what do you think?

Hwilensky · October 18, 2008 7:59AM

I have been trolling the boards and collecting for about a month now, and have only bought 3 coins to date(all Lincoln DCAMS, 2 raw 1 graded). I find looking for the "right" insanely and addictively fun. In reading the threads people talk about the 7070 set. In reading the posts it seems that it is a fun set to put together and could be a set that might take me a few years to put together and at the same time learn alot about the history coins. I orginally wanted to collect DCAM Lincolns from 59 on up. I guess im a looking for opinions on which way to go? Is it possible to do both? Has anyone tried to do both? Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

HW

Blackborder · October 18, 2008 8:09AM

If you have money, you can do anything you want. A type set is a great way to start because you get exposure to many series which helps you decide what you like.

Dog97 · October 18, 2008 8:35AM

59 up DCam Lincolns all look the same. When showing your set to people they give it a quick glance and say "Yeah man, that's cool!" and quickly hand it back.
The 7070 is very interesting with all the different types and you can make it as easy or hard as you want; it don't matter if you use holed culls or MS coins, you have a very pretty set when done that people will be interested in looking at.

keets · October 18, 2008 8:36AM

what do you think?

thinking is above my PayGrade!!!

Hwilensky · October 18, 2008 8:58AM

thaks for the advice guys.

GFourDriver · October 18, 2008 9:00AM

I agree, the 7070 is a lot of fun and interesting too.

coinnuttius · October 18, 2008 9:31AM

Step 1: educate yourself. Grading, etc. rarity, population distributions, strike characteristics, toning, desirability. What is cherrypicking? If you do not know, don't start. Knowledge is king (is that phrase trademarked?).
If you collect only 1 (one!) coin of each type, make it a whopper for each. Your first $1000-2000 should be for education, not coins (seriously, sounds stupid, but I wish I had someone tell me that back when

). You either pay it to become knowledgeable thru books and observation or you pay it to learn the hard way. The latter is pretty agonizing and may turn you off the hobby. Join ANA, use the library, be nice about it, be generous. Talk to people at stores, at shows.

Step 2: take your time... no hurry unless you're really old or sick, right? If you hurry you will buy crap and you will be unhappy (and poorer). Hence, have a list of coins you want (want, not need, again, WANT, not NEED), with the parameters you have selected for each (grade, look, toned/untoned, FS/FBL/DMPL/etc, variety, price [range]).

Step 3: do not buy a coin to fill the hole, buy THE coin to fill that hole. See step 2.

Step 4: set limits on your spending. Only spend discretionary funds... not the kids' college money. If you do not have a lot of money, see Step 2. Save up, then, uhh, strike. If THE coin is available right now, buy it and do NOT buy another one until you have money again.

Step 5: DO NOT DEVIATE from your goal. There are a TON of coins out there, super coins, AMAZING coins. And it is easy to get sidetracked.

Step 6: repeat to yourself: the most powerful weapon in your collecting arsenal is to tell yourself and dealers(etc): NO! NONONO!!! See step 5. Patience is the virtue to success.

Step 7: do not become me, the numismatic omnivore. Do not be weak like me. Follow steps 1-6.

In GENERAL: collect TYPE, not MODERN. Lower grade older coins will always be more desirable than MODERN high grade material (the pops can only increase and your value will decrease). An XF collection of NICE seated liberty ANYTHING is better (IMHO) than a PR70DCAM collection of modern Lincolns. Having many high grade common date morgans is nice, because they look good and you feel like you have a collection going. But 1 single NICE seated liberty dollar will be more to your liking 3-5 years down the road. The Morgan is pebbles on the beach, the SLD is more like a rare gem. See the word NICE? Step 1, baby, step 1. Great collections are built over time. Unless you are rich... then you can do whatever the hell you want.

barbershopper · October 18, 2008 9:42AM

<< <i>If you have money, you can do anything you want. A type set is a great way to start because you get exposure to many series which helps you decide what you like. >>

Well said. Totally agree.

