Paul Morphy vs. The Duke of Brunswick, 1858

Chess is a war game, the ultimate goal of which is to force the surrender of your opponent.To be successful a player must be goal-directed and purposeful: short and long term strategic goals achieved by tactical play. All of this is held together by a "plan".

I have only recently discovered how random, and plan-less my coin collecting activity was. I would buy coins of mixed grades and as opportunities arose. If a coin appealed to me from a dealer's showcase I would buy it. Having read the journal entries of more experienced, wiser heads here in the Collectors Society I learned (again) the value of a plan.

Here now the Plan 2008:

1)Establish a savings account solely dedicated to my hobby and regularly fund it. I may add company bonus money, proceeds from sold coins and any other found money. I will not borrow money and, aside from a small monthly contribution to the "coin account", leave my pay check alone.

2)Seek out the counsel of experienced people in the hobby.

3)Pick Targets. To have consistency in my collection I will seek out only coins graded AU58, MS63 and MS65 and higher. Coins must have FULL DETAILS. Full details would mean I have the greatest expression of the intent of the artist. Full bands, full bell lines, full heads, etc are only a small part of what I mean by full details.

Before the end of 2008 I will have:

Winged Liberty Dimes.....1945s micro MS65FB

1919 MS65FB

1926s MS63FB

1921 AU58FB

Peace Dollar.............1921 MS63

Morgan Dollar............1883s AU58 DMPL

I posted this list on my refrigerator and computer background screen.

Paul Morphy was a brilliant chess prodigy of early America. His games always demonstrated a clarity and simplicity born of planning. The game mentioned in the "teaser" shows what happened to one of Morphy's planless opponents.