~~~~~ Larry Shapiro Lets CoinWeek in on His Set Building Strategy for the Next Big Morgan Dollar Set

PQpeace

READ COIN WEEK STORY

jcping

Strategy? What strategy? Just buy pop 1/0 coins first, and then x/0 coins next to maximize bonus points. I fail to see any new trick here

Ablinky

Read it yesterday, an interesting and informative read.

Stooge

Mr. Shapiro,

Let me first say that I think this set will be truly a masterpiece when finished, but if I had 3+ million dollars available to buy Morgan dollars, I too would be able to build a world class collection by going to enough auctions and hitting up enough dealers.

This has been done already. I would be impressed with something that hasn't been done yet, such as and entire run of Dimes for example in PCGS holders all varieties (F.S., Fortin, JR's) from 1796-date with say 85% on up in top pop. Now I believe that all the money in the world in your pocket and you would still have a difficult time completing this set.

Good luck on your collection....

tradedollarnut

<< <i>Mr. Shapiro,

Let me first say that I think this set will be truly a masterpiece when finished, but if I had 3+ million dollars available to buy Morgan dollars, I too would be able to build a world class collection by going to enough auctions and hitting up enough dealers.

This has been done already. I would be impressed with something that hasn't been done yet, such as and entire run of Dimes for example in PCGS holders all varieties (F.S., Fortin, JR's) from 1796-date with say 85% on up in top pop. Now I believe that all the money in the world in your pocket and you would still have a difficult time completing this set.

Good luck on your collection.... >>



That would depend on how one defines a World Class collection. Many (myself included) look down upon a set of high grade holders containing disappointing examples for the grade. While such a set would indeed be easy for a person of wealth to slap together, does it really qualify as World Class?

jcping

<< <i>
That would depend on how one defines a World Class collection. Many (myself included) look down upon a set of high grade holders containing disappointing examples for the grade. While such a set would indeed be easy for a person of wealth to slap together, does it really qualify as World Class? >>



Whether a collector calls this is a World Class set, to me, it will be based on how senior his/her numismatic experience is.
While Morgan is popular and it is a good area to compete, there are many series in the set registry that no one had ever completed. Pioneer gold is a good example.

DIMEMAN

This is not a bash on Morgan Dollars, but Stooge is right. All it takes to build a top set is lots of money. That is the case in most series actually.

wondercoin

I want to see Larry try to build a World Class #1 set of mint State Clad quarters (1965-1998). I dare you to try Larry.

Wondercoin

DIMEMAN

>>>I want to see Larry try to build a World Class #1 set of mint State Clad quarters (1965-1998). I dare you to try Larry. <<<

That would definitely be MUCH harder than the Morgans.

Stooge

When I walked into the National last week, a vast majority of the high end tables had Gold and Morgan dollars. I could have built a dozen sets if I just had the cash.

I'm sure most of these fall into the MS63-66 range though.

Has anyone assembled a run of the same denomination from late 1790-date?

DIMEMAN

>>>Has anyone assembled a run of the same denomination from late 1790-date? <<<

I am doing Dimes 1796 to date with all varieties. Not in 66, but best that I can afford. A lot of the Roosies are 66 or better.

keyman64

I don't understand how or why this is even a news story. Unless you are doing all varieties which requires real brain power and significant time to search/Cherrypick examples where only a few examples are known to exist then all a registry set comes down to is time, a good eye, maybe some dealer assistance and the all important competition of bank accounts...there is a bit more involved with some modern sets though since there are rolls and bags to search in order to find those hidden gems so I will say what Wondercoin does is not at all easy!

Take the Complete Mercury Dime Variety Set for example, I had half the varieties in Top Pop, some of which were stand alone top pop. One coin was the ONLY Mint State example and finest by 7 points(still stands to this day)! I did not do this with the Competition of Bank Accounts Method! It took hard work looking through thousands of examples of each date/mm that had a potential variety I needed. Looking through thousands of bad eBay photos, online auctions, Lot Viewing, going to large shows, local shows, looking through boxes of 2x2s under bad lighting, understanding and memorizing die markers etc....all over several years! It took down & dirty hard work!

Just another working with the right dealers, having a good eye, maybe spotting a few upgrade candidates and competition of bank accounts has been done an endless number of times. As for Mr. Shapiro getting free press for something that seems to me has been done over and over again, I guess that is impressive and kudos for that!

The Joshua II regular set of Mercury Dimes that soared to #1 and was sold in 2010 if I recall, was built in a span of 18 months! The set was the all time finest! It took timing for the right coins to become available and lots of money. I'm not sure anyone can even say that it was difficult.

No disrespect is intended and I hope there is no offense taken, just my 10c on the matter.
I wish the builders of the new collection well.

PQpeace

When I was interviewed by Coinweek,I had no idea that the article would have the word "Strategy" in it.
We just spoke about my experiences helping people assemble cool sets.

The real contest would be:

Have people put together sets with equal budgets,and equal time periods.
That is a contest that I would get a real kick out of...
And like John McEnroe just said.. I could win that one
Larry

keyman64

<< <i>When I was interviewed by Coinweek,I had no idea that the article would have the word "Strategy" in it.
We just spoke about my experiences helping people assemble cool sets.

The real contest would be:

Have people put together sets with equal budgets,and equal time periods.
That is a contest that I would get a real kick out of...
And like John McEnroe just said.. I could win that one
Larry >>


I've actually photographed John McEnroe and spent a couple of hours around him. Pretty cool and funny character!

tradedollarnut

<< <i>When I walked into the National last week, a vast majority of the high end tables had Gold and Morgan dollars. I could have built a dozen sets if I just had the cash.

I'm sure most of these fall into the MS63-66 range though.

Has anyone assembled a run of the same denomination from late 1790-date? >>




Check this out:
http://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/showcase.aspx?sc=2148



It's so easy to say that it only takes money, but that's naive. It takes opportunity as well. There may be tens of thousands of Morgan's at any show but there are very few of the tough dates.

Stooge

<< <i>Check this out:
http://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/showcase.aspx?sc=2148



It's so easy to say that it only takes money, but that's naive. It takes opportunity as well. There may be tens of thousands of Morgan's at any show but there are very few of the tough dates. >>

TDN, that's my point, there are literally tens of thousands of these, and yes you are right, there may be just a few of the tough dates, but at a national show, I would imagine you could assemble a few sets in MS.

Nice set of silver dollars BTW. I have looked at them a few times.

wondercoin

Ten million would open up every Washington quarter I ever found in the past 30+ years!!

Wondercoin

tradedollarnut

If it's so easy, then why have I been looking for a certain gem early dollar with the highest pop for over four years now? Or an original J-104 for at least that long? Hmmmmm?

tradedollarnut

There is a huge difference between 'improving opportunities' and 'only needing money to build a world class collection'.

Yorkshireman

<< <i>If it's so easy, then why have I been looking for a certain gem early dollar with the highest pop for over four years now? Or an original J-104 for at least that long? Hmmmmm? >>



TDN,
You have a point, but when one never has to think "I wish I could afford to buy that.", that is a huge advantage over most collectors in building a set.

TigersFan2

“I tell people, the Set Registry is not a skill contest. It’s about who has the most money and being at the right place at the right time. I had reached the upper limit of what I could do. The guys ahead of me were two million dollars ahead.”

That is the most true statement of the article. Lots of collectors like me just like building a set with economy in mind. I'm 59 out of 97 towards building my PCGS Morgan set. It'll probably have a weighted average grade <40, but I'll be very happy with it and proud of it. And it'll leave me money along the way to buy other PCGS coins.