Victories along the way though the be small

Here it is, yet another quiet weekend morning with my coffee and my coins. With the holidays coming down the tracks like a runaway locomotive, I am relishing this time in the sanctuary of my quiet and my coins. The last few weeks have been thin for acquisitions. To be honest, as hectic as things have been, I have not had the time to devote to finding many additions to my collection. My efforts in the last few weeks have netted me only a 2006S PF69UC Lincoln cent, a 2009 PF70UC silver Virgin Islands Quarter, a raw 1979P Susan B Anthony Wide Rim (Near Date) Dollar, and a few proof sets allowing me to fill a couple of more holes in my Kennedy Album. All that said, I did notice I am closing in on a couple of collecting milestones.

I really don?t set my goals on milestones related to the size of my collection but as I spent time on organizing and cataloging my collection a few things caught my attention. With the addition of the PF70UC Virgin Island silver quarter to my DC & Territories Registry Set, my total registry points will jump into the mid-9000s. With just a few more additions, I will clear the 10,000 point hurdle. (And as luck would have it, the coin is still tied up in the registry set of a previous owner.) Of course when I complete that set I will also have a #1 set ranking, me and about 75 other collectors. The addition of the 2006S PF69 Lincoln Cent also completes my set for cents minted between 2000 and 2010 too bad there are no short competitive sets for Lincoln Memorial Sets. My entire Memorial Proof Set is more than a third complete, another small milestone in its own right. As I mentioned in an earlier entry my Eisenhower Dollar raw set is complete but my Kennedy Half Dollar set is also nearing completion. I am considering expanding it though. I am very seriously considering adding the satin finished coins from recent years to the business and proof strikes in the set. Of course, in the process building the Kennedy Half Dollar set I?ve also managed to build nearly complete sets of the Native American Dollars and the Presidential Dollars as well. Now I have to decide to what level I want to take those collections. I think those sets will remain just raw and I probably will not pursue them from a graded stand point.

My son and I sadly never made it to the local coin show last weekend. He had to go into work at the last minute so we had to scuttle our plans. The next local show is not until next January but oh well. He is still scouring the cash drawer and my kids at school still all have their eyes peeled for coins. One student brought me a beautiful red 1960 large date penny just the other day. I?d have to say it?s probably an MS63. My son?s currency collection is growing. He came home extremely excited the other night having found seven different bills in nearly uncirculated condition all with star serial numbers. He?s even been bringing home very nice dollar coins for my youngest son to go through for his collection. Those will have to wait though until my youngest son is up here visiting for the Christmas Holidays. Collecting has a definite family flavor in this house now.

All of this aside, I would feel remiss if I did not add a comment to Thane?s absolutely wonderful Journal Entry on Dead White Men. I too was born, raised and educated in Massachusetts. Everything he said is true! () But John Adams was not the only great member of the Adams family to be President. John Quincy Adams also a native son of Massachusetts is oft overlooked for his contributions albeit not for his term as President. (Here is where I have to give credit to my darling wife who can boast two presidents, Fillmore and Coolidge, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Bartlett, in her family tree and who has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge about early American History for her insight into J.Q. Adams.)

J.Q. Adams considered by most to be at best a marginal President went on to serve 17 years in the House of Representatives after his term as a President. He was the only President to do so. He was a master of House Rules and a strong proponent of the abolitionist movement who managed to keep the topic in front of the House despite their rules against it. He was also one of the first to recognize that this country would only abolish slavery if the country was thrown into a war. As a boy he saw this country?s fight for independence, as a young man his father involved greatly in the politics of the founding of this country and as an elder statesman he steadfastly held to and argued for the principles upon which this country was built. He was one of only a few men, if not the only one, who was a bridge between our Founding Fathers and all of the Presidents through Abraham Lincoln with whom he served in the House of Representatives. Yes, Lincoln served one term as a Representative before becoming a Senator. Sadly, for all of the contributions that J.Q. Adams made to this country, his legacy for the most part is that of a somewhat ineffective President.

So I tip my hat to Thane for his entry and for now leave you with a photo of the State Quarter from Massachusetts.

Dennis