As I finish my current goal, I've been looking and thinking about what I might want to do next. I've been looking at the registry set lists for inspiration and something intrigues me. I think it'd be neat to do a short set as I've seen the sites. For example the gold design set has between 8-12 coins. I'm just curious out of the 1000s of possibilities of sets, who does short sets and which ones? I'm talking for example 10-15 coins that although small in quantity compared to most registry sets of 40-80 coins, are the absolute cream of the crop. Thoughts?
Well I have a short set simple 1962 p/d mint set http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/publishedset.aspx?s=105274 and I am working on the proof set as well but only because the year has meaning to me but birthyears , self, mom, dad, kids etc. are a fine place to start. Better yet fill in one based on a "rarity" you already own. Most of all I just have fun with these my main areas of collecting is most definitely Not registry sets I'm far to fond on coins with "history" (read that as wear/damage)
I think that registry short sets are a great way to collect with a purpose and goal while usually avoiding the expensive keys. You mentioned gold, PCGS has a gold $5 one from each mint set, a 1900-1907 $10 set, and many otner shorties. I have been slowly working on one myself.
In my experience, short sets are generally worked on when a healthy portion of a set is financially acceptable and generic enough to attract a large group of folks, but when the remainder of the set would crush most folks into the realization that they could not build the entire set. As an example, likely the two most popular short sets are for WLHs and Mercs where the late date coins can be found in essentially any grade with ease and are typically priced as such, but the early coins would preclude most folks from attempting a high grade set.
Go for the entire 2 cent series. It is a short set (1864 - 1872), and most of the coins can be had at very reasonable prices. You can go one more year if you want the 1873 proof.
I did the twelve piece gold type set in AU58 as the target grade. The rariety of several of the coins outweighed the gold price but I lost some money on the big dip but plan to keep the set as part of my estate collection for the kids. My set is here if you want to see it......http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/publishedset.aspx?s=103881&ac=1
Nice set !! I have 36 coins registered but done in sets. I drool over other peoples sets. Most have 1 coin that blows my entire collection away.
