After nearly a year, and a significant investment of time and money, Gary?s 20th Century Type Set is complete.

Just under a year ago, I embarked on a journey to complete a non-gold, circulation only, 20th century type set. There are several reasons I decided to assemble this set, the first is that I am a type collector. Secondly, from a practical perspective, the set has 39 coins, 30 of which I purchased in ?mint state? for under $100, many for under $50. Fueled by a competitive nature, I had as my goal to compete for the 2009 Best Presented Set, and I enjoyed strategizing about how best to position my set to compete without top population coins. Finally, there was my love for coinage history and allegory. That combined with my familiarity with the events of the 20th century, made preparing my owner descriptions a lot of fun.

Since the 2009 annual contest deadline, I acquired the last six coins to complete my set, finished the owner descriptions, and uploaded the pictures. Additionally, I upgraded the AU-58, 1917 Type 1 FH Standing Liberty Quarter to MS-64 and the AU-58, 1906 Barber Dime to a MS-63, 1916 Barber Dime. Now the entire set is in mint state condition, except for the AU-53 1912-D Barber Half.

I am sure most of you are familiar with the ?hockey-stick? type rise in coin valuations, especially in MS grades. For instance, my Standing Liberty Quarter has a gradual rise in valuation from circulated grades through MS-64. Then from MS-64 to 65, in an exponential rise, my coin doubles in value. Many of the coins I purchased for this set were graded one to two points below the grade where the coin suddenly rises in value. This purchasing strategy gave me the balance between eye appeal and value that I was seeking. It was never my intention to compete on a point?s basis with this set, because I knew I could not afford it. That is why I focused on other things, like owner descriptions and pictures to put me over the top.

I knew that it was virtually impossible for me to complete my set before the deadline, so I focused on acquiring what I considered were key coins to make the set ?seem? complete. In a way, the final six coins did not complete the set, but enhanced it. My intention at the contest deadline was to have all the pictures and owner descriptions done for the 33 coins in the set at that time. I remember posting about how pleased I was to have given this set my best effort. Now, I am thrilled that NGC has recognized my set as the number two ranked of five best-presented sets of 2009!

Now my set is finally complete, with 14 pages of a Word Document in owner descriptions. Included in the descriptions are brief biographies of six presidents and two famous Americans. With early 20th century issues, I explore my coins allegories and 19th century American history. Many of the coins in my set contain information about current events at the time of the coin's issuance. I talk about mints and varieties where applicable. Sometimes I delve into the sentiments of my coins? designers. If a particular coin is of personal significance, I include that in my description also. Only after my set was nearly finished, did I realize how strongly the themes of liberty and freedom weaved their way through my set. This, I had not intended when I started to assemble this set and found my set themes to be a pleasant surprise. I had always been told our coinage represents our values as a nation, now I know it. If you have the chance, stop by my page to look at ?Gary?s 20th Century Type Set?, even if only to view your favorite coins. I think you will enjoy it.

Now with my set complete, I do not foresee any major edits. However, I may discover something new in time that I will want to include in my owner descriptions. One example of that should be of particular interest to my friend Six Mile Rick. This may seem odd, but I never seemed to care what the shaft of wheat and the cotton bough in Liberty?s hair on the Morgan Dollar and Liberty Nickel meant. I stumbled onto the symbolism one day as I was conducting my research. The shaft of wheat and the cotton bough represent the North and the South respectively during the reconstruction period after the civil war. That the wheat and cotton were in lady Liberty?s hair showed that the nation was re-uniting under liberty, designated by the liberty band on the dollar and the coronet on the nickel. Furthermore, the Phrygian cap on the Morgan Dollar showed that everyone was free. Please enjoy the photo collage of my MS-62 Morgan Dollar and my MS-63 Liberty Nickel. Notice the symbolism in Lady Liberty.

Gary