With the coming of a new year comes a new set of Morgan Dollars!

Happy New Year everyone, this time of the year is a good time for contemplation and planning; contemplation of the past year?s highlights and low lights, and planning for the new year. Overall, last year was a good year for me as measured by the goals I set for myself. I have upgraded and/or added coins to my 19th Century type, first-spouse, Inspirational Ladies, and Britannia sets. A few of my goals, however, are longer term goals based upon the availability of coins suitable for an upgrade. For instance, I only added one coin to my Netherlands 10 Gulden set this past year, upgrading an MS-63 to an MS-64 on my way to MS-65 for the entire set. In 2011 most of my goals will continue unchanged.

One thing I did not anticipate last year was adding and completing another set. Because of my love of coinage history in general and the New Orleans Mint in particular, I discovered another love. That new love is the Morgan Dollar. For a period of four months, purchasing coins for ?Born on the Bayou? consumed my collecting interests. Furthermore, because of their eye appeal, I was attracted to rainbow-toned Morgans. Now for the same reasons I am adding a new set this year.

A large drawback to collecting Morgan Dollars is the overabundance of those hideous looking contact marks. While I have always liked the Morgan dollar, this fact kept me from collecting Morgans at least that was until ?Born on the Bayou?. While rainbow-toning hides the contact marks in lower MS grades, coins grading MS-65 and higher have very few contact marks, allowing the true beauty of the coin to come out. For me gem BU Morgan Dollars are a sight to behold.

Once I started collecting Morgan Dollars, I learned how collectable this series was in gem BU condition. Through researching coins for ?Born on the Bayou?, I discovered I could collect 22 MS-65 dates for an average of less than $200 per coin! Therefore, partially based on a recommendation from another Collector?s Society member to ?Go for It?, I am starting a collection of gem BU Morgan Dollars!

One other point my Society friend made was that the market for Gem BU Morgan Dollars was little soft. Often I take these suggestions with a grain of salt, after all the proof is in the pudding. Therefore, with the Numismedia Fair Market Value as my guide, I thought to populate the entire set with cherry picked MS-65 dollars and buy one MS-66 dollar as a representative coin. Perusing E-Bay listings, I found a gorgeous MS-66 1898-O and submitted a maximum bid of FMV. To my delight, I won the auction with a bid 36% less than FMV! Later I won a MS-65 1896 dollar on the Tuesday evening Teletrade auction for 14% less than FMV! These recent purchases have greatly expanded the scope of this collection. Now with a set average of $200 per coin, I will enhance the quality of my collection with a mix of MS-65 and 66 coins! When I start populating this set, in addition to the competitive set, I am starting a custom set because I believe I can better present this set as a custom set. The custom set forum allows me to display my new set as a complete set in contrast to a competitive set I have little hope of completing.

Check back often, 2011 should prove to be an exciting year! The year is already starting with a bang as on the first day of the year I purchased a MS-69 2011 PCGS Britannia! There is much more to say about my goals this year and about Tuesday evening Teletrade auctions, but rather than bore you with the details in a long post, I will save it for another post. For now, check out this bad girl (I?d say bad boy but with this coin it seems a little inappropriate)!

Happy collecting and Happy New Year!

Gary