Options
5 suggestions for building a great registry set
Justhavingfun
Posts: 835 ✭
I haven't visited this forum for a while, but I did recently get asked several times how I build such top Registry Sets. And the guys weren't even talking about my Shield Nickels or Standing Liberty Quarters. Any, I thought the suggestions would be of interest here, too.
My #1 piece of advice is burning passion. You have to really, really want to do it.
#2, is if you want to build a great collection -- of any type of coin -- you have to focus and become single-minded about it. If you want to build a Washington Quarter collection then focus on that, and stop collecting Jefferson nickels, Barber dimes or whatever. Focus.
When I was collecting Standing Liberty Quarters, I was a fanatic Standing Liberty Quarter collector. I went to the eBay SLQ and Teletrade SLQ sections every single day. And when I finished that collection, I haven't visited those sites for years. But now that I'm working on US-Philippines, I visit the Philippines section constantly.
#3, swing for the fences. Don't be afraid to go out on a limb and swing for the fences. You saw that 1953-S Jefferson, and stepped up to the plate and swung for the fences. Ditto for my 1943-D in MS68 full steps.
#4. The other side of swinging for fences is that you have to accept that you're going to make lots of mistakes along the road. I made a zillion along the way ... Oye! Have I made some expensive mistakes along the way. I think the most expensive was buying raw Jeffersons, on the dealer's say so that they were full steppers. I learned not to do that, but then made the same mistake with the PCGS slabs. They may say "Full Step" but you have to check it out yourself. Making mistakes like that is part of the process of learning and building a great collection.
#5. Ignore the Registry Set. Collect what's interesting to yourself in that collection, not what the power-that-be at PCGS tell you to collect. If I had simply followed the PCGS Registry Set, I'd never have gotten have the fascinating Jefferson nickels graded MS63 BROWN (struck on a penny planchet), or double-denomination nickels, or 50% off center full steppers -- and slews of fascinating varieties the Registry Set doesn't recognize (including one or two that I had bought on the cheap because they didn't recognize the variety, and then became hugely valuable, when PCGS added them to the registry set with varieties. I've gone out on a limb to gobble them up and never regrettted it. And it sooo much added to the fun and challenge of putting the #1 collection together.
And that comes to my last point: Make sure you're having fun, because that way, it self reinforces.
Which is what I've been doing -- I'm just having fun, and tons of it.
My #1 piece of advice is burning passion. You have to really, really want to do it.
#2, is if you want to build a great collection -- of any type of coin -- you have to focus and become single-minded about it. If you want to build a Washington Quarter collection then focus on that, and stop collecting Jefferson nickels, Barber dimes or whatever. Focus.
When I was collecting Standing Liberty Quarters, I was a fanatic Standing Liberty Quarter collector. I went to the eBay SLQ and Teletrade SLQ sections every single day. And when I finished that collection, I haven't visited those sites for years. But now that I'm working on US-Philippines, I visit the Philippines section constantly.
#3, swing for the fences. Don't be afraid to go out on a limb and swing for the fences. You saw that 1953-S Jefferson, and stepped up to the plate and swung for the fences. Ditto for my 1943-D in MS68 full steps.
#4. The other side of swinging for fences is that you have to accept that you're going to make lots of mistakes along the road. I made a zillion along the way ... Oye! Have I made some expensive mistakes along the way. I think the most expensive was buying raw Jeffersons, on the dealer's say so that they were full steppers. I learned not to do that, but then made the same mistake with the PCGS slabs. They may say "Full Step" but you have to check it out yourself. Making mistakes like that is part of the process of learning and building a great collection.
#5. Ignore the Registry Set. Collect what's interesting to yourself in that collection, not what the power-that-be at PCGS tell you to collect. If I had simply followed the PCGS Registry Set, I'd never have gotten have the fascinating Jefferson nickels graded MS63 BROWN (struck on a penny planchet), or double-denomination nickels, or 50% off center full steppers -- and slews of fascinating varieties the Registry Set doesn't recognize (including one or two that I had bought on the cheap because they didn't recognize the variety, and then became hugely valuable, when PCGS added them to the registry set with varieties. I've gone out on a limb to gobble them up and never regrettted it. And it sooo much added to the fun and challenge of putting the #1 collection together.
