Discover the hours of pure fun you will have assembling one of these sets!

I thoroughly enjoy building registry sets. I have been collecting for more than 30 years and just ?discovered? registry sets less than a year ago when I joined Collectors Society. I started assembling competitive sets with a goal of completing a few of them with the best coins I can afford. Other sets I am targeting for healthy competition. Still others I use to store coins that buttress my overall points standing. However, there are those I use as feeder sets to pursue my real passion for collecting, my signature sets.

There are several reasons I enjoy building my signature sets over my competitive sets, the main reason being is that I determine the theme and the coins that fit the theme. In many respects, my signature sets represent what I enjoy about coin collecting, my personality, and what interests me. Filling slots determined by Collectors Society, while fun is mechanical and non-flexible. Let?s face it competing depends on the amount of money you are willing to spend to build a quality collection. That is why my goal is simply to complete a few of my sets.

Another reason I love signature sets is that I love allegories, and I enjoy deciphering allegories for the ?story? the coin is trying to ?tell?. All sets have an option for owner descriptions; I use the owner description to tell the coin?s story. While it is true you can add descriptions to any of your coins, the signature set is the only place they can all be together in one location.

I mentioned in a previous paragraph competitive sets are non-flexible, not so with signature sets. With signature sets, you can evolve your set from one thing to quite another. For instance, my ?Inspirational Ladies? signature set started with only allegorical coins. It has evolved to include historical, monarchal, and athletic women that inspire. I even have general and special coin slots to define either a group of women or that unique coin that reminds me of someone special. The only downside, if you can call it that, is that you never complete your signature set unless you narrowly define it, just ask ?Jackson? about his ?High Seas? signature set.

If I were to meet any of you, we could talk for hours about our next purchase or a possible upgrade, maybe even the dream coin we would purchase if we had enough money. However, just as my signature set is a window into what makes me tick, so it is with others who are assembling signature sets. I have never met ?Jackson?, but we could sit down and talk about maritime history. The same is true with ?Revenant? who is building a set called ?Modern World Silver Bullion?. We could talk about how he assembled those meticulous owner descriptions.

If you have never considered assembling a signature set, maybe now is the time. Collectors Society allows coins to be in multiple sets. You need not buy new coins to do it; I have a set dedicated to nothing more than my MS-70 submissions. My sets have given me untold hours of pure enjoyment, give it a try!

Happy Collecting! Gary