...and other musings.

I've been meaning to write this journal entry for a good 6 weeks. For one reason or another, I'm just getting to it now. As some of you may have noticed, I've been juggling both my competitive and custom sets around. I'm trying to more accurately reflect my collecting interests. For example, the one change that maybe is my saddest change is the switch from a full set of Morgan dollars to a one per date set, plus my Carson City set. I love the Morgan dollar; as I've stated before, a worn 1900-O started me on my collecting odessy many years ago.

However, I've been finding that my greatest joys from our great hobby has been more in the topical interest portion of my sets. Also, I'm finding a lot more satisfaction from some of my raw sets, for example I'm trying to put together a VF-AU set of Liberty Head Nickels (another set that I loved when I first started collecting as a kid).

It all comes back really to a financial decision. Now that I've my personal finances in order, I'm finding I'm becoming more consicous of buying "the best coin for the money", consequently my Franklin half set has slowed down a LOT. I could have had the set finished if I wanted, I've seen all the dates I'm lacking (1953-S in FBL the only exception). But I've rejected all of them for many reasons, the biggest being I feel the coins have to many dings, scratches or abrasions, or have (to me) unsightly toning to justify the cost. I think overall this is a good thing when it comes to selling them, and I KNOW it's a good thing when I look at my set, a marginal looking coin will make me wonder why I would have bought it.

So in this vein, I've decided to sell a few coins, and then put the money I receive into the best coin I can. I'll update as I go along, I have several coins right now that I want to send to auction. I think I have the firm picked out, but haven't talked to them yet. Again, I'll update as I know more and start getting results.

I'm also finding my topical sets to be more fascinating. I started a set of coins with animals. Any coin that's not a part of a competitive set that shows an animal will be included. I also really want to start reworking my Wild West set. I envision this to be the cornerstone of my collection. Right now, my plan is to really work on it, plus my western mint custom sets I"m going to start. My ultimate 5 year goal (just so you know, I'm hoping to retire when I'm 62, this could change depending on the stock market). Then, I would like to make at least 2 displays to enter at an ANA convention. One will be the whole Wild West set and the other will be a display of coins with the buffalo in the design. I say at least 2, because in the back of my mind I still want to work more on my currency. I'd like to make a display of Mexican specimen notes. This is another reason for me to sell some of the coins that don't fit my interests, some of these specimens can cost some serious money.

I guess I've carried on enough. I'll end with a picture of my Omaha Stock Show medal.

Thanks for reading.