And that comes to my last point: Make sure you're having fun, because that way, it self reinforces.
Which is what I've been doing -- I'm just having fun, and tons of it.
Jefferson nickels, Standing Libs, and US-Philippines rock
0
Comments
Well put advice.....
BILL
become single-minded about it.
swing for the fences
accept that you're going to make lots of mistakes
Ignore the Registry Set
Make sure you're having fun"
JHF: I decided to see how your suggestions measured up with my collecting pursuits of my pattern nickel collection. As a sidebar, the thread should truly be entitled "5 suggestions for building a great collection" (you really can't build a great "registry set" by "ignoring" the registry).
1. Burning passion - I have always had it for pattern coins in general. I am OK here.
2. Single-minded - Just wasn't possible. I was/am always busy building a number of collections (including many modern sets). On top of that, I just did not feel comfortable putting "all my eggs" in one basket, especially such a "thinly traded" basket.
3. Swing for the fences - I did when I pursued a very tough R-8 pattern Liberty nickel which should have likely sold somewhere in the $20's (if I had not been bidding against one other serious bidder), but I swung as hard as I could for a hole I truly wanted to fill, but dropped out at $46. I ran into a collector who had been trying to fill that hole for 30 or 40 years as I understand the story. It is interesting to note that once you do swing for the fences and strike out, I can tell you first hand, you may lose a great deal of the "passion" mentioned in #1. The "high" during that 1 minute of bidding is greater than the Kentucky Derby - but, when you leave the contest a "loser", the passion meter can really drop!
4. Lots of mistakes - Agreed. One mistake I made was collecting ALL pattern nickels from the outset and not limiting it to just pattern Liberty nickels for example. I found out (unfortunately not as quickly as I would have liked) the nickel collection I had in mind was simply not feasible. The collection has since been refocused.
5. Ignore the registry - this is easy. In fact, there was no registry for patterns when I started.
6. Having fun - Agreed. And, for the most part- I have.
Summary - not sure if diversity or single-mindedness is the right way? With diversity you do approach your collection a bit more conservatively - i.e. far less risk of all the eggs in one basket. Other than that issue - real good suggestions.
Wondercoin
I agree with everything you said and I would add another.
Hook up with a trusted dealer who is at the top of the food chain in what you want to collect. They have the connections to the coins that you need. I did and my set was taken to a level that I couldn't have reached on my own.
I would insert knowledge and the need to read books about the series of interest and examine as many coins within the series to know, understand and appreciate the difference in strikes, lustre, dies and die varieties that make it possible to collect beyond the registry and assemble a first class collection.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Don't be in a hurry just to finish it. The journey is most of the fun.
Just Kidding!!
#6 -- Have millions of dollars in disposable income.
Just Kidding!!
Why? Don't you think that's true? I do.
At least when it comes to 'classic' coins.
Not saying it's good or bad, just true.
Very happy to see you back--your prose is needed here, and I hope others take note.
Thoughtful comments, by a collector who has experienced the ups and downs, and come out on top.
Thanks for the great additions, corrections and insights! I really, really appreciate them. However, I can't respond at this time. The hotel server is down and I'm on a borrowed line in my son's office in Manila. When the server is up back at the hotel, I'll be back.
Just Having Fun!
-David
The passion is important and separates the "accumulators" from the true collectors. Don't forget to add the education from any books, articles, experienced dealers, etc. in building a knowledge base. The practical part of viewing the coins you did stress.
The coins I have stretched for are the very ones I am the most pleased about and caused me consternation at the times of purchase. I REALLY stretched for the 04-S half when I bought it and he has probably tripled in value over my purchase price, a price I thought WAY out there. Likewise, my 92-O micro O half was a HUGE stretch for me and has probably doubled in value since I stuck my neck WAY out, buying it raw, no less.
