2 years of searching and found it by luck

Christmas came early for me. I finally found-and won-the final coin for one of my sets. The set is not a registry set, just a signature set that I started before there were signature sets. I started collecting a few years ago the France Gold 20 Francs Marianne and Rooster series dated from 1899-1914 {my wife is named Marianne and has unruly curly/wavy hair that I love}. The coins are mostly considered bullion coins by many people and are quite common and most sell for a little more than their gold value{ but then again so do a lot of St Gaudens}. The 1907-1914 coins are especially available as many are re-strikes minted in 1914, however the 1899-1906 coins are harder to find. If you go to ebay right now for example there will be about 50 coins from this series listed and maybe only 1 or 2 from before 1907. Anyhow, I have searched religiously for the final coin to my set..the 1899. The 1899 was also minted in proof as a first year of issue coin and I even was willing to bid $2000 for a proof version to finish my set..{I lost that bid in a Steinbergs auction} For almost 2 years I searched- googled gold sellers, called bullion dealers, and checked ebay's world gold-ADVANCED SEARCH 1899...and none.Tonight I was perusing ebay to see how the gold market was affecting the value of my set and ..behold...my 1899 !!! I sniped it too..not proud of that but I did. I waited until 30 seconds were left and calmly bid $101.51 above the highest bid..and 11 seconds later it was official!! I have not finished a set like this in a long while. It is one thing to finish a set when any of the dates can be found through the dozens of internet sites, but when I just couldn't find one..what a rush..I guess I'm hooked for at least another year of collecting... an image will come as soon as I get it in the mail..Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone..