There are 24 variations of defining the word 'set' (as a noun), in Merriam Webster. The one that hits me the most is:

"20 : a group of persons associated by common interests"

And for some reason, this definition is what means the most to me, with respect to collecting coins as a 'set'.Some people look for uniformity of grade, color, strike or whatnot, when building a 'set'. And by doing so, it adds a certain beauty to all these coins that have 'something' in common, whether it be pre-civil war coinage, Barber dimes, PROOF Liberty nickels, or Capped Bust Halves.Some people seem to just go for the goal of OBTAINING a representative of each coin that would contribute to the set, and this too can be a remarkable goal. So when I'm choosing coins for my 'sets', sometimes I wonder what is really going on in my mind, and I become filled with more questions than answers.Take 'strike' as an example. With Capped Bust Halves, finding a great strike in a year that great strikes are essentially a rarity, is a cool thing. Using 'strike' as a quality for these kinds of coins in building a set, I'm sure, could be quite a remarkable and difficult means of assembly. Personally, I think I'd have to collect for a hundred years to achieve such a set, and I'm just too impatient, or maybe I'm just not astute enough in this arena to do so. Or maybe it's just not possible to do?What keeps irking me about this is that I always ask myself the question, without a good answer, is what makes for a good strike with a Capped Bust Half, when so affected by the method of striking (screw press vs steam press and no collar vs collar), die lapping, die wear and whatever other variants that may have existed to cause the flow of metal go in one direction or the other, at the moment of striking. Am I boring enough at this point?Well, I'll get to the point.Can you call a 'good strike' in a Bust Half with flattened stars, when flattened stars is characteristic of that variety (Overton number, or emmission sequence)? Can you call a 'good strike' in a Bust Half with dissapearing denticles, or when the Eagle's left wing is melting into the netherland of the plasticity or lack of plasticity of the silver, when such is CHARACTERISTIC of that strike, that emmision, that VARIETY?I just purchased at auction (and don't have the coin yet to photograph) an 1810 50C O-102a. I haven't seen enough of them to know for sure if the weak chin on the Capped Bust and the weak left wing of the Eagle are consistent enough with this variety to call it diagnostic (as for example the smooth part of the Eagle's left wing in the 1814 O-102a which is purportedly due to a sinking die). But such is the case with the Reiver coin and the Russ Logan 1810 102a.I guess you can say such is the case with a lot of different varieties of Capped Bust Halves by virtue of the design/engraving on the die, and the conditions with which these coins were struck.Well, the coin was so beautiful, despite this 'poor strike' (?) that I decided to put it into my collection, my 'set' of Capped Bust Halves, where strike becomes a rather difficult issue, to say the least.Any helpful comments on this would be appreciated.The photo that follows is an 1814 102a with the soft L wing diagnostic for the variety.1814revers