zadok

WC thanks for expanding on ur rationale, yes I would agree that attempts to migrate the TPG efforts to a global acceptance would disenfranchise even more pure collectors n drive them from the numismatic mainstream...that's why many US collectors sold off their US collections n migrated to collecting the more interesting n challenging foreign issues, there was still opportunities to actually collect, I divested myself of approximately 80% of my US collections several years ago n found that I could get more bang for my buck n more collecting satisfaction in several of the foreign issues....im sure the heavily promoted TPG efforts will receive initial success but the more entrenched foreign collecting fraternities wont go along willingly...n eventually the pure investors will become disenchanted n go on to the next asset escalation, especially after the inflated prices collapse....the real issue here is collecting versus investing, sure we all hope we don't lose money if when we sell, but filling that last whole in ur album is as they say...priceless

...just a few observations re collecting Ireland free state and republic coins, do not kid urself into believing that either of these sets of coins will be easy or cheap to assemble, with a few exceptions in the later republic years all of these coins are low mintage, assembling complete denomination sets in mint state is prohibitive unless u r willing to accept ms60-61 with issues, attempting to complete higher grade ms63-64-65 denomination sets is a long term ambition....some denominations in certain dates n grades simply do not exist, I have the most complete set in north America n have been assembling it for over 50 years, I have three complete sets minus the '43 florin in mint state, the result of continuous upgrading during those years n I am still looking for specific dates in specific grades...I have want lists with the dealers u mention n virtually every major auction house in the world n they have not ever handled some of these coins in the higher grades, the price deferential between ms62 n ms66 can be 10 fold, my highest graded set has easily surpassed $100K n yes they r all certified, not an easy task as most of the grading services r not totally familiar with some of the sublities of mint state Ireland issues n accurate certification can be iffy...collecting these sets has been especially rewarding n challenging n remains so today n frustrating...this area of collecting is very competitive n should u continue on ur goal of assembling a mint state set im sure u will enjoy the hunt n have many hours of personal satisfaction of reflecting on the fruits of ur efforts.....I know I have.....good luck n enjoy...