Tootawl · October 18, 2008 9:52AM

The 7070 Type Set book is also my recommendation. Don't start it like I did. I tried to fill all the holes all at one show. DUMB DUMB DUMB!!!!!! Pick a denomination then fill that row first. Example - Fill all the small cents first then go on to something else. Also decide what grades you are looking for. The set (IMO) will look better if you have close to matching grades.

It will take you a while if you want to build a quality set. I think I started mine 4 or 5 years ago if not longer. I need one more coin. Sometimes it takes a while to find a coin for this set (or any set) that screams "TAKE ME HOME".

Hwilensky · October 18, 2008 10:03AM

<< <i>The 7070 Type Set book is also my recommendation. Don't start it like I did. I tried to fill all the holes all at one show. DUMB DUMB DUMB!!!!!! Pick a denomination then fill that row first. Example - Fill all the small cents first then go on to something else. Also decide what grades you are looking for. The set (IMO) will look better if you have close to matching grades. >>

First to coinnutious, thanks for taking the time to type all that, and really give me some great,great advice.

Secondly, what grades would you suggest to collect. I think for the most part, my range would be xf - au (I know there would be some coins out of my reach at this grade). But in the end, it would be what my wallet could afford. I guess I would have to do some research on what some coins within this set cost. For the most part what do the majority of people who do this set, collect? How would it look if you had a all large sets VF 20 and all large cents AU 55 and so on and so forth?

Howard

Blackborder · October 18, 2008 10:22AM

You can do a 7070 theme, such as California for instance. Get all the California commems, San Fran circulating issues etc. Do proofs where possible, as a theme, or birthyear where possible, or first year of issue, etc. Don't just fill a hole though, make sure you like each coin.

Arizonadesertrat · October 18, 2008 10:39AM

The is some very good advice posted re this thread---buy numismatic books and read them carefully before you start dropping wads of cash on coins. Get Travers' book 'The Coin Collector's Survival Manual' and Bowers' book 'The Expert's Guide to Collecting and Investing in Rare Coins,' Bowers' book "A Guide Book of United States Type Coins (2nd Ed.), grading books, and more specialized books that strike your fancy. But...it will be virtually impossible to learn to grade coins with reasonable proficiency unless you routinely look at LOTS of coins in hand (and absolutely impossible to learn to determine what is nice for a grade from pictures in books or images on a computer monitor). So, take you time when starting out, or else you will get burned financially. Until you become comfortable and proficient in grading what you collect, it is very inadvisable to buy raw coins.

The 7070 album (Dansco) is a great alternative to a complete type set of U.S. coins, which is essentially out of financial range of most collectors. As pointed out previously, take your time with this--find just the right coin for each hole. It's very easy to rush out and fill this album in a month or so, but you will likely wind up an album full of so-so coins. The trick to forming a respectable collection is to find coins that are nice for their grades and thus have real eye appeal. If you want a bit of additional challenge, get the gold page too.

I am working on a 7070 album (plus gold) while working on a high-grade Morgan year set, and a large cent set. I am an opportunistic buyer---if I see something I want for one of my sets, I buy it IF the quality and price are right. Be prepared to spend way above prices listed in CoinValues, the PCGS price quide, etc. if you want unusually nice coins.

coinnuttius · October 19, 2008 2:16AM

<< <i>
First to coinnutious, thanks for taking the time to type all that, and really give me some great,great advice.

Secondly, what grades would you suggest to collect. I think for the most part, my range would be xf - au (I know there would be some coins out of my reach at this grade). But in the end, it would be what my wallet could afford. I guess I would have to do some research on what some coins within this set cost. For the most part what do the majority of people who do this set, collect? How would it look if you had a all large sets VF 20 and all large cents AU 55 and so on and so forth?

Howard >>

You collect what you can afford. But as I pointed out, "afford" may mean saving for 6-9 months or longer; do not get caught with an empty wallet when THE coin comes along. Great sets are not built with $100's of dollars and not in a year. For older material the typical collector grades are XF to AU. Brings up one question immediately: do you want a typical collection (one like soooo many out there?) Do you?

First of all, I would not fill an album. Albums are not protective. Nice red cents turn brown.. in a hurry if you live certain places. Pick a type-set of some sort (7070) or from the PCGS set registry (http://pcgs.com/setregistry/default.aspx?c=9 ) or anything that strikes you as worthwhile.

