...a direction change to follow my heart

I'm finishing up a week's vacation from work, and during this time, I've been doing some serious thinking about where I'm going and where I've been with my collecting interests.

Some of you may have noticed I've deleted several of my sets, namely all my year mint sets except for 1953 and my Ike circulation strike set.

The big reason for all of this is cash (or lack of it). To even have a hope of completing some of the yearly mint sets, I'd have to spend a lot for the gold. While I like gold, I don't want to get in so deep that I'm worrying more about where the money is going to come from rather than the history of the coins.

History is also a key word. I love looking at my Mexican currency and wondering who some of the people are pictured on the notes. I look at some of the building and monument vignettes and wonder what the monuments commemorate, and what the buildings are.

I have the same feelings for the coins. I love the state quarters for exactly this reason, I look at the Illinois state quarter and think about Lincoln and his monumental contributions to our great country. I look at the New Jersey quarter, and think of the sufferings Washington and the Continental Army endured to win our independence. I could go on and on, but I think you all get my point.

Some of my registry sets will remain, as they fit in with my Wild West theme, Indian Head cents and Buffalo Nickels are 2 prime examples.

I'm going to add one more signature set; it will be a collection of beautiful gold and silver coins (only criteria will be if I think they're beautiful) but they will not fit into a historical theme.

I truly love this hobby and I feel now I have direction to form a nice, quality collection of what I can afford. The main purpose will be to satisfy my love of coins, currency and history.

I'm attaching an image of a nice $5 gold piece. Wonder if Doc or Wyatt or Billy carried this coin in a pocket?