Why do you collect the particular series that you do, or...

mnmcoin

or, why do you collect whatever you collect, be it type, series, different holders, cheap coins...whatever. I am dying of curiousity and tired of complaining about PCGS and tired of every body b%tching and yelling at everyone, so stop it and answer my question d*mn it, this is supposed to be fun.

I want big, little whatever stories ya' got.

mo <><

MastaHanky

Well, a set of circulated Lincolns by date (not by mint mark) was a reasonable task, so I started doing that. Then I graduated to collecting them by date and mintmark, and eventually collecting uncirculated specimens.

I started on Buffalos when my grandfather gave me a bunch of them that he found. I started a circulated set of those and have moved up to uncirculated/high grade circulated for those. (An unc 1926-S is a bit out of my price range right now.)

I started early commems when my local coin dealer got a beautiful Bay Bridge in stock. I didn't know much about commems, but I knew I liked the Bay Bridge, so I bought it. Then I started reading up on commems in the Red Book, right as the same dealer got in a few more. Now I'm working on a type set of all of those.

Both the Lincolns and the commems are in my price range (excluding the 14-D, which will take a little extra savings). The Buffalos on the other hand...I don't know why I collect them. But I sure love them!

DanC

I collect JFK's because Russ does, and I'm locked in a monumental battle with him, competing over every thing we do.

heheh.

Hey Morris - how are you coming on my wish list?

gmarguli

I'm doing a 146-piece set of commemoratives all colorfully toned. I like it because there are 51 designs and the duplication isn't too bad. I'm doing the colorfully toned part since I like colorful toning and it is more of a challange. I also think gem commems are way undervalued.


I can't imagine anything more boring that collecting the same coin with just different dates. A set of Morgan dollars is nice, but it doesn't matter to me that one is dated 1893-S and the other is 1880-S. It's the same coin.

Clankeye

I collect early commemoratives primarily. The reason can be found in another thread I started about Gutzon Borglum who designed the Stone Mountain. He was an incredible artist and when I look at the coin it is a powerful work of art, intensified by occupying a very small space. Some of the commemorative designers were artists on a major level. Laura Gardin Fraser with the Oregons, Trygve Rovelstad the Elgin, even the bust George Morgan did of Lincoln on the Illinois. This is serious good stuff to me. And yes, certainly great artists (such as St. Gaudens) worked in other coin series, but I love the commems.
Because, even if the design is less than stellar, usually the history and marketing, in-fighting, and handling of the commemoratives makes them something worth appreciating.

goyankeez

I'm collecting post WWII proof cameos- all slabbed. I love the cameo effect and the rarity of these coins. I can get high grades at comparably low prices, although I haven't started on the Franklins yet. In my earlier days (not too long ago) I was doing research on what a cameo was, and got hooked.

For some variety I'm putting together a U.S. major coin type set- in albums. I posted a thread on that a few days ago. I can't wait to get started. I'm getting burned out on the cameos and need a change of pace.

DHeath

I can't imagine anything more boring that collecting the same coin with just different dates. A set of Morgan dollars is nice, but it doesn't matter to me that one is dated 1893-S and the other is 1880-S. It's the same coin.

Exactly, I like the tough Moderns, and sort of type collect the classics. I prefer high-grade coins, and don't want to tie my coin budget up in rows of duplicate coins of common date/MM. I like being able to buy nice coins regardless of whether they fill a series. I think I'm turning into a key/semi-key type collector.

LucyBop

Lucy collects 1950s coins. I want FBL's Franklins, MS66 red or better Lincolns, Quarters and dimes and nickels. I also want Proofs and believe the Franklin Proof in Dcam to be one of the most beautiful coins every minted...All coins in this collection will be slabbed....Lucy loves the 1950s, best music, best cars, best of times and crazy coins daddy-o!



the HepKitty

WWBillman

I am a type collecter primarly because it offers variety and is great for learning about all the different series of US coins.

BUT, I do feel like I am being drawn into the Standing Liberty Quarter series. The two MS66FH I own right now are by far my favorite coins and I am always drawn to them when I look at my set. I cannot seem to get them out of my head. That design is by far the most beautiful coin ever minted IMO.

I may need to put my type set on the back burner soon. I really do not want to sell it but the cash would go far getting the SLQ series off to a good start.

CarlWohlforth

I too love the cameo proofs. I started with proof Jeffs because deep cameo proof Jeffs from the 50s were scarcer AND cheaper than any other deep cameo issues from the 50s.

