The adventure in collecting continues

The excitement of Christmas has passed and I find myself sitting here on a quite morning with my coffee and my coins about me. I got my new Lincoln Cents Albums, both the 2010 Mint and 2010 Uncirculated sets, and a 2011 Red Book. More than I could have asked. My 24 year old son was most pleased with the 1923 Large Note Silver Certificate we got him and he has been pouring through the Standard Catalog of United States Currencies he found under the tree. He also got an Indian Head Penny folder and found some carded Indian Head pennies in his stocking. But in reflecting on the past year, I realized just how joy and happiness collecting has brought me. My sets both raw and registry have grown nicely and I even completed one set. I have two sons with whom I have shared the experience and their interest in collecting both of them have while still in a fledging state is growing.

When I looked back on the collecting goals I set on September 1st of 2010, I was surprised to find that I had already met or exceeded three of my 10 goals. I am within reach of completing another four of the goals and I guess the other three on the list will need some work in the up coming year. The magic of the hobby has not been lost to me with the recent ride metals have taken. I suppose if I was more focused on investing rather than collecting I would be a bit concerned about the price of some coins but I am not. I still patiently pour over the auction listings for those bottom fishing deals and as I talked about in a previous entry some weeks are better than others. I will admit that I do find those dry spells just a bit frustrating. But then there are those days when everything just seems to line up perfectly and some wonderful deals just fall into my lap.

Over the last year or so I have focused on the State and Territory Quarters to the point that I had almost forgot that the U.S. Mint had started a new program this year. Adding the 2010 Mint and Uncirculated set to my collection reminded me of the America the Beautiful Quarters. I am not nearly as impressed with this series as I am with the State Quarter set. I don?t think I will be building a registry set for of these quarters. I will be quite content to simply have a raw album of them. But that in some way begs the question of ?Do I want to add a new set my Registry Collection??

I just recently started populating my Eisenhower Proof Dollar Registry Set. The MS set is still yet untouched. There is certainly much work left on my other sets as well. The majority of my registry sets are proof so I frequently sit and contemplate the extension of some of those sets to MS sets. I don?t see the point of chasing an MS State Quarter set. I am just not that big of a fan of quarters. I have thought about Kennedy Halves but I am still unsure. I have also toyed with the idea of building an MS Jefferson Nickel Set for some reason the Proof Set of Jefferson Nickels just doesn?t seem to be happening. I just cannot justify the price of PF70UC nickels the market is commanding right now. Of course there is my dream of a Registry Set of Large Cents but I still have a lot of research to do about the coins. Yes, I know the price tag for these coins is way outside my budget but I figure if I start saving I just might be able to afford a coin or two every few months. This will be a very slow process and perhaps will require me to buy many of them raw and have the coins graded. If that is the case, I need to become very, very good at evaluating the quality of these coins. Of course having said all of this, I do have an Indian Head Cent set , a Liberty Nickel set , a Buffalo Nickel set, a Mercury Dime set and a Franklin Half Dollar set that I have not spent a great deal of time with either. Don?t you just love options? Don?t be too surprised if I end up working on one of those sets in the up coming year. I might even start a registry set for one of those sets.

Anyway, Happy New Year All!

Dennis