But pretty much tapped out cash-wise for now

I am down to needing just 6 coins to complete my 32-64 Washington set. (The PCGS 1937 MS66 is pending verification and the 1948 D MS66 has not arrived yet) It will still take me about 3-4 more months to complete as I have used up my budget for the near future plus the holiday season is coming soon. The 1934P and 1962D are somewhat allusive in MS66 and a little pricey. Of course I am sure I could get one now by overpaying one of the buy-it-now rip-off sellers on EBay. If value for my money was no object this set could easily have been completed a long time ago. There is always somebody ready and willing to sell us a coin at an absurd BIN price. The challenge for me is to get a nice coin at a good price that I could actually sell it for if I had to. Sure I could pay $200-250 for a $120-140 coin any day of the week. Or I could bid on an ugly rust colored or black toned coin. They keep coming back every week on EBay because they don't sell.

I knew today was going to be a gloomy, rainy Saturday afternoon so I went to the SDB so I could spend the day writing up descriptions for all my quarters. I wish I had a high quality camera and the skills to take accurate pictures to include in my registry set. Hopefully this will be a project for me in this upcoming snowy winter. I am not optimistic after reading on our friend Gary Herrmann's recent post about his frustrations on getting the right coloring for his coins. He has a lot better set-up than I ever will, plus he knows what he is doing!

It was fun to go back through my coins and relook at them. I tried to classify them in about 5 different basic categories. Blast white, white with no toning, mixed toned with some luster, limited luster with heavy colorful toning, and limited luster with uncolored toning (in other words ugly). Unfortunately I do have a few that fall into this last bucket and may need an upgrade.

It was interesting to see a basic pattern emerge of my coins that sort of coincides with history and Q. David Bowers book on Washington quarters. In the mid 1930's fewer people could afford to save shiny new quarters because if the Great Depression. Thus more were picked out of circulation with light wear- (AU). In the late 30's to the late 40's buying and selling full rolls was the dealer/collector/investor craze. Thus more white UNC coins were available for later submission to TPG's. As the roll craze slowed in the late 40's and early 50's, mint sets were starting to be released (1947). As more mint sets were sold there was an upturn in toned coins due to the mint set packaging toning the coins. These patterns go along in general with my collection. I have mainly white coins from the late 30's and 40 and more toned coins from the 50's and early 60's. I won't pay a premium for toned coins as that will blow out my budget and take a long longer to find if I wanted to have a complete toned set. But since there a lot of 50's toners I did not have to pay a premium for those, but again mine are not the prized full rainbow with luster versions. So I have a mixed bag set- ok by me.

Thanks for reading and best of luck in all your collecting endeavors! Dave

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