Presenting: The Bo Jingles Carson City GSA Holder Collection

In my last post I introduced you to the "Big Sister" of my Morgan Carson City GSA Holder set. A beautiful 1879 that I honestly thought would be a stretch ever owning. I was stunned to be able to obtain it and I certainly felt that was the last addition I could make to the set for quite a while. So many things had to line up just right including a deal that fell through on an 1891 three days earlier to make the acquisition a reality.

I was (and am) so ecstatic to become the custodian of "Big Sister" that it didn't matter if it took me ten years to find the other two coins. Then I saw a listing on ebay from a fellow collector and NCS member and everything changed.

I read the description of the coin and in that description this fellow stated he decided to let the coins go because he didn't have any children to pass them to and I could read between the lines that this person spent a LONG time assembling a high end GSA set and I could feel the sadness he must have felt as he typed the description of this beautiful coin and hit the go ahead button to start the auction.

The person I am speaking of is fellow collector Glenn Smick.

I sent Glenn an email asking questions about the coin and initially I was going to try and negotiate a lower price on the coin. It's a habit I cannot help doing even though I loathe when somebody tries to talk down my price anytime I let part of my collection go in the past.

We chatted for a while. Glenn told me a little about himself and his set and I told him a little about myself and my set. Glenn didn't want to sell the coin to a dealer to flip. I can imagine how he felt. Watching a beautiful registry set broken up in pieces to be sold has to be tough. It would tear me apart.

I really wanted another coin Glenn owns that had not hit the auction block yet and after some hesitation, Glenn sent me photos of the coin and I told him I was extremely interested. He was hesitant and again I could tell how much the coins meant to him and how hard it was to let them go.

It was then I knew my fate was sealed and my set was complete.

I understand Glenn. He's one of us. He transcends collecting. He is a caretaker just like me. I know in my heart me looking at his auction was meant to be. I don't know the why behind the what. I just know that was the way it was supposed to happen.

I bought them both. It was the easiest negotiation I have ever been a part of. I asked him what he wanted and I bought them. No tug-o-war back and forth. Just two collectors, custodians, historians, high end hoarders, whatever you want to call us getting to know each other and passing the torch, because at that moment Glenn came to the realization he did have somebody to pass these coins to. Maybe not in the way he thought it would happen, but I think it was comforting for him to know where these two beauties were going.

I am proud of this set on so many levels. I know I will never be able to compete with CT's set or Norman Fitzwater's set or many, many other sets. It doesn't matter. I am the custodian of one of the rarest short run sets in the world. Most collectors will only get the chance to see a complete set in a book or on the NCS set listings page and never in person. I hold these in my hands almost every day.

So the Bo Jingles set is complete. Its journey has made a stop here for now. I am happy with it and although the collector in me will forever be afflicted with "MSitis" (the disease of always looking for the next grade up) I am cool with this set just the way it is.

My hope is my wife and I will always be in the financial position that we never have to part with this set. When we go to the happy coin hunting ground in the sky I would like to see the set passed on to our God children and they pass it to theirs and so on and so on.

Someday our great, great, great nieces and or nephews will see these beautiful 400 year old coins (by then) and get to know their Uncle Bo and Auntie Allison and hopefully they will accept the responsibility of being the custodians of the set until it is time for it to continue its journey through history.

They will learn of Richard "Silver " Bland, William Allison, the Comstock Lode, Carson City, and the wild west.

They will also know of Glenn Smick. The caretaker of the final two coins that made this set more special than I ever thought it could be. I will make sure of that.

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