One Man’s Type collection
GOLDSAINT
Posts: 2,148 ✭
I started collecting coins when I got my first job as a paperboy at age 10. I am now age 58 so it’s been a long journey. I did not collect for continuously for 48 years, part of that is good, and part bad. The good part is that I missed the crazy late eighties, and you already know the bad part. Like many here I had hot, and cold periods, and made lots of mistakes in the 70’s and early 80’s buying cleaned and AT coins. Besides many of the sets I put together I also put one of the 86 coin Dansco type sets together, and completed it in 1981. I recently submitted most of the coins in that set to PCGS and got decent grades, with 14 body bags. I guess that is to be expected.
Personally I collect coins for many different reasons, coins to me are like pieces of fine art with a romantic history all there own, and its always nice to have a hobby that is not just all cash out with no potential for a later return. At this stage in my life I am able to afford some of the better coins that I could not have when I had the responsibility of 3 children at home, and that’s very nice.
After getting back involved in the hobby 15 months ago I rebuilt many of my sets, added coins that were missing, did some upgrading, as well as slabbing. That process took several months, but at the first of the year I decided to work for the next few years on my type set. As I said, I already had a very good start, and I knew I would never finish it completely. I also thought that it would not bore me like some of my white sets have. This has been an interesting challenge for me, but I must admit it is not everyone’s cup of tea. The set is not matched in anyway. Each coin has its own story and history. It starts with Colonials and continues to the present day. Part of this collection is based on pure economics, if a proof in a high grade was cheaper than a high grade MS coin I bought the proof as a type. If it happened to be a flashy colored coin that coin went in the set. During this year I have even bought some patterns to go with some of the other issues to show the evolution of a particular coin series. In extending this set I have taken coins out of some of my other sets to use as examples of various types and the set is currently at 167 coins all PCGS or NGC slabs.
As stated earlier there is no doubt that this set will never be complete, unless I won the National lottery, but in a way this is part of the allure. As a typical coin addict there is always another coin to find, and therefore the challenge never ends.
Below is a list, and a picture, of some of my favorites from this year, and I am forced to take a break simply to spend the next few months paying off all this debt! Stopping shopping is really the part I hate. Whether you love it or hate it your comments are welcome.
1811 MS63 50C
1834 AU $5.00
1855 Pattern 1C
1864 PR 10C
1869 PR 64 25C
1873 PR 64 T$1
1878 MS 61 $3.00
1882 PR 64 1C
1891 PR 64 50C
1901 PR 66 5C
1940 MS 67 5C
1947 MS 66 25C
1882 PR 66 5C
1904 PR 60 $2.50
1802/1 MS 61 $5.00
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Comments
What are the 2 in the lower left??
shmort6552,
The 2 at the lower left is the 1882 PR 66 5C, This was my first attempt at making a multiple image picture and that one got distorted.
I couldn't agree more. Nice coins!
Brian
Although I do feel that over the next several years our hobby will see a large influx of people, I also think that there will be some areas of the market that will get squeezed.
Because of all the paper dollars that are in the economy I expect very rare coins to still be sought after, but the tier just below, consisting of coins that are now $20,000 to $50,000 may not see the upward movement many expect. I also think, like many others here, that top pop moderns will get stuck, or even drop in value.
In a few quotes from recent articles that I posted below, I think it is easy to see that over the next ten years we Americans are going to have some interesting times in our economy. The most interesting event of which will be the retirement of the Baby Boomers who are paying for a large majority of our government social system.
Not to get off the subject, but I don’t know why the guys in the current administration can not figure out why the unemployment numbers continue to drop, but the jobs report shows little upward movement. The fact is that many Boomers are taking early retirement or semi-retirement and becoming self- employed.
At any rate it is my belief that the current market still has many scarce coins with less than 1,000 available priced from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars each. Also as we all know when coins come to market they are almost always priced as an individual coin and not as a set.
Here are a few of the latest stats I have been keeping up with, and I think that this squeeze will continue for at least 5 to ten years.
“ At what point is someone considered wealthy? Only 5% of US households have annual incomes of $150,000 or more, and a mere 10% of households earn more than $114,000 per annum. If the US economy is dependent on rising consumer demand, and if the only sector of retail sales showing strong increases is the more affluent, then the whole economic recovery could be hinging on the consumption habits of less than 10% of households. And many of them are accumulating debt at a rapid clip.”
“The implication is that the wealthiest households in America, the ones we are counting on to spend us out of recession, are overloaded with debt and, in many instances, not quite as wealthy as one might think, considering that many of them don’t even qualify for the median house in San Diego County in CA, which is certainly not the most expensive county in the country.”
“Now enters the Budget Deficit -- it has to be financed, somehow. Since only 1% of all taxpayers pay almost 30% of all taxes, and 5% of all taxpayers pay a full 50% of all taxes, the logical conclusion is that we can expect an increase in taxes in addition to any and all other means of financing the government’s unrestrained spending habits.” ( Unfortunately the people currently paying for all the debt are, and will be, retiring )
“In the meantime, the not-so-rich will face higher energy costs, higher gasoline prices, higher food prices, higher mortgage rates, less employment, wages that don’t keep up with inflation, etc. All of this reduces their already limited discretionary income.”
Thanks my friend, but out of 167 coins I hope that my average is just a little better than that Ha Ha.
If we get to the place in this market that only one of my coins is popular, you guys are in deep trouble !