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How long has it taken or how long will it take to complete your registry set?

Most registry sets will probably take some time and patience to assemble. My Barber quarters I am estimating will take me about 6-7 years total to complete. How long has yours taken or how long do you estimate yours will take to complete?
My Barbers

Comments

  • BearBear Posts: 18,953 ✭✭✭
    OldCam - We are always seeking better looking coins ,even in the same grade.
    It is quite possible that a true collector will never finish a collection untill it is sold. Bear
    There once was a place called
    Camelotimage
  • You are right Bear!

    I guess I should restate the question to read "How long has or will it take to reach that ever elusive 100% complete mark?"

  • BearBear Posts: 18,953 ✭✭✭
    Oldcameo - I started my Jay Ross Kennedy Proof collection in 1992 and reached 100% completion
    in May/2002. So about 10 years of intermittent collecting. Bear
    There once was a place called
    Camelotimage
  • mdwoodsmdwoods Posts: 5,547 ✭✭✭
    I had a complete 20th Century Type Set of Circulating coinage, no gold. I decided to sell every coin that I would eventually upgrade, and patiently find the coins I really like (and can afford) to refinish it, no matter how long it takes. I estimate 1-3 years from today. Mark.
    National Register Of Big Trees

    We'll use our hands and hearts and if we must we'll use our heads.
  • TONEDDOLLARSTONEDDOLLARS Posts: 2,928 ✭✭✭✭
    Four years and still at it. About 80% there but the remaining coins are going to be the tuff ones to find and afford. I will need plenty of HELP. image
  • I've had my modern type set proof and circulation strikes and proof only for about 8 months or so and I'm only about 33% complete. I'm very picky about my proof coins and if I don't like it I'll send it back. I only get PQ pieces for my collection. It takes quite a bit of time to get the really nice coins.


    For some life lasts a short while, but the memories it holds last forever.
    -Laura Swenson

    In memory of BL, SM, and KG. 16 and forever young, rest in peace.
  • I started my Mercury Set in 1997, and its 87% complete..seems longer than that, and I probably have upgraded every one of them at least once. I suspect I will complete sometime in 2005, with any real fortune that dumps in my lap...imageimage

    I too, dont think I will trully finish it, due to the fact I see one that looks better in my set than in someone counter or show case.....image


    Happy though just being able to have a place to share these thoughts.. I like the boards!!!!
    Dennis

    My Dimes

    << If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right the first time! >>
  • I'm still working on the Lincoln MS set I started in 1999. I only need a few more for the short (1934-1958) set, but reaching 90% or so on the set is a couple years away. I did manage to complete the Lincoln Memorial (PR & MS) sets in the mean time. I've started a couple more modern sets, that I have hopes of completing and two classic sets that I can dream about.

    perfectstrike
  • It was about 4 years for my proof Jefferson nickels. It will be the rest of my life for my complete type set. If I start getting close to done I'll just expand my definition of what a complete type set is. image
  • RussRuss Posts: 48,514 ✭✭✭
    Proof Kennedy set started in April, 100% in June, upgrading (in same grade) constantly, though. One coin away from 100% in second proof Kennedy set. At 55% in my Walker short set. That one is taking longer because it's all MS64, and it's hard to find pleasing coins in that grade.

    Russ, NCNE



  • LakesammmanLakesammman Posts: 17,401 ✭✭✭✭✭
    "My friends who see my collection sometimes ask what something costs. I tell them and they are in awe at my stupidity." (Baccaruda, 12/03).I find it hard to believe that he (Trump) rushed to some hotel to meet girls of loose morals, although ours are undoubtedly the best in the world. (Putin 1/17) Gone but not forgotten. IGWT, Speedy, Bear, BigE, HokieFore, John Burns, Russ, TahoeDale, Dahlonega, Astrorat, Stewart Blay, Oldhoopster, Broadstruck, Ricko, Big Moose.
  • LakesammmanLakesammman Posts: 17,401 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Oops - misfire.

    Great question. I started mine (IHC's and FE's) in 1995, shortly after the Epstein collection was dispersed - rats!

    My goal was original, spot free, undoctored, well struck, original and lustrous indian/flying eagle cents. Had I bought the plastic only, it would have taken less than a year to put together a top five registry set of plastic. Since I've stuck to my original standards, it's been 7 years and is 80 % complete ... expect to take another 3-5 years. It'a amazing how many high grade holdered coins have been tampered with - the most objective evidence being spots that have been scraped off, the more subjective lack of original tone (something more difficult to prove). I expect full feathers and full shield strike on MS65 or better - coins VERY difficult to find.

