One coin at a time

Another quiet Sunday morning and I?m back immersed in my coins. Oh don?t get me wrong, I pretty much have my coins around 24/7 but Sundays provide me with the time, free of the distractions of the everyday world, to thoroughly enjoy my small but growing collection. As it is the beginning of a new month, I wanted to look at my progress against my collecting goals. I was pleasantly surprised to find I had made more headway that I thought. The Eisenhower set is complete. So much for number 1 on my list, now I continue the hunt for those elusive upgrades for 1971 and 1972. Additionally, I have filled 4 holes in my Kennedy Half Dollar set, upgraded just one 1934-1942 Lincoln cent to BU Red, filled 8 holes in the Jefferson Nickel set, added two pennies to my registry MS Lincoln cent set and one penny to my registry Lincoln Memorial Proof set. The October budget is already shot so unless I can invent some money any further progress will have to wait until November.

The SGS MS70 1954-S I mention in my last journal and about which I expressed great suspicion was indeed NOT MS70 as I suspected. So it turned out to be a $2.00 hole filler in the album, I did have a good laugh at the grade though. Properly graded, the nickel will only garner a VG 8 or 10. That was one hell of a grading jump to get into that slab. Needless to say, I cracked the slab and put the nickel in my album and retired the number SGS had given it. (Now there is one less improperly graded coin in the world.) I don?t feel disappointed at all. I knew what I was buying for $2.00. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

At school, my kids are still fascinated with my addiction to coins and specifically pennies. I even have another young man interested in collecting this year. Thursday, he gave me $10 so I could order 3 Lincoln Cent folders for him. Let?s face it, it?s a whole lot more cost effective to buy supplies from an on-line supply house than from a Barnes and Noble or similar. I think when the folders arrive I will also give him a roll of 50 different wheat pennies in VF/XF condition as a start to populating his set. I?ll let him populate the Memorial part of the set as most of the coins are still readily available in pocket change. I have to give the kid credit though; he is asking some pretty heady questions about the pennies. He wanted to know about how pennies wear from being in circulation. He came to my room at lunch the other day and we looked at a few pennies with my magnifying glass noting the level of wear on Lincoln?s hair and face and the impact of various contact marks on the coins.

My son is still watching the change he takes in at his job. He snagged a 1942 Mercury Dime last night. He really likes the fact that he can pick up a piece of silver for face value and have it be worth considerably more. Granted the dime was only V/VG but still it was a steal for $0.10. Even his questions are getting more specific relative to what a good coin should look like. Last night I gave him a quick lesson on the sticks and binding bands on the back of the Mercury Dime.

Looking to the future, I?m still bouncing the various options for populating my registry sets around in my head. I have probably 40 plus bank rolls of uncirculated pennies from the 60?s and 70?s and a myriad of mint and proof sets. The big question with which I wrestle is ?Can I really distinguish between the higher grades?? I know in the long run populating sets with already graded coins is much more cost effective but finding some of the coins on my budget is always a challenge. I suppose if I never try, I?ll never know but do I have the nerve to pull the trigger. Either way, the time to answer these questions is not now.

I finally had time to take a few pictures of my little treasures again so I?m including one with this entry. I am especially happy about getting this 1963 MS66RD Lincoln Cent because I got it at a significant discount to FMV.

Dennis