I think I’m done collecting…..

Hey, I collect stamps, albeit with a highly specialized and small collection of less than 20 stamps.

 

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I have the same problem with completing sets. Many collectors do have that problem because we are also OCD. I have almost every denomination of US coins down to approximately the Civil War (1861-1865) except Morgans. There are way too many and way too expensive. But...I also stack silver at the same time. The one series I want to collect is $10 Silver Gaming Tokens (Silver Strikes). The problem is there are over 3,000 different ones (I researched and created a list). Based on the current price, if I spent $500.00 a month on purchases, it would take me about 15 years to get them all (assuming no new ones come out).

Therefore, to sum it up, collect what you like and want to collect (for whatever reason). We all face the same question at some point.

 

I'm not so much a collector as a hoarder of whatever fascinates me historically. So over many decades I have accumulated Greek, Roman, Indian, Chinese, modern world, US colonial, US federal, paper, Confederate (paper), tokens, etc., etc. And yes, I still have a few stamps from my childhood. I also have old books and newspapers, fossils, arrowheads and other points, bottles, etc. My only criteria are that (1) it is interesting to me and (2) it is fairly cheap, with $25 being a big purchase for me. Lots of my coins have come from dealer junk boxes, purchases long ago when prices were much lower, or even circulation.

 

Hey, hey, don't blame me for your decision.

Now if one of your 20 is the inverted Jenny, then I applaud your decision.

 

Remember, it’s a hobby. enjoy it. I am starting to collect bust halves knowing that there’s no way to complete it. But there are some beautiful coins in that series. Be happy and have fun.

 

I can only wish I had a Jenny. There are a few other inverted stamps that are less expensive, but still out of my price range. Some of the one, two, and four cent stamps from the 1901 Pan American series were inverted.

 

Depends on what you consider complete. A year set is reasonably easy to do.

A complete variety set, though...

 

I swore off date sets years ago, and became a happier and more enthusiastic collector as a result. Doing so also opened the door to paring down the size of my collection and focusing just on coins I really like.

As @lordmarcovan said, it’s liberating to not feel compelled to buy a coin simply to fill an empty spot in a set.

To be clear, my collecting habits aren’t completely random. There are certain areas that interesting me more than others, which imparts a bit of structure to my collection … what I might call groupings, but definitely not sets.

As for your question:

The only right way is the way that makes you happy.

 

I'm not bound by any set constraints. While I certainly have my likes and dislikes and buy certain genres way more than others, I'm not into sets. If it's struck, cool, and affordable, I'll potentially buy it.


I recently went outside the box and purchased a budget lion daalder from 1647, a huge 42mm. silver coin. The struck moderns (1600's) are generally cool.

 

As someone who has been working on the US Type Including moderns registry set for 16 years, which is now up to 136 slots to chase (73% complete), I'd argue a 7070 set is too basic while someone else may feel this set doesn't cover enough. There's a handful that are all but unobtainable but that's fine to me. I like adding in the modern anniversary coins to go along with my types. I haven't added any capped bust halves yet. Maybe I'll pursue them in 2025.

In the end there are A LOT of seated liberty types. If somebody didn't want to have to collect that many I could understand but the series is broad and encompassses several denominations. There are three SLQs types, three silver 3 cent piece types, two types of V nickels. This registry set I feel does a good job accounting for the major stuff and is enjoyable to look at online for me. I've learned a lot working on it and it has stayed interesting. Eventually, you bog down and everything is pretty tough at the end except for newer moderns. It doesn't mean you're done, it just means progress slows. This brings me to part two of my thinking.

While this has been my main focus I allow myself what I consider side pursuits like you say. Chasing shiny objects occasionally. I decided to restart the basic Franklin half set just because they're so nice and really easy to obtain great examples. One day I realized I had quite a few Morgans so I started a morgan set too. It's at 22%. I usually pick up a few a year to add to it as something stands out to me.

As I keep typing I realize I'm in the same boat as you and probably shouldn't be giving advice.

 

The same is true of the Barber coins. The dimes have two obverse types and three reverse types. The quarters have three obverse types and three reverse types. The halves have two obverse types and two reverse types. Some of these were documented and published in BCCS within the past five years. So if you want to collect the actual Barber coin hub type set, that's a lot of coins. Then if you want to collect all the transition variety combinations across mints, for 1900-dated quarters alone you'll need 15 coins. For the Barber dimes 1899-1905, you'll need 21 coins. The more knowledgeable and esoteric you get, the more fun it is. If that's how you define "fun." If you want to collect Canadian 1858 large cent die varieties, there are hundreds and a two volume set of books covering them. 466 pages worth! There are insane collectors who actually do this set.

