What drew you to collect your main series?

I collect Type because all I need is one of each. Also I can select the more common dates in high grade.
So what do you collect, and why did you chose to concentrate on that?
So what do you collect, and why did you chose to concentrate on that?
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<< <i>I'm working on only first years of issue for each type >>
That's what's great about the hobby - there are so many possibilities and you can define what you want to collect.
<< <i>Presbyopia. >>
So I take it you don't collect trimes
Bust $1/2's.
Just historical, wonderful varieties, and fun searching.
BHNC #203
The exact lightning rod was probably a combination of something I read in a NERCG price guide and the rarity chart of seated quarters Leroy Lenart sent to me in 1974. I liked the idea that you could possibly get much rarer seated quarters for not much more than the price of common dates. So I started doing my own seated denominational surveys and by 1975 had an excellent idea of the 50 or so of most underrated/under-priced seated coins across the grade spectrum. The James Stack sale in March 1975 added fuel to the fire and was my first test case on what these coins went for in circ as well as superb gem.
My survey results were not that much different than Leroy's seated quarter study. But I also did it for all seated series plus Barbers, Bust coinage, 20th century gold, and post 1878 Liberty gold. It also gave me a way to compare better date bust vs. seated. The only thing my surveying didn't prepare me for was finding the actual coins. Even though the price guides were out to lunch on this stuff, there were enough dealers and collectors who knew different and were stockpiling this stuff away whenever they ran across it. And the start up of the LSCC in 1973-1974 also began to spread the word.
Tom
The great thing about a type set is that every coin is different, and you have a collection that covers the entire sweep of U.S. history from 1792 to the present. I have done some of the same sort of collecting with the colonial and confederation era (1782 to 1789), but there are a lot more gaps in that collection, especially in the 1700s which limits my interest. Still I have Mass. silver, a Lord Baltimore six pence, a Rosa Americana piece and examples of the state and private coinages.
Jefferson nickels. I started collecting them when I was 19. And broke. I wanted a series that I could finish in uncirculated on a modest budget.
i dunno why
i just do
i'd rather be collecting "YOU SUCK" awards sitting on a beach in florida
"GOT TO LOVE THEM SMALL SIZE DEUCES, SC's, LT's & FRN's"
John DeRocker
President/CEO
The Rocks Collectables, LLC
TRC, LLC
jderocker003@gmail.com
SPMC Member - LIFETIME
EBAY - TRC, LLC
2) Errors (offcenter / broadstruck 25 quarters): In my naïve early collecting, I was fascinated with the fact that errors could ever be released by the mint.
- Ike Group member
- DIVa (Designated Ike Varieties) Project co-lead and attributor
While waiting and working for my ship to come in so I'm able to afford such pieces, found an interest in the early quarters 1805- 1828 and half dollars of 1801-1814, these were not coins generally carried by local coin shops when I was younger, and in the past 15 years the internet has allowed me to collect them by die variety in the relatively affordable grades of good to very fine, which I like because of the history of circulation when our country was young, and I like these coins raw so that I can carefully hold them and look at them. I really like that the dies were hand made and the spacing varies among the date, stars, legend, etc, together with the heavy circulation makes each coin unique.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
<< <i>Good question!
Jefferson nickels. I started collecting them when I was 19. And broke. I wanted a series that I could finish in uncirculated on a modest budget. >>
This although I was about 17
Steve
They're gold, numerous sub 10,000 mintage coins sell like generic bullion and coins with total surviving populations under 50 would be beyond my reach in most other sets
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/gold/liberty-head-2-1-gold-major-sets/liberty-head-2-1-gold-basic-set-circulation-strikes-1840-1907-cac/alltimeset/268163
Darn, I knew I was doing something wrong!
