My US Complete Type Set Broke into the Top 20

[TomB]

To be honest with everyone, I'm not a big fan of much of what the Registry has to offer. That is not to say that I think it useless, rather, I think those who have keenly become aware of its marketing prowess have often times bastardized the spirit of it. It was with this backdrop in thought process that I entered the Registry at NGC. I did this almost entirely out of tribute to the efforts of NGC in weighting the issues through a wide grade range vs the idea of a simply, step-wise rarity assignment per coin. The former, while not perfect, has great validity and value while the latter, while not complete folly, has tremendous limitations. My set was then hidden from view since I did not feel the impetus to compete with others, however, I thought it might be fun to open the set with one coin entered each week. Therefore, for the last two months or so I have added one coin each Sunday or Monday to my set.

 

Each coin listed has the best picture that I currently have of the coin plus a little description of the coin, the issue or how I procured the example. It should be noted that I have higher graded pieces for many of the coins currently in my Type Set but that these higher graded pieces do not contain better eye appeal than the pieces listed for view. The logic behind listing the pieces with better eye appeal is because that is how I like to buy coins; I buy coins with superb eye appeal for the issue and those that I am happy to own.

 

The order of listing the coins in this set shows how much of a geek that I really am. Instead of simply going through denominations or some other method I used a random number generator and assigned each coin a number. The random number generator then spit out the order that the coins would be revealed. So, this explains why certain coins are visible and others are not.

 

I do not have the entire set complete but I do have a good portion of it complete. Stay tuned as the set grows throughout the year. Right now I believe the set is number 16 since my last addition of a few minutes ago.

 

Explaining my collecting philosophy and how I go about building and listing my set makes me wonder how others work on theirs. So, how do you do it?

[keithdagen]

Tom,

 

I have listed all the Types I am willing to buy, and then ranked them by total mintage. I pick the two or three Types with the highest mintage, then focus on finding one of those three coins with toning that makes me want to stop in my tracks. While waiting, I try to learn as much as I can about the series I am pursuing, and look at as many examples as possible of those coins. At least that's my theory for now.

 

Of course, if I run across a stunner at a show, I may pick it up regardless of the ranking in my system.

[EVillageProwler]

Explaining my collecting philosophy and how I go about building and listing my set makes me wonder how others work on theirs. So, how do you do it?

 

Tom,

 

I'm not really a type collector, but I wanted to respond to this anyway because I didn't want your well-presented post to languish...

 

My "type" pursuits tend to be focused on the keys. For example, the only trime I'd buy would be the 1872 in ChAU+. My Seated half "set" consists of the '51, '52 and '57-S.

 

As for listing them, I don't think I'd care... I'm relatively neutral on the whole idea of a "registry" set.

 

EVP

 

[Hoot]

The order of listing the coins in this set shows how much of a geek that I really am. Instead of simply going through denominations or some other method I used a random number generator and assigned each coin a number. The random number generator then spit out the order that the coins would be revealed.

 

This is truly excellent! I laughed as if looking in a mirror! But I have to say that I am less randomly oriented in the sense that I would not have such constraint! I think I might not be able to settle in on the one-a-week strategy fo listing the coins if I had them and I had a type set on the registry. (I don't have a type set on the registry since most of my types are limited to Jefferson and buffalo nickels! )

 

My "strategy," if you will, in type collecting is to simply buy what knocks my socks off when I see it! For 20th century material, I have identified certain dates or date ranges for many of the coins, and that, to some degree, explains why I have so few of those coins! On the other hand, with 19th century material, I am less picky about the dates, and even about the grade ranges, but I'm relentless about eye appeal; however, I have seen few examples that I could truly afford!!! That explains why I have so few of those! So, my strategies cause me to be a self-regulated type collector with somewhat of a random component of design.

 

Hoot

[gmarguli]

While I'm not working on a type set (although I have considered it in the fuuture) I work on my set in absolutely no order whatsoever.

 

I have a hard enough time finding coins that really grab me that if I ever tried to collect in an orderly fashion (i.e. All Boones, then all BTWs, etc) I would never finish my set. While I have tried to resist upgrading (based on eye appeal, NOT grade), when those coins that come along are clearly superior, I will go after them. However, if there is a coin that I like more and would prefer to have, but it isn't that much better, then I will not upgrade. My last two "upgrades" were actually lower graded coins.

 

I do plan to list my set one day, but not until I can get good enough pictures and it is more complete. There is no thrill of listing a set based on inserts or putting up the set with poor photos that don't show the true beauty. However, I will say that I have added the "NGC scoring table" to my spreadsheet list of coin so I can see where I would rank in the registry. Currently I could break the top 10. Just checking on the so-called competition.

 

 

BTW, you should consider sending you 1840 S.L. 50¢ to NGC since they are not designating PL/DPL on business strike coins.

 

[TomB]

Thanks for the thoughtful replies, everyone. I also work on my set in a disorganized fashion in that I never set out to build a type set. My own fascination with numismatics has brought me to appreciate superbly toned, high end coinage and also to truly love early, circulated, problem-free type. The nexus of these two collecting pursuits happens to be the type set. One day I realized this and so decided to put the two together under one roof. I don't go out of my way to purchase any coin, however, it seems that over time I have filled in much of the set. I expect this to take many more years to complete.

[Oldtrader3]

Tom:

I used to be a Type Collector, big time. I have removed several of my Type Sets from the Registry recently though because they really were detracting from my main collecting interest which is 20th Century US Gold short sets and 3-cent Trimes.

 

I bought the best silver type that I could afford with no regard to how they fit my collecting strategy. This lack of personal discipline cost me big time in some of the sets that I really wanted to finish. So now, I am now trying to stay focused on my priorities and finish the sets that are on my short list.