place among the current participants. I just recently submitted my set to PCGS for pedigree, and was delighted to receive an upgrade I never thought I'd get, because of the difficult in attaining the grade for this particular coin: I made a 1935-S in MS67, one of only 10 now certified by PCGS. Needless to say, I was delighted when I found this out! I got lucky! We've all played the upgrade "game" before, and I think we all know we often times get "shot down"...I usually do, too! It's a great feeling though when you get that one elusive grade on that one tough coin! I have attached a digital image of the coin in my registry set profile, if you wish to view it (and I do apologize for it not being of better quality). This coin is the nicest 1935-S I have ever seen in my 20+ years of collecting this series. It has amazing luster, strike and colors. The reverse is a vast array of vibrant greens, oranges, yellows and purples. I hope you enjoy the image.
I love this series and all it has to offer in the way of being challenging. It's obvious many others now do, too. I have spent countless hours looking at raw coins contemplating having them certified. Like many of you, there's a great deal of pleasure attained when you get back the coins you love and it has an MS66 or MS67 grade on it!. I've received some not-so-good grades too. I love playing the game, so I will continue to play...it is my "passion", what I love to do and look forward to. I hope I can share some stories with some of you in the future and that you will share your experiences in collecting with me, also. I'd really like to "chat" with any of you collectors out there who share my interest in the Washington quarter series, and would enjoy hearing from you.
Best regards and happy hunting for those coins you desire!
Tom Schiera
I am primarily a Washington quarter collector, and I especially enjoy the 1932-1964 basic set. I have collected this series for about the past 20 years, and I love the early dates, especially the "D" and "S" mint dates in the 30's and I love coins with nice toning. I have been fortunate to have begun collecting this series when many people didn't pay much attention to it. This series is my passion in coin collecting. I am also a PCGS Set Registry participant, and I am currently in 5th place among the current participants. I just recently submitted my set to PCGS for pedigree, and was delighted to receive an upgrade I never thought I'd get, because of the difficult in attaining the grade for this particular coin: I made a 1935-S in MS67, one of only 10 now certified by PCGS. Needless to say, I was delighted when I found this out! I got lucky! We've all played the upgrade "game" before, and I think we all know we often times get "shot down"...I usually do, too! It's a great feeling though when you get that one elusive grade on that one tough coin! I have attached a digital image of the coin in my registry set profile, if you wish to view it (and I do apologize for it not being of better quality). This coin is the nicest 1935-S I have ever seen in my 20+ years of collecting this series. It has amazing luster, strike and colors. The reverse is a vast array of vibrant greens, oranges, yellows and purples. I hope you enjoy the image.
I love this series and all it has to offer in the way of being challenging. It's obvious many others now do, too. I have spent countless hours looking at raw coins contemplating having them certified. Like many of you, there's a great deal of pleasure attained when you get back the coins you love and it has an MS66 or MS67 grade on it!. I've received some not-so-good grades too. I love playing the game, so I will continue to play...it is my "passion", what I love to do and look forward to. I hope I can share some stories with some of you in the future and that you will share your experiences in collecting with me, also. I'd really like to "chat" with any of you collectors out there who share my interest in the Washington quarter series, and would enjoy hearing from you.
Best regards and happy hunting for those coins you desire!
Tom Schiera
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Comments
Cameron Kiefer
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
The Ludlow Brilliant Collection (1938-64)
Congrats also on the upgrade. I feel that PCGS should do this for any set getting pedigreed.
Regards,
Don
Nice to see you finally joining the Boards. I've admired your Washington set since I started mine, and I think it's great that you got it pedigreed, with a fantastic upgrade to boot!
Don't be a stranger to the forum; we need to hear more from Washington enthusiasts.
Jim
Welcome to the Boards!! Enjoy your set.
As you can plainly see by me last "empty" reply, I've still got a few things to learn about using the message board system! DUH me! Anyway, thanks to all of you who replied to my initial posting. To those of you who enjoy collecting Washington quarters like I do, I share your enthusiasm and enjoyment in this series! I feel too that it is a great set to put together, and all too often before the introduction of the State quarter program, the Washington series really never got the respect it righfully deserved. I had followed the market trends on this set closely for about the past 10 years, and common sense dictated to me that this set was way underpriced, even back then. I based this on comparable sets with some of the same date runs/mintages in the 30's, like the Walking Liberty halves the the Mercury dimes. I won't tell you that the Washington set is as poular as those sets are, but I think for those of us who do collect the Washington series, I think we are all going to continue to be pleassntly surprised with the retail values continuing to go up. I feel some dates are still undervalued in certain grades. As an example, PCGS pricing list the 1937-S in MS66 at only about $550. That price is way too low! Here's a coin that has the third lowest mintage in the series, and besides that, you can't even find a MS66 coin, or a really one! Just try finding one on MS65, and that's a tough challenge also. I bought a really nice one from a very reputable dealer who I trade with often, but mine was $700. when I bought it last year, and I thought I did well at that price. That is only one example, but I feel that many other dates are too cheap as well. I feel strongly that by the end of the State quarter program, prices will drastically increase over what they are at now for this series.
One of you asked me how long it took me to put my set toghether. My certified set has been in the building process for about the last 7 years, but only in early 2000 did I begin to certifiy my entire set. I owned a few nice coins which were certified (some were NGC also), but then a friend told me he thought I should think about certifying my complete set, since I did have almost all the dates by then. I thought it would be a huge ordeal, but it wan't as bad as I thought (having the coins certified). Yes, I did get shot down on a few coins, but I think I have become a better collector for having learned a few things from my previous mistakes. Typically I will only buy certified material now, but if a come across a more common date coin that I like, either with pretty toning or it's just a real pretty coin, then I will buy it raw. Nicely toned material is becoming more difficult to locate nowadays, as I'd guess, for those of you who like toned coins, you've discovered that to be true also. I cannot believe some of the crazy prices people are willing to buy at auction for some of the nicely toned coins...I have my limits in that regard. I won't pay ridiculous prices just because a coin has nice toning...but I do love those coins that have monster toning!
I have really rambled on here, so I will close for now. Thanks again to all of you for your replies and kind words! I look forward to further participation on the boards!
Tom