Ending this off right

This has always been an interesting time of the year for me. It so happens that the last set of finals to be taken at Texas A&M this semester end within 1 hour of the registry deadline. Wednesday is a pretty cool day I guess. I'll be taking my last final on Tuesday though (and boy do I feel the pressure). But getting back to point:

I think everyone that has a #1 set in the registry deserves some congratulations. At the same time though, everyone that has a nice #2 set should also feel proud, even if they won't receive the same level of recognition. I don't really think that we'll be seeing many upsets in the last 80 hours or so before the deadline. Even so, I have a certain admiration for those out there who have been fighting to improve your sets down to the last minute. I was aiming for last minute #1 status in a particular set but the coins just weren't available right now.

All the same though, it looks like my registry will win 3 awards. These will be for the 1932, 1986, and 1992 mint sets. The 1986 and 1992 sets have just eeked into the #1 position with leads of 33 and 20 points respectively. Both of those sets still have room for improvement and I hope to see them improve in the next year hopefully to more secure #1 positions. I am proud to say though that both sets are at 100%, and I think they're the only ones in those categories with every slot filled.

*** I have to edit this in fairness to SeanHaynes. His 1992 mint set is also complete and a very nice looking set and he has actually imaged it (something I'm hoping to do soon).

The real winner for this year though is the 1932 set. As I've said in previous journals, this set was made in memmory of a family member that passed in the last year. I worked with my step-father to hunt down coins for a set that wouldn't easily be matched. There had been no real competition in this category for 3 years. The previous #1 set had 3 or 4 times the point total of the next set. I'm proud to say that my family and I have done him one better and I think it may be a few years before the set that we've built is challenged, and I'd still like to improve upon it if given the chance. On another note though, since I happen to live in the same area as the owner of the now #2 set, I got a chance to meet him and talk with him at a show once. He's a great old collector and I really encourage everyone to check out his WWII signature set. He's done a very impressive job with it. And while my family might win out in this one area, he has a much larger, much more impressive collection that I'll have to try and match one of these days.