This sunday I go on my monthly pilgrimage to the Parsipany Coin show.

The parsipany coin show is the first sunday of every month. Since I started going there about a year ago I have only missed one or two shows.

The first time I went, I was overwhelmed by all the coins and bodies. The second time I went with my wife and daughter to buy coins for my typeset. In hindsight I REALLY should have bought that beautiful Barber half for $650 instead of the lesser coins i came away with that day.

Over the year I have traded coins, bought coins and on a few occasions just looked around.

The last trip I purchased some raw moderns, some of which I just submitted in a large (for me) submission of over 30 coins. I have been thinking that this is most likely were my hobby will take me for the next few months. I have not had much luck buying rolls and mint sets off of the internet.

At the coin show I have found a few dealers that only sell raw coins and they do most of the legwork, leaving it to me to look through the best coins they have been able to find for the gems my collection needs. I get the Raw coins at a good price and I like to blame the "Bad" coins I pick out for myself on the terrible lighting at the show ( Mmmmmm ).

At least the chaos of the last year has brought some clarity to the direction my set is taking. My collection is still, primarily, a typeset collection, but now I focus more on Key dates. Not the kind of key dates most of us think about like the 1916D Mercury dime, but key dates in my life and the life of my family. Births, Marriage, graduations, etc ...

By giving my typeset collection a narrower focus it has also given the coins in it more meaning. A datebook of sorts for special dates. It will be interesting to see what new refinements 2007 brings.