I took it a little further and focused on varieties so that I could cherrypick a lot of them and potentially own
many Top Pops. It was a fun adventure. Even though I am selling everything now, I look forward to my
next numismatic adventure even though I don't know when or what that will be.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
Fast forward to the early 2000s. I completely my first book in 2002 at the age of 17. It was a glorious moment indeed. College came and so did the finances. It wasn't until I landed my first job that I entered the registry wars. I settled on wheats, because that's what I was comfortable collecting. It's what I had the most experience with, and what I had always enjoyed as a kid.
Series has totally jumped the shark.
Barber Quarters were a focus as a number of issues had mintages of 700,000 or less and nobody really liked them.
condition and gave up. Realized walking lib halves were beautiful, many had low mintages, and were made of silver. At the time
you could readily get the later and some middle dates in XF-AU, and many of the earlier dates in low grades, for around melt, so it was basically hoarding silver and building a collection at the same time. The set was pretty much completed in high school, then put away until after college.
After resuming work on it, focused on the tough early dates in higher grades, as there was challenge and value there. As these were tough to find, and I hated leaving shows empty handed, I started a type set. I never liked large cents, until I bought a mint state middle date coin for the set, and found it mesmerizing......a copper addict was soon born!
I started collecting in the late 1980's. I was born in 1958 and the largest coin minted during that year was the Franklin. Also, it was silver. I loved how the deep cameo proofs looked. I completed the cameo/deep cameo proof set, and then realized how attractively toned some of the business strikes were. They were inexpensive, big and attractive. I've pretty much stopped collecting proofs, but the toned business strikes are an ongoing addiction.
U.S. Type Set
Started a Lincoln set from circulation which was put away several times thru the years. As time/funds/opportunity finally allowed, would visit the closest B & M (100 miles away) occasionally. Rarely bought anything, but definitely enjoyed looking. Picked up several IHC's out of this coin dealer's junk box for 15 cents each on one visit. Imagine my amazement when I think I find an 1877!!! Return said suspect to the coin shop, they look at it, hand it back, declaring they don't think it is a 77.
Fast forward 2 years, end up trading the 77 to another dealer for $25 face value silver quarters, hold quarters for about 6 months, cash out (thank you Hunt Brothers!!), and purchase the 1911 S (MS63) and 14 D (XF40) for my Lincoln set. The HOOK WAS SET!!!
were going to start rotating their stock. I figured all the coins would
be worn out before long and there wouldn't be any pristine examples
left. In 1976 I expanded into world coins because I wanted something
new and more extensive than just US coins to learn about. In 1980 I
sold off my classic US to focus on modern US just to get away from all
the competition in US classic coins.
In the '80's I started collecting tokens and medals since I had US and
world coins mostly sorted out.
No one can ever become very familiar with all the tokens and medals
so that might be about the last new area for me.
The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!
My Jefferson Nickel Collection
ladies.....'er girls. That made me want more and it just was an itch that never went away.
bob
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
<< <i><< Good question!
Jefferson nickels. I started collecting them when I was 19. And broke. I wanted a series that I could finish in uncirculated on a modest budget. >>
This although I was about 17 >>
Me too, but I was nearing 40. Basically it's a series in which an ordinary working guy can still build an extraordinary set, because the cream has not all risen to the top yet -- in other words, while you can get awesome coins by paying awesome-coin money for them, you can also find them on the cheap by diligent searching.
I was messing around with VF-XF SLQs, when I read an article in Coinage about 25 years ago, which talked about how easy it was to put together a nice original set of VF Barber Quarters. So off I went!
25+ years later I'm very close.
Easy? Really?
Dave
My interest in clipped planchets started when I was in college nd was also largely driven by price. I wanted to combine my love of errors with set building, and while off center cents were collectible by date, the early years were prohibitively expensive. Clips, though, could be had on early coins for fractions of the cost, even though the rarity was for many dates comparable to off centers. It was challenging without being impossible, featured lots of rare yet affordable coins, rewarded knowledge, and there was very little competition for the best material. In other words, it was perfect for an advanced error collector on a budget.
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor