Doing it for fun and relaxation

Of late, there seems to be a lot of discussion on the nature of competition in collecting registry sets. Bear in mind I am incredibly competitive and live by the credo that if you are not keeping score, it?s only practice. But I also recognize the reality of life. There is no way, I as a small time collector, will ever compete with the power collectors of the world. I collect coins for fun and relaxation. And as strange as this may sound, even to me, it does not bother me in the least that my collections likely never will earn a number 1 ranking. (Of course, I have to qualify this statement. Should I ever win the Powerball Lottery; my collecting will definitely ramp up significantly.)

I guess it?s sort of like golf. With a 12 handicap, I am definitely a weekend golfer. If I shoot a 3-over par round, I have had a great day even if I loose to friend with a 4 handicap that shoots a 1-under par round. I am really not competing with my friend, I am competing with myself. I view collecting coins much in the same way. I am looking to improve my collection not get a better collection than the next collector. As a high school baseball coach, I do not get disappointed if my kids loose a game if they played their hearts out and did everything within their ability to win. If my kids screw up, that is a different story all together.

As I ponder the dilemma of how NGC ranks the registry sets, I recognize that putting registry sets head to head obviously favors the power collectors. I suppose there are possible options that NGC could use to differentiate the levels of collectors. And I suspect, as another member has pointed out, that should NGC set up a tiered system there will be those that set up dummy accounts to get that number 1 ranking. A possible solution that comes to mind in looking at the rankings list is to categorize the rankings based on total registry points. There are 543 collectors listed with more than 100,000 registry points, 514 listed collectors with 50,000 to 100,000 registry points, 665 listed collectors with 25,000 to 50,000 registry points, 947 listed collectors with 10,000 to 25,000 registry points and about 3100 listed collectors below 10,000 points. Awarding set rankings in each of these categories would recognize the small collectors because, quite frankly, I cannot see a power collector being in the least bit interested in a number 1 ranking in the small collector categories. The prestige of being number 1 in the top category would be just too much of a draw.

So as I continue to build my collection, I will keep looking for those bargain basement prices on graded coins. I will feel hugely successful if I complete my lowly PF69 and MS66 sets of pennies. I will still revel in filling the holes in my ungraded albums. I will enjoy my quite weekend mornings taking pictures of my coins, researching my coins and writing descriptions about the coins in my registry sets. After all, presentation is everything. And, I will still give away my lower to mid grade coins which I have upgraded out of my albums to kids who have developed an interest in coin collecting. My hope is that these small treasures that I share with today?s youth will serve as seeds to keep coin collecting growing and vibrant.