But that was only a side track. I keep getting side tracked from my main goal of completing a type set. I love super high quality coins and don't care about how rare or common the date/mint mark combo is.

As my budget runs low I must sell off my side tracks if I want more type coins...

Trime

I collect 3CS because they are relatively rare (most melted); affordable (Even very scarce dates in gem condition can be purchased with my resources) and under-studied and under-collected. They are an interesting series historically.

66Tbird

I'm a type set collector at heart and always find something that makes me smile, which seems to be the common factor in which coin(s) I keep in the collection. When I was hit by the proof phase the easiest to find high grade and yet relitively old was the 1956, so that's what I did. Then I recieved a IH in 65RD and my world went upside-down again, so now it's common date copper type stuff in RD. Then there's the seated stuff, oh boy, here we go again. More study, research, seaching, and saving to trade one form of $ for another,,,,,,,,,,,, just for that repeatable smile.

oldcameoproofsguy

I collect proof Barber quarters for several reasons. They are rare in minimally toned or brilliant condition. Most examples one might find are heavily toned and quite unatractive. Also finding an example for each date that is heavily cameo contrasted brings on a new challenge; the 1908 and 1915 may not have any examples that will grade cameo at all. Finding an example of each date with outstanding eye appeal will be a difficult yet rewarding task.

As a kid, I always dreamed of putting together a most difficult series. Now, I have the means to finally make a lifetime dream come true.

Happy collecting!
My Barbers

nwcs

Right now I'm into collecting a 20th century type set w/o gold because I love variety and I love being able to see different types and all. I also have been doing a morgan series because they are cool. But because of my type set, I've branched into a few other areas like peace dollars and thought about washingtons.

Neil

PhillyJoe

Although I'm the first to agree that we need to get dead people off our coins, Russ, Dan and I appear to have been seperated at birth regarding the '64 Kennedy proofs. Why? I'm not sure. It wasn't until I started collecting each year that I noticed how the portraits have changed over the years. That was pretty cool. I have a nice 1869 Seated Liberty half proof that is drawing me to that series. My wallet says no, but.......

Joe

KlectorKid

I collect what ever catchs my eye which is usually a seated coins or bust coinage. i to would rather have a very nice example vs. a set of crumby examples, date/mm. i didnt start for any reason but i bought a half-dime a got a bust half xf for my birthday that got me started on early stuff.

MartyF

I got hooked when I was a kid. My grandmother use to bring Irish and British coins back from her trips to Europe and give them to me. Other family members began giving me halfs and so on. Since then, I collect whatever looks cool. To me, coins are just another form of art. I don't stick to one series type, as someone said, they all look the same. Recently, I have been trying to learn how to grade these coins thanks to the help of many on this forum. Now I have an even greater appreciation for these small pieces of art.

jhar

I am primaraly a silver dollar collector, concentrating on Morgans right now. I like Morgans because my parents had about 4 peace and one old worn 1892 O Morgan. I loved holding in my hand a coin that was that old!! I still enjoy it. I started doing some reading in the last few years and have expanded my enjoyment to other silver dollars, including Ikes!! But Morgans are what I look for right now.

Linkage

As you can see I still have those coins and I still treasure them. I will continue to do so even after I have aquired other coins that may look better, and cost more.

dbldie55

There are 962,500 reasons why I collect Liberty Nickels, so I would rather not list them.

Keyrock

Well I started with the Lincolns since that was my Dad's collection (I found it about 30 years ago). All of the coins were circulated no real rare coins and that gave me the bug. From that launch pad I have been big into coppers the ultimate goal is a complete set of all half, large, indians and Lincolns (under the R.S.Gore collection). I also picked up some Mercs and walkers which are beauts and when I close out the Lincolns (09-1958) I will focus a bit more on those series.

Since there are alot of great coins I have started the complete type set, A FH standing liberty along with alot of the classics are beautiful, just too cost prohibitive to collect the entire series, so the type set works and it keeps the intrest up in all coins.

Last but not least is the 2.5 quarter eagle set. It is a doable set in MS (IMHO) and I just need to find a nice 1911D and I'm done with that series.

Then there is the currency sets which I wont even discuss......


Rich

shirohniichan

I started collecting 20 cent pieces because I thought the denomination was interesteing and I liked the eagle design on the reverse. Since the eagle was the same on trade dollars, I started collecting trade dollars with the same dates and mintmarks as the 20 cent pieces. The first trade dollar I bought was chopmarked, and the rest is history.

