Hello everyone - I have a new project that I have decided to start today. I went to my LCS and got an AU 1893 Colombian Expo Half Dollar that I had been eyeballing since last week, and I got two Wheat Cents: an MS65 1955-S and an MS66 1955-D. Both graded by NGC. Now, my idea is to collect ALL Wheat Cents from 1909-1958 and ALL mint marks. I have plenty of wheat cents (rolls and rolls of them), but none that are nice, high-grade coins. In this collection, I want to collect all graded Wheat Cents between the grades of MS63 and MS67. This is going to be a long-term project, but I feel like it will be one that is worth the time and effort and won't be too expensive, at least initially. I am breaking it down into 'short-sets', so like today I got (2) 1955 Wheat Cents, so my first 'short-set' will be 1954-1958. After that I will start on 1949-1953, and so-on until the collection is complete. Now, I am wondering, has anyone else here done this? Does anyone else have an entire set of Wheat Cents that are graded? I would be interested in seeing pictures if anyone has a whole set, or just some good examples of nice high-grade Wheat Cents.
So far I have from 1935 to the present, all in at least MS 63. I have a few earlier ones in nice grades, but my budget hasn't extended to getting the rest yet. Most of mine are in regular holders, but a few are slabbed and I'm looking at increasing that number.
You are roughly half-way there. I understand not all are slabbed, but approx. how long did it take you to get that far? Did you buy a lot at once or were you more selective about what/when you bought??
I have a set Lincolns that is about 90% UNCed that I'm working on, but not slabbed. I picked up a 1915p MS64+ and a 1926d MS63+. Many nice MS coins can be found at reasonable prices, and some slabs at the same cost as un-slabed ones. Just keep looking. The search, cost, and finding is the enjoyment of collecting.
I have that set. And if you look at PCGS and NGC registries, you will find that quite a few others have one also. Some of them are pretty dang nice.
If you require the coins to be slabbed please keep in mind that there is a grading difference between PCGS and NGC at this grade level and that the market value and liquidity of these coins will be dictated largely by the certification service that you choose for each piece.
It's sort of funny that this topic came up since I have considered attempting the same endeavor these past couple of weeks. I'm just wondering how much I really want to spend on a coin like the 1909S VDB (and some of the other higher end coins of this series for that matter) that are not as rare as their price seem to reflect. I think I will go about this set slowly and see how motivated I am to finish given a bit of time.
I only buy 3 or 4 coins at a time. If I'd gone to every show--2 club shows, and 4 private shows here a year it would have gone a lot faster. I've found that most of my local coin stores prefer to deal in gold and silver, so I don't often find anything good there. I've also bought BU rolls off of eBay, then went through and picked out the nicest ones for my collection. My intention is to sell back the rest, but, ahem, hasn't happened yet.
Here is the Web link for NGC registry sets. http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/registry/coins/public_sets.aspx?CategoryID=1&sets=us My first suggestion to the OP is to look carefully at the keys (like the 22 no D, 14D, 09SVDB, 55/55 and several mint marked coins from the 10s, 20s, & 30s). If you want the set to be well matched, then you will want to get all these coins in the same relative grade and color to match the common date coins. [There is a big difference between finding a 1955-D in MS65RD and finding a 22 no D in MS65RD] The Lincoln cent series may be one of the most popular series but it is no small task in red-unc.
Actually, I would suggest that his initial attempt he should define his set to NOT include the 1922 or 1955 DD. If he is going to try red coins, the 1920's entire "S" mint coins will be a major problem. The most expensive regular mint Lincoln was the single 1926-S PCGS 65 red. It went for more than the 1922-, 1955DD, and S VDB in 65 COMBINED.
Yep. The OP needs to look very carefully at the keys. There is this dentist that I've met at coin shows over the years & he is still looking for a 26-S that will match his set and not break the bank. A Lincoln set in red unc is way out of my league. My Lincoln set is in EF/AU so I'm in a completely different ballpark. My Lincolns are brown in the early days & then turn RB in the 30s and RD in the 40s. My 22 no D is nice but nowhere near AU. My 55/55 was probably cleaned long ago. Also I've never owned an SVDB. That's the empty hole in my album.
Ive been working on this set on and off for the past 3 years. Im including major DDO,DDR and RPMs and also proofs starting in 36. Im up to a little over 50 coins of the around 250 that i need. Its going to be tough but not everything in life can be easy.
I believe that nice 1926-S and not break the bank are mutually exclusive terms. The OP said he wanted "to collect all graded Wheat Cents between the grades of MS63 and MS67". I suspect he may even lower that a bit.
Which certification service would you recommend, or is it something that I need to look into myself and then decide after I have thoroughly researched it?
I've been in this business a long time and can tell you that in the last fifteen years the market has slanted heavily toward favoring PCGS for high grade type, which includes high grade Lincoln cents. The two companies are about the same in short-term timeframe consistency, in my opinion, but I think the NGC standards have changed a little bit more than the PCGS standards have over the years. Also, the NGC proprietary standards of grading this grade range are, on average, slightly less stringent than the similar PCGS standards, based upon my experience. This means that an identically graded coin may cost less in an NGC holder than a PCGS holder, but it also may generate less upon resale. Additionally, the liquidity of the coin in the NGC holder might be a smidge less even with the price reduction. If I were advising one of my own clients, I would suggest building a set of PCGS graded coins because I realize that all sets are meant to be sold at some time in the future and that PCGS certified coins are typically a somewhat easier sale than NGC certified coins. Of course, some coins would grade the same no matter which holder is chosen and both companies can make some apparently large errors in grade on a coin-by-coin basis. Your mission is to find those accurately or conservatively graded coins at fair prices and with great eye appeal and then to incorporate them into your set.
I would also suggest buying the key coins earlier rather than latter. They seem to only get more expensive as time goes on.
I don't believe there is much difference between the coins I select regardless of TPG (PCGS or NGC), but the marketplace sure does. As such, I prefer building my slabbed sets with coins slabbed by PCGS. One leg up I give NGC is that their registry service allows you to include coins certified by either service. PCGS does not allow this on their site. While I have registry sets at both, I prefer to use NGC's online registry service. That said, I do prefer how easy it is to enter coins on the PCGS website. Basically you just type in the certification number and check the box that says include or replace where appropriate. NGC makes you go through and figure out one by one where your new addition might fit in.
Good luck with your endeavor! Like RLM said, your biggest problem is going to come with the 20's branch mint coins. The key and semi-key coins are expensive but fairly easy to find in the grades you specified, not so with the 20's coins. I would avoid the varieties like the 22 no D, 55/55, 09 horz. S, etc. They are too expensive and do not make a "complete" set IMO. That money would be better spent on the tough coins like the 20's branch mints. I think you should lower your grade range to AU. There are a lot of REALLY nice AU coins in the marketplace.
