Or maybe three, unless it's just for the "POINTS"...

Greetings Collectors,

I haven't made anyone mad lately, least wise I haven't heard about it, so I guess I'm due. I have looked at and continue to look at sets others have here at the CS. Before I go on, I just want to say that I love seeing the "diversity" and all the photos as well. But what is really annoying, is when someone has a dozen or more of the same set. I mean really, how many Sac dollar sets are enough? One collector here has #16. That's "sixteen" sets of the exact same coin. I won't say what that "borders on", but it's 180 degrees from normal. Without looking at any of those 16 sets, I went on to count not only 16 of the same there but the same person had #10 sets of another series, all the same series. And to round out the multiple sets there was #7 of yet another, again, seven sets of the exact same coin series.

Now I am guilty of having more than one set of a series as well. The reason for the additional sets is, my collecting habits changed. For example, I started out a "short set" of Walker Half Dollars, wanting the set to be all "MS 64". I then changed my mind and wanted the set to be all 65's. Then it was "66" and that's where it will stay. Also one of my original halves here was a 1940 date which is not part of the short set, thus a Walker "middle set" was born. Now I have two "Short Sets" 1941-1947 and one "Middle Set" 1934-1947. Basicly I did the same thing with my Franklin Half Dollars and I have sets number one two and three, the extras due to upgrades mostly, but also because I saw a coin that was "dirt cheap" for the grade and/or it had qualities that made it impossible to pass up. There is a "bushle basket" worth of difference between having "two" short sets of Walkers and having "sixteen" sets of proof Sac dollars, least wise I think so.

There is only one group of coins that I opened more than 3 sets of and I did it strictly for the points and said so in the description. This was when I broke into a mint roll of Silver Eagles, the first mint roll of these I ever purchased, back in 1996. Lucky me, this was the first real "key" in MS. Like I said, I broke into the roll and picked out four of the nicest coins (heck, they all looked nice) and off they went to NGC. I was looking for that elusive "70". Each came back 69 and so they didn't "go to waste", I opened set 1-4. Bad form on my part if I do say so myself, but at least set two has more than 3 or 4 coins in it.

Now down through the years I have bought most mint items in triplicate (because I have three kids) and on occasions, I have bought some mint and proof sets in the 5-8 quantity range. But I think it a pure waste of time and money to get them all graded so I can say I have "10" sets of Presidential Dollars, all of them the same, each one looking "identical" to the other, all to just "pad" the "points total".

I do think on the other hand that if you have several different sets of Franklin or Walker halves, in different grades and slabs, along with different degrees of toning, this is not being redundant, like having "7" different sets of "DC & Territory" quarters, that are all exactly the same.

One last thing that I am going to change, come the first of the year is, I am doing away with sets I own less than 3 or 4 coins in. I even have a couple of sets myself that have only "one" coin. This is ridiculous, more so if it's a set I am not going to make an attempt, a serious attempt to complete. The few that I am refering to, I can still get the points from as they are already included in one of my "type sets". I have a bunch of mint sets that have only one coin. They are going. This same person, and I am not going to name names, has 15 other sets with 0-2 coins in them. Any of my sets that have a "loved ones" name included, will be left as I am going to try and complete each and every one, hopefully before I die. These sets are ones "commemorating" the "birth year" of these family members. (actually got this idea from a fellow member here)

I have read in the past someone post along these same lines, about multiple sets of the same coin series and those of us with just one coin in a set. I have begun to agree wholehearted. Your collection is much more impressive when you are not out there trying to impress someone with a "pile" of "points" from unworthwhile, repeatitive sets of the same exact coins. I will be the first to go "on record" and to do away with sets that are "out of the norm", like ones I have seen and ones that I have. I will go one further, and say that there are those coins that due to their "high dollar" value, one may not be able to afford more than one example. Again, there is alot of difference between a $2.50 or $5.00 "Gold piece" and a modern "Sac Dollar", but then again, one will not lose any "point value" as they can always be a part of a "Type Set" of several different kinds.

In closing, I just want to say that "I am not God", and I am not trying to tell you as a collector what to do. It's just that this has been mentioned before by others and I for one, think they are right "on the money". I leave you with a coin series that is worthy of having two or even, three sets of... "Worthy in the sense that there are only 50 or so in the known world, not 50 or 100 Thousand". Just my opinion,"rightly or wrongly"...

Happy Hoarding, er, I mean, Collecting!

WKF