After a year of looking I finally got a reasonably priced 73S Silver Ike to complete the set

I completed my first set of coins EVER! This week I was able to pick up a Proof 1973S Silver Eisenhower Dollar to fill the last hole in my set. After a year of looking for the coin that wasn?t grossly over priced, I got it! (And yes, I cracked it out of its proof case and immediately put it in my set.) It was the last coin I needed to complete the set and I mean a complete set! My set has all three 1972 variations and both 1976 variations. Oh, I know the set is raw but it is still one of the jewels in my collecting crown. I was so determined to complete the set I put completing the set of Eisenhower Dollars in the number one slot of my goals for this year?s collecting cycle. Alas, complete however does not mean done with the set. Being the consummate perfectionist, I am now on the hunt for upgrades for the 1971 and 1972 business strike Ikes. Of course, the level of intensity for finding upgrades is not nearly has high for this hunt as it was for completing the set. (I would love to have a pristine example of a 1972 TII Eisenhower Dollar!) With the raw set complete, I guess it?s time to turn my attention and limited resources to graded sets of both proof and business strike Eisenhower Dollars. This I suspect will be a long journey, one coin at a time. The proof set will pretty much be a PF69UC set. For some reason, the PR70UC are either next to impossible to find or afford. I am toying with the idea of an MS66/67 set for the business strikes but that could get pricey as well. The big question is will my fondness for the Eisenhower Dollar over rule my pragmatic nature when it comes to spending the money to get those coins. I guess I?ll just cross that bridge when I get there.

With the price of silver over $20 an ounce, the melt value of a silver half dollar is up to about $7.50 and the feeding frenzy for silver (and gold) coins is in full swing. (I use the melt value of silver and gold coins as a baseline. I would never dream of melting a coin!) I did pick up a 1998 Clad Proof set for less than $10. When it arrives it too will be cracked open and the appropriate coins put into their respective albums. The penny and the quarter will get dutifully put in Mylar, 2x2, flips to be addressed at a later date. While the nickel and the dime will get put into my set, it is the Kennedy Half Dollar that I really want from the set. Interestingly enough, the FMV for PF65 UC Kennedy Half from 1998 is over $15 so I was very pleased to get the set at the price I did. Score another point for bottom fishing on a budget. On the thought of Kennedy Halves, the price of nice high-grade UC proof samples from the early years almost makes them cost prohibitive. I have begun thinking about hunting down some nice UC raw proof sets and submitting them myself to fill the earlier holes in my registry set. I may even do the same for an MS set in time. At a later date, I can then focus on getting upgrades where necessary and sell off the lower grades to offset the purchase price for the higher grades. Heck, I may even get lucky and get a couple of top end UC Kennedy Halves from my submissions. (You have to love an eternal optimist!)

Speaking of registry sets, I am reading a lot of journals that are dedicated to the most recent points adjustment by NGC. I guess I just don?t get it. I understand the nature of being competitive but for me this is a hobby to enjoy and one through which I can relax. The points for the competitive sets are nice but I can hardly consider it the driving force behind my collecting. I get just as excited about a nice raw coin added to my album sets as I do about an addition to my registry sets. Back in the 1960?s when I started collecting, there was no such thing as a registry set, well at least none of which I ever heard. It was about the collecting. I have to ask myself sometimes if the joy of collecting for the sake of collecting is being usurped for the sake of competition. (Enough said.)

I suppose I could ramble on for a while but as the poet once said, ?I have people to see and miles to go before I sleep.?

Dennis