As I near the completion of my Barber Half set I've been trying to come up with some ideas for my next venture. I'd prefer a set where coins wont be more than $20/each excluding key dates. I really like filling out the "Dansco" albums and I find it easier for budgeting since I know I can buy "x" amount of coins per month for it etc. I'd prefer to start a set I know I can finish without shelling out $500+ for single coins. I was thinking maybe going with "Barber Dimes" next but I'd like to hear from some of you guys who've completed albums etc. Any spot with a "green" piece of paper means the coin has been purchased, I'm just waiting for it to arrive. I only need 23 more coins my goals to finish before I graduate in December.
what are the grades on these coins ? good ? VG ? I understand your enthusium to complete a set, but would you not be happier with higher grades of coins in your albums ??? In the long run your would be happier with higher grades. if NOT that is ok too.
I just started collecting the barber dimes myself. I only have two so far. 1915P and 1916D. My collection was kind of all other the place before. Although i'll still be collecting other things, I just wanted something to focus on beside just getting things I like.
save up for better grades. I understand the tougher grades will be ok in lower grades. I have a mercury dime dansco album set going....at first I was just buying hole fillers and now...I save up for at least and XF or better for my album. I want to be proud of my set. I also understand if you can only afford which ever grade you can buy. there's always time to go back and upgrade later.
a wheat album is realy easy to do for the most part exspecial with a budget of $20 a coin i started off buying 2 rolls for $5 ever week my album is almost complete minus keydates and some semi. now im going back threw and upgrading the last page is all bu. once i upgrade the lower grades go into a folder to be sold . as well as all the extra wheats by year i have in baggies from the rolls. and the money from these will be spent on something i need for the album
Best coin to collect in your range in my opinion would be Franklin halves. You can get BU-Gem range coins for $20-$30 The whole set is silver which is nice. There's only like 33 or 35 coins in the complete set, and there's no super 'key' date that will set you back more than a hundred. You can easily put together a set of these without many spots or marks for a reasonable price. You won't really get all of the varieties that cheap and if you pursue the proofs you will have to hand out more money. Like I said though, for the money you almost can't beat a set of Frankie's. You get an AU/BU set that looks nice and has lots of silver value to fall back on as well. A short set of Walkers is easy enough also. They sell Danscos that are only for the walking liberty halves dated somewhere in the 30s thru last date. Again good value in an AU/BU set and it won't set you back much.
Condition to me isn't of all importance compared to filling the hole, if I like the coin I'm fine with it.. i'm sure i'll be upgrading here and there if anything I could always fill out another barber half book since I like them so much I like the idea of the Franklins I've always wanted a "Type" set but I think if I go that route I'll want to shell out the money for graded examples. I like showing off my sets to my friends etc in hopes of sparking interest, not many 24 yr olds seem to be interested in coins. Hopefully if they see all the different coins they might think wow I like "x" coin I'm going to look into this.
Well I'm 26 so I can relate very well about peers not showing much interest in coins. They all think I'm crazy with my coin books and slabs, loupes, etc. In the meantime though, while they are out still spending money on drugs, booze, girls, fancy cars, etc. I'm just sitting back watching my pile grow and seeing real value being held onto from day to day. I have been working on a type set for close to a year now and it's been a great experience. I too went the route of graded coins and it has been very rewarding. It's quite nice to pull them all out and line them up in progression to see how our coins evolved over time. Plus like you already mentioned it has opened my eyes to where I really want to focus my attention next. I quickly realized when putting my set together that I LOVE silver half dollars. So I gather my type set and if I don't see anything to add that fits my criteria I buy a random half dollar that I like and is affordable. I know you mentioned you don't care greatly for the condition of your coins and to an extent I agree. You should collect things that keep you interested and aren't always beyond touching the coin. For mint state and proofs you can't really fondle them and 'feel' where they've been like you can with common circulated coins. HOWEVER. I would advise keeping your circulated collecting to a minimum and try to focus on better grade coins. Most serious collectors with the money typically crowd towards the better coins and with you and I being so young we have an opportunity to really see our collections turn into some decent money in the future. One other thing I should point out is a great book to read even if you never plan on selling your coins. I recently picked up an Experts Guide to Rare Coin Investing by Q. David Bowers, the book was $20 at BooksAMillion for the 2005 version. This book is a GREAT read and gives some awesome insight on how to buy coins and what to be looking for. It also shows how following a few simple steps can garner much more value for your collection aside from simply your own enjoyment out of these little metal disks. To top it all off its like reading the greatest inspirational book ever written. Bowers truly is a numismatic legend and this book is fully of awe inspiring information just from some of the wonderful coins Bowers has had the chance to see or own or auction. Just my advice though
Here's the link to my thread on my type set. http://www.cointalk.com/threads/progress-on-my-type-set.229319/ Whoops forgot the link. Lol
Im also 24 and the youngest at my coin club. Anither set im working on is whitmans 20/21st century album. Since the 19th century is out of my budget this is great. You can fill the 21st century spots in bu for less then $30. And the 20th cemtury in au to bu for less then 300. And if you keeop going the circulated way you could fill the whole album for less thrn 100. Im also doin a rosie dime album which is cheap you can buy a conplet bu set for around 200 a complete bu jefferson set sells around 150.. the last album im working on is a mercury album which isent cheap in bu or circulated
What to do next has been on my mind lately, too. Are you into world coins? I am, and I also like filling out Dansco albums. So, I'm thinking about this: Going after low-mintage (5,000 pieces minted or less), silver-proof world commemoratives (a lot of African, Asian, South American countries, some Europe). They go for incredibly low prices at auction or at coins shows, despite their rarity. There are silver proofs that only have a mintage of 500(!) that sell for less than 200 bucks. Sometimes a lot less. If you get 44mm blank dansco pages, you can put up to 36mm-diameter silver proofs in H-size airtites, and then place them in the pages. These can be bound in a Dansco World Coin Library Album (blank album). You'll have to double the pages to accommodate the airtites. I double mine with two-sided tape. It means you have to buy two pages to do the work of one without airtites, though. Some may not like that these silver proofs were largely NOT made by the issuing countries, but by private mints, such as Italcambio, which made a good deal of these in the 1960s and 1970s.
I also am working on a Barber Half Dansco album, and to keep my sanity, alongside my barbers I am working on an Australian Florin album. Aussie florins are relatively affordable ( often under $30) , and overall are very appealing coins. Here are two examples that are currently in my dansco: If you wish to stay in US coins, Barber dimes would be an awarding and enjoyable set to be complete. Good luck on your decision!
I would suggest Franklin halves. It's a short series that doesn't really have any "key dates" but still offers a challenge with some dates. If you are trying to build a really quality set you will have to do a lot of looking for some dates to find brilliant coins with bold strikes. One of the best things about the series, in my opinion, is you get so much quality for you're money. For example I paid $18 a piece for these two:
