downsizing seems to be going around

I was very pleased to read the journal entry by Boomer titled "Hard Decisions", mostly because I have been doing the same kind of thinking.

Recently I was showing my wife a coin that I found on a website that would instantly become my favorite if I were to buy it. It is a true rarity from the 1800's, gorgeously toned and it has a sailing ship. I have been eyeing it for over 6 months but I've been unwilling to take the $2500 leap. My wife, in her pragmatic wisdom asked me, "why don't you sell some of the coins that you don't like as much or save your coin budget and then buy it?"

That got me thinking ( I'm sure that I have mentioned before that" thinking" is not one of my strong suits) along the same lines as Boomer. I had to ask myself, Do I collect what I like?

For the most part the answer is yes. However I fall into a rut of trying to finish sets when all I really wanted was a very nice example of the series.

In the end I have decided to give up building sets.I won't spend money anymore to fill slots and worry myself over grades. I have deleted any sets that I was being competetive in--including one set that I had been "best in category" since 2004. I will finish my Walker short Set because I love Walkers--and I consider it non-competetive because I will never come close to the top 10 and don't care. When I finish that I think I'll just look for beautiful coins that grab me. I really enjoy the most hunting down and searching for coins to fit my signature set. It's more enjoyable to me than filling slots and trying to find room in my budget for the next 67 or 68..........

I lost over 40,000 points today in registry rankings...however I have 27 coins being graded at NGC's value category to add to my sig set, and all 27 cost me less than I spent on many coins just to fill a slot. It's always hard for me to sell any of my coins, but I finally feel like my collecting is truly focused, because left to my own whims--I would try and buy 1 of each...

Since we're on a Jefferson Nickel run, here's my favorite Jefferson...you guessed it..the Keelboat