I got into Canadian silver dollars because my grandparents gave me on they got at the bank the year I was born and another they got for me in 1967 (the Confederation Centennial year).

jmp81

I am a dollar collector. I collect all dollars: silver, gold, clad and the Sac(of course). I really like the big dollars. I got started because I was helping my grandson do a project on Eisenhower and we use the Eisenhower dollar as an exhibit for the project.
I found during our research that the mint would probably never mint another big dollar. So now I am hooked!

supercoin

My favorite series is (no surprise) Ike Dollars. I got into them originally from fond memories of the huge heavy coins from my childhood.

The design is often criticized, but I happen to like the strong simple obverse, and the often overlooked reverse stands with the best US coinage has to offer, commemorating one of mankind's (and America's) greatest achievements.

From a collecting standpoint, I like the idea of a complete set, but I'd quickly tire (and/or run out of money) trying to put together many of the classic series containing hundreds of very similar coins.

In contrast, a complete set of Ikes is a very manageable 32 (or about 36 with major varieties) coins, including both mint-state and proof. Just big enough to provide some "meat" but not so big that they all start to look the same.

And even within those relatively few coins is a huge variety -- two different metallic compositions in both unc and proof, three mints, high and low-relief designs, eight different bicentennial dates, and several major varieties visible with the unaided eye.

A set is extremely affordable in typical condition (under $250 for a whole set) yet offers virtually unlimited challenge as you try to find truly nice examples, particularly of some of the Philly biz strikes. A top-graded PCGS set easily reaches tens of thousands of dollars.

And if you tire of brilliant coins... nicely toned Ikes offer even more of a challenge. The composition of the clad coins is not conducive to nice toning, and neither the silver or clad were generally stored in a way that produces nice toning. In comparison, beautifully toned Morgans are common as weeds.

The series is still widely underappreciated, but in many ways that's an advantage. Cherry-picking opportunities abound, far more so than in better established series. You can still find scarce varieties and condition-rare coins being sold for just a couple bucks.

Cheap entry point, manageable set size, great variety, unlimited challenge, cherry-picking delight... you gotta like Ike!

ARCO

I love Barber Halves. I love circulated Barber Halves. They look great when original, they are relatively easy to grade and no grading companies are needed ever for grades XF45 and below. They are challenging in every grade VG or higher. There are no super keys to drain the budget. Did I say they look great when original?

Anyway where was I? OK..they are big, but not so overwhelming like a silver dollar, they have a classic turn of the century design with olympian features and lot's o round curves. When toned right there is no other silver coin that looks as nice...well morgans look cool toned, so do SLQ's Merc's are nice as are seated coinage and Walking Liberty halves, but besides those....whoops old original large cents look bittchin' too.

If not for barber halves I would be collecting state quarters and contemplating suicide!!

Bonus pic for circulated coin lovers

1899-O Barber Half F12

tjkillian

I collect Indian cents because they are affordable, were minting during a really cool period in American history, and look great! I am also a fanatical type collector as I would like to have one each of every coin issued by the federal government. There you can see the whole history of the United States.

Tom

ccrdragon

Indian Head Cents - really neat coins and a challenge to complete in full MS grades

Buffalo Nickels - one of the few coins minted in the US that truely represents American Symbols - the buffalo and a 'real' indian (also because they are a beautiful coin esp in the higher grades).

ASE - a truly classic design and so beautiful in the radiant silver bullion coins

State Quarters - the idea of being able to collect an entire set that was started and will be finished during my own lifetime is exciting.

Also some darkside coins (but I won't mention those here for fear of dying from the flames! )

cladking

I collect lots of things but have been collecting clad quarters the longest. I started
these because they were so affordable and overlooked by collectors. I read a story
in the Chicago Tribune that the mint was switching to FIFO accounting and would
begin rotating their stocks of coins. It seemed that if the coins were to be continually
put back into circulation that there would soon be no high grade coins left. At first
I collected all the circulating coins, but as the years went by the quarters increasingly
looked like the better bet. For one thing the bicentennial quarter came along and it
seemed natural that any future commems or design change would hit the quarter first.
Also there were too few gem halfs in the mint sets to save. At that time I'd never even
seen a gem Ike yet. Dimes were too plentiful and the other coins (including the half)
were getting attention from collectors. While I was mostly just a hoarder in my early
days, I did learn to really appreciate the charms of these coins.

