Coins or food ? more difficult choices.

Well, I cannot say my collecting has slowed down any but the additions to my collections have been rather slow in coming. As always, lack of resources is the biggest obstacle. I won?t by coins on credit. We?ve worked to hard to get ourselves out from under the credit cards. I will not even begin to talk about all of the deals I?ve had to pass by for lack of funds. But true to my nature, I have not been idle and my collection is still growing albeit slowing.

My bottom fishing has yielded a few coins this month. My only graded coin added to the registry has been a 2008 S Clad PF 70 New Mexico quarter. You can chalk that one up to being in the right place at the right time. I paid less than $10 for it. Unfortunately, I have been terribly slack at keeping the photos and descriptions up in my registry. It seems free time is about as fleeting as money these days.

My albums have faired a bit better. My beloved Eisenhower Dollar set is just now 1 coin from completion. I still need the 1973S Silver Proof coin. I just can seem to pull the trigger on spending $25 to $30 to get one yet. I?m sure there is a better deal out there, somewhere. I still haven?t picked up my first graded IKE either but I keep looking for those deals. By default, I?ve been half working on completing the SBA Dollar set as well. I really doesn?t seem like much of a challenge to me but it seems to be filling up in the process of my working with my Kennedy Half Dollar set. I buy a proof set to crack open for the Kennedy and I get a SBA. So, there you go. I have figured out that despite my love the IKE, I don?t really get excited about dollar coins in general. Even the presidential dollars don?t tickle my fancy. I don?t get that rush when I look at a Morgan or a Peace dollar. Oddly enough, I really don?t even like the Morgan Dollar. (I know you all think I?m retarded.)

I have been having fun with the half dollars though. My Kennedy Halves is getting close to completion. I?m still missing a few odd P and D uncirculated coins and a few of the modern proof coins. I would say that the collection is about 85% complete. I even managed to find an obscure third variation of the 1964 half. It seems that in the process of changing the obverse away from the accented hair there were also some variations on the reverse of the coins. The variations are with the location of the stars and the rays by the shield. I?ve seen it referred to as ?Broken Rays? and basically, there are stars on top of the rays but the rays stop and start on either side of the stars. It?s not really well documented but it was a cool find none the less.

My fledgling Walking Liberty Half Dollar set has grown from 4 to 14 coins. Everything is somewhere between G to XF but I will up grade later. Basically I?m just populating the set with coins I can afford. I even managed to pick up a Barber Half along the way. I can feel the stirrings of another love affair tugging at my heart though. The Barber Half has really got my attention. I?m even finding myself looking at the Barber Quarters and Dimes. I?m not a fan of quarters and well, dimes are just sort of there. When I got my mother?s hoard of coins last summer, there was one Barber Quarter in the mix. I hadn?t paid much attention to it but it seems to be gaining in its allure.

My latest addition to my Lincoln Cents collection was a 1926S VF+. Not a major addition but it is another hole filled. I?m still working on upgrading everything to BU/MS red. But even that is starting to get a bit pricy now with coins I need all being before 1943. I have to admit that I am starting to seriously think about seriously saving up to get some of those very nice key coins in the collection. (That blasted lack of resource thing is getting in the way again!) Right now, the whole set is only 17 coins short of completion. I am still in the hunt for PF69 and MS66 Lincoln?s for my registry set but then again the money is the limiting factor. Not to be dissuaded though, I religiously bottom fish to find those reasonably priced and under-priced coins.

And I guess I have one final thought with the release of the first America the Beautiful Quarters. I really like the idea of themed coins the mint has embraced. (Admittedly, I still haven?t developed a passion for the presidential dollars yet.) My State Quarter set is nearly complete and I keep hammering on my registry set as well. I bought a couple of rolls of ATB Hot Springs quarters from the mint. I suspect they will stay in the rolls and I will get a couple of albums for my son and me to fill with single UNC coins we pick up elsewhere. Maybe I?ll just put a set of quarter rolls together but that?s not really much fun. I would much rather have the coins in hand to look at and enjoy.

Last month or so, I wrote about the Baht coins from Thailand that a student brought me. Well, I finally got around to taking a picture of one of them. There is nothing truly spectacular about the coin but just really neat because it?s different and a very nice addition to my wondering collection of world coins.

And finally, I am still wondering why we are obsessed with keeping score. A score implies there are winners and losers. Shouldn?t we all be winners!

Have a great day!