No, I am not trying to copy a post by another Society member, it just so happens that I have reached that very important milestone in my Morgan Dollar collection.

Greetings everyone, a year ago I started a collection of Morgan Dollars based on the New Orleans Mint. After I finished that set one thing lead to another and now a year later I am halfway to completing the entire set. If in the last year, you would have told me I would be where I am today, I would have said you?re nuts. The sheer logistics of it all is overwhelming. To buy half the coins needed to complete a 105-coin collection, I had averaged one new coin per week. No wonder I lost interest in my other sets. To buy Morgan?s at that rate, I had neither the time nor the resources to buy anything else. I must have an obsessive-compulsive disorder when it comes to coins. Nevertheless, I did not mortgage the house or let my credit cards get out of hand to get where I am today. That said I am delighted with where I am, and I look forward to completing my set albeit hopefully at a slower pace.

When I started my collection, I thought a ?modest? budget of $200 per coin was reasonable. After all, I spend a little more than that at the grocery store every other week, and I drive an old car with no car payments. Minus the four budget-busters (89-CC, 93-S, 94, and 95-S) it seemed like an entirely reasonable budget for a person of my means. What I did not take into account is that 53 coins at $200 each is a lot of money! It?s all quite daunting when I think about it, but even more daunting is the incredible quality and value a set of $200 Morgan?s can be!

For an average of $200 per coin (less the budget-busters), I can buy 65% of the coins needed to complete my set in Mint-State condition. 82% of the coins can be had in Almost Uncirculated or better. This leaves only 19 coins grading less than AU-50 with a minimum of VG-10 that I will have to buy. Additionally, I already own 22 coins that are Gem Brilliant Uncirculated. Not too shabby I?d say for a classic set that is over 100 years old and has a large collector following.

Three weeks ago, I hit the 50% threshold with the 1884 and 1889 dollars in MS-64 condition won on auction through ?Great Collections." To cross the 50% threshold in style with coin number 54 is an 1889-CC dollar that I bought in F-12 condition! Now past halfway to completing my collection, I own two of four budget-busters, (the 93-S and 89-CC) with only the 94 and 95-S remaining.

It is now time for a break, and my Mint-State Eisenhower Dollar set is just what the doctor ordered. Buying the highest grades possible without going over $1000 on a single coin is my current goal. Upgrading the few Ike?s I currently own has already yielded an increase in points for my 20th Century Type Set. I now look forward to completing this high-quality set. Naturally, I will have a lot more to say on Eisenhower Dollars in my future posts.

On another note, I recently sold ten ?First Spouse? coins and netted a 50% profit due almost entirely to the rapid rise in the price of gold. I still own eight of these and plan to sell four of them later. I am going to keep the short set of four ?Liberty? coins for my ?Inspirational Ladies? custom set. The four coins I plan to sell will finance the other two budget-busters in my Morgan set sometime down the road. At some point, I will get back to my Morgan?s, but for now my attitude is, ?what?s the hurry??

I am also planning a ?coin of the month? journal post to highlight obscure coins from my collection. This will be a lot of fun and I hope you all will like it. Until next time, happy collecting!

Gary