I had collected back in the 50's and had gotten burned on most all the coins purchased.
Most of my friends were also collectors and had lost up to 75% of their money. When I
returned to collecting I vowed not to lose money to overgrading.

BillJones

I’m a type collector which means I collect about everything, but the one series that has fascinated me for over 30 years is the early half dimes from 1792 to 1805. As a young numismatist in the 1960s, I’d look at pictures of the those tiny coins in the Red Book an marvel at the amount of detail that there was on those tiny coins.

I lived in a rural area where there were no coin shops. My big treat was to go to Philadelphia about three times a year at most to visit the coin department at Gimbels' Department Store. The numismatists there really took an interest in me and would show me coins that I could never afford simply to broaden my education. Despite the fact that they would have items like early gold (e.g. an 1806 half eagle, which is actually fairly common compared to most all of the early half dimes), they never had any early half dimes.

Finally when I was a sophomore in college, I got a car and started to explore for coin shops in northern Delaware. I found one that had an 1800 half dime in VF condition for $300. Unfortunately it may as well have been $3 million because I could not afford it, but it set me on the path of the collecting them when I got my first job after graduation.

Over the last 30 years I have put together a set includes the 1792 half disme and all of the Red Book varieties except the 1802, which still beyond my financial reach. I’m pleased with all of the coins in my set except for my 1796 dated pieces. For whatever reason I always purchased the wrong coins of that date just before the right coins became available to me. After I purchased the regular date variety in VF with a couple of teeth marks on it, a clean choice VF showed up a show. After I got frustrated and overpaid for a 1796/5 in VG, an EF that I could have afforded was offered. Now prices for all early coins in choice “no problem” have shot up like crazy. As a result I may not be able to upgrade my 1796 coins, but I’ll keep looking.

Nickelchaser

My Grandfather gave me a 1913-P type 1 Buffalo Nickel and I've been hooked ever since.
I'll pass it all onto my son when he gets old enough.
By the way I sent that coin into PCGS a few yeas ago and it came back MS-64

jtryka

I collect gold for a number of reasons, there are a large variety of denominations and designs, they are gold (expecially handy since I am not a big fan of toning), none of the regular issue gold coins have any images of dead presidents, and since many of them (especially the later years) never really circulated, they are quite affordable in better grades.

coinrookie

My main interest is modern proof dollars. Well modern in terms of Ikes,Sba`s and Sacs. Date and Mint sets PDS are next. A 1943 MS set,mainly because it has the greatest number of coins that I absolutely love. Merc. Walker, FS Jeff, and the coin that sparked my collecting disease, the steelie. Proof Bi-Cent because of the great variety. Then I am a type collector. Not the traditional type collector. Unfortunately I like all types of coins. My odds and ends set sometimes makes me put all my other themed or registry sets on hold. But this collection will be the one that will bring the most enjoyment because it will never be finished and will sustain my collecting interest till I am dead. Examples that I have now: All State quarters, a few buffaloes,a couple of Morgans and Peace Dollars.Near future acquisitions: IHP,IH5$ gold, ST GAUD, and a SLQ. After that whatever strikes my fancy.

dpoole

Three Cent Nickels originally appealed to me because of their classic, clean design, and the fact that prices were (and remain) reasonable. The cameos in the series are wondrous and beautiful.

Bustman

Anything flowing, draped, or capped! Because they are historic, crude, beautiful, challenging, and most are genuinely scarce ( if not down right rare) in all grades from au to ms.

radiofrek

<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3>Personally I prefer Dollars just for the size and beauty. Mainly Morgans, Peace, some Ikes and SACs.</FONT>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3>Silver Proof sets are next followed by the State Quarters(including errors). </FONT>

radiofrek

Lets try this again.Personally, I prefer Dollars just for the size and beauty. Mainly Morgans, Peace, some Ikes and Sacs.
Silver proof sets are next followed by the State Quarters.

baccaruda

i'm working on 50's proof sets. wanted cameos but they are out of my range. i may just go after cameo proof jeffersons.

SAE proofs - because they're the prettiest american coin, hands down, and i think have the best opportunity for appreciation (for coins priced in a working man's budget anyway).

i've just started on ike proofs and we'll see where that takes me. PCGS PR68DCAM is what i'm after. the trick is i have to buy each one for less than $20.