Collecting by date only: a less sophisticated form of coin collecting or a smart way to achieve comp
Nap
Posts: 1,755 ✭✭✭✭✭
I was thinking about this problem the other day.. there are some coin sets that are all but impossible for the average collector to complete. Heck, even the collector with bottomless pockets may be unable to complete it since some rare coins are sold so very rarely, perhaps once in a lifetime or less!
Series that come to mind are the Liberty Head dimes (with the 1894-S), seated half dimes, dollars, 3 dollars (with the 1870-S coins), and twenty cent pieces (with the 1876-CC). There are many more series that have "stoppers" such as these.
Very few people could put together a complete date and mint mark set of those issues. However, if a collector was to attempt just a date set of those coins, all of those sets can be completed.
Now, I realize not everyone collects coins to make sets. But I would imagine a good percent of collectors do. There is a great deal of satisfaction in completing a set. Sets have challenges, for sure, even short sets can be tricky. Start factoring highest quality or trying to obtain coins that match each other well and you can have a daunting task indeed.
But then there is the bane of all collectors, the one piece that cannot be obtained, the ultimate goal of our set, though we know truthfully that there is no way in heck we will ever obtain it, and even if we could afford it, we probably wouldn't want to spend that much on our hobby. In many cases though, a common coin of the same year but from a different mint can easily be obtained. Nevertheless, most collectors are reluctant to retreat from collecting by date and mint to just collecting by date.
Is collecting just by date less sophisticated? Many early collectors did this, but they also often collected only proofs, which were usually not made at branch mints. Is a collection by date less complete? Completeness is a difficult idea. Even with Eliasberg's collection, there was at least one Red Book variety that he did not acquire. He also had proofs of many dates instead of circulation strikes, and saw no reason to acquire both. A bust half nut will tell you that a complete bust half collection must include all dates and die varieties. A more fanatical bust half nut will tell you that you need every significant die state variety (before and after die cracks). An even more fanatical bust half nut will tell you that you need every edge variety as well. No offense to bust half nuts, I love you guys!
So can a date set be a complete set? Is it an easy way out of having to acquire rare coins? Do people think less of you because you think you have a full set when in reality you are missing coins considered to be significant? Does anyone collect this way? Should they?
Series that come to mind are the Liberty Head dimes (with the 1894-S), seated half dimes, dollars, 3 dollars (with the 1870-S coins), and twenty cent pieces (with the 1876-CC). There are many more series that have "stoppers" such as these.
Very few people could put together a complete date and mint mark set of those issues. However, if a collector was to attempt just a date set of those coins, all of those sets can be completed.
Now, I realize not everyone collects coins to make sets. But I would imagine a good percent of collectors do. There is a great deal of satisfaction in completing a set. Sets have challenges, for sure, even short sets can be tricky. Start factoring highest quality or trying to obtain coins that match each other well and you can have a daunting task indeed.
But then there is the bane of all collectors, the one piece that cannot be obtained, the ultimate goal of our set, though we know truthfully that there is no way in heck we will ever obtain it, and even if we could afford it, we probably wouldn't want to spend that much on our hobby. In many cases though, a common coin of the same year but from a different mint can easily be obtained. Nevertheless, most collectors are reluctant to retreat from collecting by date and mint to just collecting by date.
Is collecting just by date less sophisticated? Many early collectors did this, but they also often collected only proofs, which were usually not made at branch mints. Is a collection by date less complete? Completeness is a difficult idea. Even with Eliasberg's collection, there was at least one Red Book variety that he did not acquire. He also had proofs of many dates instead of circulation strikes, and saw no reason to acquire both. A bust half nut will tell you that a complete bust half collection must include all dates and die varieties. A more fanatical bust half nut will tell you that you need every significant die state variety (before and after die cracks). An even more fanatical bust half nut will tell you that you need every edge variety as well. No offense to bust half nuts, I love you guys!
So can a date set be a complete set? Is it an easy way out of having to acquire rare coins? Do people think less of you because you think you have a full set when in reality you are missing coins considered to be significant? Does anyone collect this way? Should they?
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Comments
Who the devil cares what anyone else thinks, especially the stuck up Nancy boys on this forum.
We ARE watching you.
little concern for place of manufacture.
There's no wrong way to collect coins and if this way is enjoyable and opens up
more areas in which you can collect then more power to you.
about 200 BC to the present! Of course for coins prior to the 1500's, he had to estimate -- but THAT'S an
undertaking! And a great collection as well!
<< <i>Who the devil cares what anyone else thinks, especially the stuck up Nancy boys on this forum.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
I know someone who is putting together a collection of crown-sized silver coins by date, picking as many different countries as possible. It's really neat.
25 years later only 1 set was ever filled out and the others have few coins in the holes.
I can think of a dozen reasons not to have high capacity magazines, but it's the reasons I haven't thought about that I need them.
Ask away.
I would, however try to keep the grade of all as similar as possible.
one blast white mint state coin among a set of circulated coins
looks a little strange.
Good luck, Nap !
jom
EDIT: Before Heaton's book on mintmarks in the 1890s (???) most dated collections were done this way....
Les
As a history buff I have thought about forming a collection of one coin per year for every year form 1792 and the present. It's an idea that I will proably never enact, but it's run though my mind.