 

I have never been a set builder. Even when I was a kid, I found the act of plugging wheat cents into a Whitman folder boring. I like variety and could care less about date and mintmark combinations as long as I had one of a coin, I was happy. This led me to more or less a type collection of U.S. coinage before my foray into world coinage. At this point I bought almost everything I found interesting and ended up with a collection approaching a thousand coins. I took a pause and realized I was buying tons of stuff, but most of it, I really didn't like. Over a few months I sold 95% of my collection and focused on the coins I really liked, which led me to my core collection today, German States small denominations, with a heavy focus on the 17th and 18th centuries. I do branch out occasionally, but I have found by buying better quality coins, I am buying less and I enjoy these coins much more. I rarely sell coins anymore these days unless I upgrade or can spare one for a better coin. We all go through these different phases of collecting. I would say over 90% of my collection is slabbed now and I just keep them in boxes from the respective graders. There's no right way to collect and the beauty of the hobby is you are able to be flexible, shift your focus and build a collection under just about any budget.

 

I think I want to see your Type Set.....AND your Morgans!!!

 

And, if you collect VAM's for Morgans and Peace Dollars, who knows how many of those there are?!!!??

 

The only rule in coin collecting is that there are no rules.

I've changed my focus numerous times and have also struggled with collecting versus hoarding. Hoarding didn't work out for me (it can work for some people) and I found myself staring at a pile of regretted impulse purchases thinking what I could have bought had I planned more. Also, when I started buying duplicate coins that I didn't realize that I already had, I knew I had a problem.

Then I tried a US type set and quickly realized the challenge (and expense) of many 18th century types (1793 Half Cent, anyone?). Then my standards skyrocketed and nothing under AU would satisfy me (MS 62+ became the ideal). That made a number of types instantly unaffordable, or at least challenging to afford. In retrospect, I arguably painted myself into a corner. But I knew what I liked as well.

Completing a series never appealed to me, with the exception of the amazing Meiji/Taisho era Japanese Dragon Yen coins. That set would also prove difficult and prohibitively expensive (especially obtaining them in MS+ condition), so that didn't last too long either.

Then something strange happened. I realized that coins of Elizabeth I, Henry VIII, and other monarchs were actually available and affordable enough. I couldn't believe it. Thus began my obsession with hammered coins of all types. Plus, they were so old. They made 1812 look like mere yesterday.

This inevitably led to ancients, which, perhaps strangely, led to my focusing on one of the least popular, and sometimes outright dismissed, types: Byzantines. Maybe only Chuck E. Cheese tokens are less popular. Despite everything, I can't get enough of them, but I'm extremely picky about what I purchase, so I don't have too many. I don't care if other people don't like them. I don't care that someone on another forum called them "objectively ugly." I find them uniquely appealing in their crudity and abstraction. So be it. That's where I've currently landed and I've even found myself beginning to sell off some of my modern coins. I'm very happy having a small number of coins that appeal to me. Collecting is an enjoyable hobby for me, so I just engage with it when I want to. If it became anything like an obsession, its enjoyment would likely cease.

So we'll see where things go from here. I'll keep making things up as I go along at a pace and a budget that works for me.

 

Well you're in luck. All you have to do is click on the NGC banner in my sig line at the bottom of my post here and you can look at any set I have there. Click on the actual name of the set and it'll take you to that set on the new(er) website. The US Type is second from the bottom and is 3 pages. I take all the closeup photographs myself. The images are clickable if you want to see any full screen.

 

Nice type set. I especially like that you take your own pictures. I should try it myself as I have the coins on my registry but unless they are in NGC holders there is no photograph. My 18th century to modern set is all done with the exception of six coins and I'm sure you guess which ones.

 

Challenges can be fun and engaging, but don’t let it get you down. Partaking in coin collecting is a beautiful thing with so many avenues to get. Cripe, I’d love to finish an SLQ set but I’d rather not take a second job.

 

I admit I love collecting sets. To me a complete set is date and mint mark business strikes. I know it is impossible to complete every set out there but I'm gonna have fun trying as long as my finances allow it.

Like someone said up post there are no rules in coin collecting. Just collect what you like.