I think it's getting up to 2 years since I've added a coin / filled a hole in the 10G set and the set is still sitting at 72% with 3 slots open. But the low hanging fruit is all gone and all that's left are 3 coins that don't always show up. The last couple of years I’ve been adding other types of world gold coins to my collection and not finished this set largely just because I haven’t seen any attractive opportunities come up.

Mine is one of the oldest sets in that category. It was one of the first two sets ever made in the category and it may have been the first - I can't remember anymore. But this means I've gotten to see participation in it grow over the years to now include almost 25 sets - and I like to look at the others over time, looking when a new set pops up, looking to see if anyone else posts pictures that aren't just NGC images... and how my pictures stack up. 😅

So, I noticed when a new set popped up recently - newly listed last month - and it had 1 coin, which happened to be an MS64 1879/7 variety. Probably the hardest coin to get in the set, up there with the 1888 key-date in my set... and, darn, I'm more than a little jealous! I wonder if they got that graded themselves. If they bought it and I missed it coming on the market I'm going to be so annoyed! The coin has a 578XXXX- cert number so I’m thinking it was graded recently.

It's hard to find these things with US dealers. I thought about trying to buy the last 3 coins I needed raw from European dealers through MAshop last year. There usually seems to be at least a couple of 1885 and 1886 on there for sale. But buying 100-year-old gold RAW online and paying $30-35 shipping fees I can't get back if the coin is a dog / looks clean in person makes me... anxious.

Adding to my annoyance recently: A seller I have bought from with success before - a US-based dealer with lower shipping costs - listed random date Willem III 10G coins for sale at a bargain price. I reached out and... Nope! They wouldn't check dates for me. I didn't even want / hope for their discounted random date price. I would have happily paid a premium for an 1885 or an 1886. They wouldn't even look. ... Punks...   

On an unrelated, but curious note (to me), while I still don't see NGC-graded Zimbabwean coins pop-up for sale often - probably because Xan and I own half of the small population between us - I DID see some PCGS graded 20 Cent coins pop up in auction recent with "Specimen" (SP) grades and an interesting pedigree on at least some of them. I wonder what the story is with these.

In case you're wondering, the PCGS population of the Zimbabwean coins also is not huge - 64 coins, almost the same as NGC… Although if I have my way the NGC pop may be close to 100 by mid-2022.

They have graded 1 solitary MS cent, 12 of those Proof S$10 NCLTs and 51 of these "SP" graded coins. 31 of those are 20C coins from 1988-1991, 12 are 10Cs from 1988-1989. And the balance are 5Cs from 1990-1991... no 50Cs, no $1 coins, no SP graded cents... I wonder how many of those have this pedigree and what the story is there. Were they all from the same place? What's with the massive number of 20Cs? Why no 50Cs? Why no $1?