What makes a set a good set? Depends on your taste. Others have suggested: consistency of the coins in the set. Is this doable? Sure. Same grade, same look/surface (e.g., all RB copper; all silver-grey silver coin). Something on that order. Obvious question: why would you fill your type set with AU Roosies or Morgans? Wouldn't a mintstate set be better? Of course, but that takes money. If you go the XF route then your coins should be the big ones, e.g., the Morgan should be the 93-S or perhaps a 89-CC (wouldn't it be neat if all your coins were -CC for the dates that they are available?), the Buff 3-legged, the Merc the overdate, etc. Are your coins choice? No scrapers, sliders, dirty junk box type coins. How about if they all were MS and rainbow toned? Or only first year of issue? How about 1st year of issue AND toned? Is there a theme? If another collector looks at a coin in it can they see why you bought THAT particular coin? I've seen type sets that had no readily apparent theme until you looked closely: all fakes.

With the help of ebay probably was easy to fill.

In order to answer those questions you'll have to educate yourself first. Say, how rare are RED draped bust half cents? PCGS has 10 out of a total of about 2500. (NGC and ANACS pops are free for you to look at). Is it realistic for you to get an all red copper collection in your type set?

And so forth. Punch in Dansco 7070 in Google and look at the 1st noncommercial link. (no, not mine). But you can learn from it (good and bad).

Hwilensky · October 19, 2008 8:23AM

Truly great advice coinnutious. I have to say thank you again for giving some real great advice. I will take yours and others advice very seriously. I appreciate the time you are taking to point out all the directions in which I could go. I have a couple of more questions for the masses. One, when you mean PCGS coin registry set, I assume you mean, just buying slabbed coins from PCGS? Secondly, which would be the best starting point? Do I go section by section? If so what would be the best starting point? Any and all advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
HW

seateddime · October 19, 2008 11:05AM

what makes you happy?

coinnuttius · October 20, 2008 11:36PM

<< <i>Truly great advice coinnutious. I have to say thank you again for giving some real great advice. I will take yours and others advice very seriously. I appreciate the time you are taking to point out all the directions in which I could go. I have a couple of more questions for the masses. One, when you mean PCGS coin registry set, I assume you mean, just buying slabbed coins from PCGS? Secondly, which would be the best starting point? Do I go section by section? If so what would be the best starting point? Any and all advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
HW >>

Sorry for the delay, losing track of the threads. What I meant with the registry is that you can look at the composition of the sets there (a small link at the top of each category) to give you ideas on the "topics". You can also just make up things, by animal on the coin, by date (one each of a coin in the world from 1853 (good luck!

)
If you're just starting and you're still in the learning phase then yes, buy PCGS slabbed coins, and I would recommend PCGS only at this stage. The starting point is to find literature etc for your chosen topic. Join the ANA.. you can borrow reference books/videos there. Many are by coin type, but there are also some like "how to collect type coins". Join the PCGS collectors club so you have access to the population report. Once you know what you want to collect, what to look for on the coins to collect, the pop data and prices (invest in at least one set of greysheets (greysheet.com)) you can figure out your list. THAT is the starting point, the rest is simple patience, keen eye, money and rational (not emotional) decision making; you do not go down the list, not up etc. you simply look at what is available, narrow down your choices to a few and pick one. If all you do is buy one nice desirable tough coin a year, that's fine, the easy ones can literally take a week or less.
The smartest thing is to get the big coins out of the way first... it is also the most dangerous if you just begin, hence the PCGS slab only policy (do not forget to learn from your purchases). Do NOT overpay for coins just because you think you NEED it. Most coins are plentiful, if you have patience one just like it will come around shorty. Patience, rational decision making, and simply telling yourself "no" and dealers "no", is half the battle. The other is technical knowledge (grading, detection of alterations, counterfeits, varieties, strike characteristics, an idea about populations, eye appeal.) You need the technical knowledge. W/o it you're going in half-naked and you will come out totally naked... well at least financially. Learn first... HTH.

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