#1 All Time Finest (1909-Present) Corwin Family Collection of Lincolns Sold & Retired

LUCKYLINCOLNS

Hello Everyone:

I have amost never posted here but I have watched and read for some time now. I am the (now former) owner along with my 15 year old son of the Corwin Family Collection of Lincoln Cents. We have just recently sold and retired all eight of our sets. Four of our sets achieved the #1 All Time Finest Ranking: Date Set 1909-Present, Basic Set 1909-Present, Varieties 1909-Present and Classic Set 1909-Present.

As I have stated in the description of the sets I have been fascinated with collecting Lincoln pennies since my childhood. I used to fill five gallon water bottles with pennies while searching for the wheatbacks. I was able to complete a raw set in the old blue books by the time I was in high school. I started attending coin conventions in the year 2001 with my son and his interest sparked my renewed interest in the higher grade Lincoln pennies. At first our goal was to achieve a complete set. Then we set out to be ranked in the top 20, then the top 10 and finally the top 5. In the memorial set with varieties we were able to reach #2 Current Finest (behind only Stewart Blay) - #3 All Time Finest. In the memorial basic set we reached #5 Current Finest (behind Stewart, Jack Lee, Tom Bender and Charles Roberts) - #8 All Time Finest. Collecting the coins over the past seven to eight years brought my son and I much closer together. It was something we did as father and son. Ira Stein, Jimmy Sprankle and Andy Skrabalak were all invaluable in assembling the set and provided guidance and wisdom throughout the years. Tom Mershon and Tom Bender also provided advice and comradery over the last few years (as well as a couple of coins).

Recent events changed our lives and my son and I decided that it was time to move on and so we opted to sell all our coins. I had hoped that would not be the case but you never know what life is going to send your way. Its truly an adventure. Ira Stein brokered the sale of the set and without his help in particular, assembling this set would never have been possible.

We are also saddened at the passing of Jack Lee this past week. My son and I wish to extend our condolences to his family.

I wanted to make this post and see what kind of responses followed. We intend to continue to go to conventions and look up Ira, Jimmy and Andy from time to time. I am sure that we will check in on this message board as well. My best wishes to all of you and thank you for a great ride over the past years.

I invite everyone to view our sets that are now recently retired. I have posted the links below.

Best wishes,

Scott & Joshua -- Corwin Family Collection

Corwin Family Collection - #1 All Time Finest Lincoln Cents with Major Varieties (1909-Present)
Corwin Family Collection - #1 All Time Finest Lincoln Cents Basic Set (1909-Present)
Corwin Family Collection - #1 All Time Finest Lincoln Cents Classic Set (1909-Present)
Corwin Family Collection - #1 All Time Finest Lincoln Cents Date Set (1909-Present)
Corwin Family Collection - #3 All Time Finest Lincoln Cents with Major Varieties (1909-1958)
Corwin Family Collection - #8 All Time Finest Lincoln Cents Basic Set (1909-1958)

LUCKYLINCOLNS

Hello Everyone again,

It seems that I may have made a major error in retiring my sets online at the PCGS website. The only set that is properly listed is the first set of the six I have links for in the original post at the bottom which is the Lincoln Cents with Major Varieties (1909-Present). It is correctly listed as #1 All Time Finest and Retired. The other sets are all missing all of the coins, do not show as retired and basically are at the very bottom of the rankings since no coins are in them. I have contacted BJ and hope that she can fix this problem.

In any event, you can presently only view the first link for the Lincoln Cents with Major Varieties (1909-Present) -- at least for the time being til BJ fixes it, hopefully.

Corwin Family Collection - #1 All Time Finest - Lincoln Cents with Major Varieties (1909-Present)

Scott

lasvegasteddy

nice to see your post here and quite a feat to of built that #1 set and i'd bet quite rewarding in the end

best of wishes to not only you n your son but all your loved ones.

LUCKYLINCOLNS

OK, I was able to restore the inventory and then properly retire all the sets. You can now follow any of the six links in my original post to view our retired sets.

I also forgot to mention that Dan Close was another collector who assisted me in the past couple years. I also purchased several of his coins incuding his 1917 DDO when his set went up for auction last year.

Thanks again to everyone.

Scott (and Joshua)

iras4

I recall many late hours evaluating the wheaties in Scott's set and earmarking those that needed to be improved. When Scott started putting the set together, he hadn't yet learned to recognize coins that had been recolored or had defects that would render them low end for the grade. It took considerable energy and effort to better these less than stellar pieces but once done the set achieved true museum quality status. I enjoyed working with Scott and breaking bread with him and his talented son Josh. I watched his evolution into a truly discerning collector with an eye for quality and originality.

I hope he doesn't abandon this great hobby entirely, and I'm trying to convince him to start a Copper, Nickel and Silver Type set. Only 99 coins are needed to complete the set, and unlike Lincoln cents of which some dates are virtually unobtainable in red, most examplers safely ensconced in collections, a Type Set can be assembled more easily and it's not too difficult to get into the top ten.

See you in Long Beach, Scott. I enjoyed working with you and Josh over the past few years.

On a sadder note, I would like to pay tribute to the late and great Jack Lee. His passing was unexpected and his legacy will endure. Jack had the #2 Lincoln Set 1909-1958 and I hope I can work with his family to add Scott's superb varieties to his set. He hoped to achive that goal before he passed away. Jack was a kind and knowledgeable collector and dealer, and he will be missed by many.

Ira Stein