Another aspect not touched on yet, networking with other collectors in your area. This can be a double-edged sword, but in Barber Halves this has been a blessing. The abundant knowledge and help provided among us has been fun, exciting, and profitable. Steve Duckor has bought coins from Dale Friend, I have bought coins from both of them, and I may be selling two coins soon to one of them. There are some anonymous collectors out there and that's fine, but the networking has been really advantageous for us.
RayOverby
<< Hook up with a trusted dealer who is at the top of the food chain in what you want to collect.>> Thank you too, Curly.
Yes. That's a great suggestion. I did exactly that with every "best ever" set I built, except for the US Philippines, where there were no dealers -- at least back then. So I had to learn that series by myself, by touch and feel, with a zillion errors, and with the aid of a few great books, like the Basso book.
And that leads me to a point of agreement with Coinkat. Get the books and read, re-read, and re-re-read 'em. And his comment:
<<I would insert knowledge and the need to read books about the series of interest and examine as many coins within the series to know, understand and appreciate the difference in strikes, lustre, dies and die varieties that make it possible to collect beyond the registry and assemble a first class collection. >> is primo, on target.
I blush to admit that I omitted it.
Warm regards,
Just Having Fun
Right on! RomanMercury.
Hey, this is turning into a rich thread -- a blue-print for people who really, really want to build a great set of coins.
Thank you!
Just Having Fun
Yes, having deep pockets helps.
But two points, the deep pockets are NOT necessary to build a great (if not the best) registry set in many of the series. The key is to start collecting a series while it's out of favor.
If you go, for example, to the US Philippine series, you'll see that I have 16 best ever registry sets in these categories. I collected those from raw coins which I bought at auctions, small shops, and e-bay. One of the best ever registry sets cost me less than $500. All the sets, except 4, cost me less than $10k, many much less than that.
It cost me just a few thousand to put together my beautiful registry set in the US Philippines centavos. The famous 1918-S Large S centavo -- I picked that up in MS 63 for $300 -- because I knew the coin was the rare Large S variety and neither the dealer nor the hundreds of collectors who had viewed the coin before me, had put in the time to recognize the rarity of the coin
Today, of course, the US Philippines are coming into my own, and a single upgrade in one of the 14 series, can now cost me what I originally paid for the whole best-ever set of that series.
And today, if you look, I'm sure you'll find US series like that which are under appreciated and comparatively cheap. Deep pockets not needed.
Second, and even more important ( but harder for some people to swallow) is that deep pockets are within your reach. There are books out there who tell you explicitly how to do it, including for example, Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich," "Acres of Diamonds" and "The Richest Man in Babylon."
Instead of whining about other people's deep pockets, why not develop them for yourself? It takes "burning passion," hard study, and enormous amounts of hard work, but you can do it.
I did. No reason why you can't. But I was willing to work 12 hours days for $45 a week (half minimum wage, back then) for three years, to get there. Are you?
One last point, I gave those books to three friends. One of them yawned and said "Nothing new in here," and the other two got real excited as I had.
The one who yawned at them is now 60 and still poor, living hand to mouth. Sour, unfulfilled and unhappy.
One of the others used the books to become a famous author and editor in the niche he had chosen for himself. The third used those books to go from bankrupt to buying a 35 acre mountain top in the Blue Mountains of Virginia, and jetting around the country in his own, private jet.
So the choice is yours. I wish you well and if you really, really want to develop deep pockets but can't find the books, let me know. I'll send you one from my personal library.
Best wishes from Manila,
Just Having Fun
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I'm so sorry that losing the bid on that big coin discouraged you so. It is a horror, I know. A rare US Philippine peso came up for sale not too long ago, cataloging for $1,250, if I remember correctly. I bid $50K -- and lost. But life moves on, and you've developed a magnificent pattern collection -- along with a whole series of other great collections. Congratulations and well done!
Warm regards,
Just Having Fun