    Any way, great question - look forward to hearing more stories.

    Lakesammman
    "My friends who see my collection sometimes ask what something costs. I tell them and they are in awe at my stupidity." (Baccaruda, 12/03).I find it hard to believe that he (Trump) rushed to some hotel to meet girls of loose morals, although ours are undoubtedly the best in the world. (Putin 1/17) Gone but not forgotten. IGWT, Speedy, Bear, BigE, HokieFore, John Burns, Russ, TahoeDale, Dahlonega, Astrorat, Stewart Blay, Oldhoopster, Broadstruck, Ricko, Big Moose.
  • itsnotjustmeitsnotjustme Posts: 8,779 ✭✭✭
    I finished a few easy sets quickly, like a few months. These were the MS Ikes, Proof Ikes & Proof SBAs.

    My modern type sets (1950 - Present) took several months.

    My 20th Century Type Set (Circ strike) is probably 18 months old, and still 2 coins shy of complete.

    My 1792-1964 type set will take years to get most of the way complete, and I'll be lucky if I complete it in my life-time.
    Give Blood (Red Bags) & Platelets (Yellow Bags)!
  • My walker collection has taken about 4 or 5 years and I'm 66% there.
    I expect to reach 100% in maybe 10 more years.

    -KHayse
  • BowAxeBowAxe Posts: 143 ✭✭
    ONCE UPON A TIME in January, 2002, after nine years lost in the darkest jungles of Africoin, a gaunt and tattered collector stumbled into a bright clearing. Unaccustomed to the light and squinting against the blinding radiance of the PCGS Set Registry, he gazed about in wonderment, his numbed brain overwhelmed by the magnificent treasures arrayed all about him. The exhausted collector dropped first to his knees and then toppled forward onto the dusty ground, his tear-stained face caked with dirt. "Yes . . . yes!!! Saved! Delivered at last to this place, where unbeknownst to me, I truly belonged!" Ah, yes, gentle reader--that collector was me. [Please pardon the campy hyperbole, but it was fun writing it.] image

    Since 1993 I had been quietly working toward an all-PCGS MS70 collection of Modern Commemoratives. I had heard of the PCGS Set Registry but had never investigated it, wrongly believing that it consisted entirely of catalogues of landmark collections such as Eliasberg and Trompeter. The announcements of the 2002 Registry Set Awards finally led to my looking at the Registry and it ignited me. I needed to get just a few of my raw coins slabbed to get my set to 100% completion, which took only a couple of months--but the total time, beginning with my first MS70 acquisition in 1993, was just a little under nine years.

    However, because my ultimate goal is a 100% MS70 set, the probability of its ever being completed is nil. Why? Of the 85 coins currently in the set I have all but 13 in MS70. Of those 13, six have a pop of ZERO in MS70 (nonexistent) and five are pop 1 or 2 (virtually unobtainable). Moreover, it's an open-ended set, several new coins being added every year. For me, this is all part of the modern commemorative fascination, and I enjoy the unceasing challenge.

    Dell
    ----------------------------
    "Pittsburgh Collector" Modern Commemoratives, Circulation Strikes
  • I started my Proof Roosevelt set in June, 2002. I need 5 more coins (out of 15), including the ever elusive 1952 CAM. I'm occasionally upgrading as I go along. The problem for me is finding the right coin with the right contrast that I can afford at the time. I have a long way to go for my ultimate goal (Top 5), but I hope to complete it to my satisfaction by early next year. I estimate that I will be around #10 current finest if all goes well.
    "Buy the coin, not the holder"

    Proof Dime Registry Set
  • relayerrelayer Posts: 10,570


    I finished my SAC Proof set in 18 clicks.image
    image
    My posts viewed image times
    since 8/1/6
  • I'll let you know if that ever happensimage

    DAN
    United States Air Force Retired And Would Do It Again.

    My first tassa slap 3/3/04

    My shiny cents

    imageThe half I am getting rid of and me, forever and always Taken in about 1959
  • I started my Franklin collection back in the 1980s - just about the time ANACS was starting to grade coins. I put a set of "uncirculated" coins together and then sold all but one a little while later. I didn't do much collecting until the mid 90's again when I got the bug and began to look at Franklins again. Slowly but surely I started accumulating some in different types of slabs, and then finally realized that those in the PCGS slabs always looked the best so I started getting some of those. By last year I had gotten rid of just about all my "other" slabs, either by sale or crossover, and I think in June I finally got to 100% on the collection. However I've been upgrading ever since so I guess I'll just be one of those people on the illusive hunt for that better coin.

    Frank
  • I started my Lincoln set about 5/6 years ago. I was originally drawn to the brown coins (light milk Chocolate) and I have since re-focused on those early dates and I am now trying for a Full Red set. I need 4 coins to finish then I need a decade or two for the upgrades. Other sets about 1.5 years ago (complete type set & complete large cent) will be a lifetime pursuit. Mercs are a pleasant distraction that I hope to finish in 5 - 10 years.
  • CocoinutCocoinut Posts: 2,512 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I bought my first slabbed Washington quarter in 1989, and over the years gathered an assortment of earlier dates. With the state quarter program generating a lot of interest in the series, I began acquiring the later dates in the spring of 2000. The basic set was finished in December, 2001, and was actually #1 for a short time. My basic set is now at #10, and #4 in the varieties set.

    The 20th century no gold type set seemed like an attainable goal. Again, I had most of the earlier types that I'd bought over the years. I entered them into the registry in October, 2001, and did nothing more with the set for 6 months. In July of this year, I resurrected the set, and purchased the modern issues that I lacked. The set was finished in August.

    I also had accumulated 33 of the 77 Mercury dimes from 1988-2001, and decided that would be a good set to complete. I've added 27 coins since January, 2002, and have 17 to go. It's a much more difficult (and expensive) set than the Washingtons, but I hope to have all but the 1916-D within a year.

    There are a dozen other sets that are in various stages of completion. I expect to complete all of them someday, except for the Standing Liberty quarters and the 1792-1964 copper, nickel, and silver type set.

    Jim
    Countdown to completion of my Mercury Set: 1 coin. My growing Lincoln Set: Finally completed!
  • mrpaseomrpaseo Posts: 4,753 ✭✭✭
    Complete a set? What does that mean?...

    Currently working on three Lincolns sets, I accredit my infatuation to merz2 a fellow forum friend. With the purchase of a few Lincolns from him on 28 June 01 my collecting/registry sets were set in motion. I don't believe the sets I am working on will every be completed, I feel even if the highest obtainable percent/grade is obtained, the search would continue for raw or slabbed by other companies that have better eye appeal continueing the search forever.

    The goal for my collections is to someday hand them down to my daughter who is allready showing interest in them. I pray they will become family hairlooms and continue to be preserved for future generations.

    As for when I will complete them, I would have to say, currently due to the inflation of prices, the sets may never be complete image but that will not deter me as I have learned that persistance and determination will pay off in the end. Where there is a will there is a way, and someday I have faith that I will be able to complete these three Lincoln sets.

    Feel free to view them here:
    My PCGS Sets:
    The Paseo Collection I, Lincoln-MS 1909-1958
    Current goal:Finish from 1934-1958 (Short Set) with the highest possible grade starting at MS67RD. If the current POP report is below 50, I will go for the lower grade and will upgrade these coins as they become available. Also, only RD coins will be inserted in this set.

    The Paseo Collection II, Lincoln-MS 1959-2002
    Current Goal:Complete from 1996-Present with the highest possible grade. Looking for MS68RD. I have decided on 1996 because this is my daughters birth year and I would like to maintain MS68RD for her entire life until she assumes control of the coins. Once I catch up on the current years, I will then go back with the goal of MS67RD, again POP report motivated as stated above.

    The Paseo Collection III, Lincoln-PR 1959-2002
    Current Goal:1980-Present all PR69DCAM. This is just a bench mark for this set, I will then move backwards with a 10 year incriment goal, again, maintaining the highest possible grade, POP report dependent.
    image

    I am also working on the Washington Statehood Proof set of which is not registered, and contemplating starting the Merc dimes and Washington Quarter sets.

    Great question,
    Ray
  • jcpingjcping Posts: 2,649 ✭✭✭
    It takes me about 6 years to complete 81% of the Standing Liberty Quarters (without counting the NGC and ANACS coins). It will take me another 5 to 10 years to reach 100% with average grade point to 65.01 (and at least 90% FH).

    It took me 4 months to assbmbly a nice Ike dollar MS set (WGPA =65.87). It will take me another 10 years to reach to the point that I could say I complete the set. I keep on upgrading the set even on the same grade.

    I am working on 1792-1964 type set. I would estimate to take 10 years to reach 95% completion. image I wish I could make it GPA >60.00. image
    an SLQ and Ike dollars lover
  • PTVETTERPTVETTER Posts: 5,966 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm not sure that I will ever complete my mercury dime set? Nice mercury dime are not easy to fine. I do have a 1938 proof set completeimage
    Pat Vetter,Mercury Dime registry set,1938 Proof set registry,Pat & BJ Coins:724-325-7211


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