I put this entire set together from all of my junk silver dimes except for the key date, a 1916-D. I had to buy her but she fits perfectly into the folder. I even found the 1921 and the 1921-D dimes, the semi-keys. This is the second folder of Mercury Dimes I have completed so now it’s on to other issues and types.
Randy - he is the @Collecting Nut after all! Nice perseverance CN!! I get a kick out of the many ways to piece together collections. I've seen some folks put together Low Ball sets on a fixed budget with the goal to get the complete set at a fixed cost established as part of a challenge.
Late last year I had so many junk silver dimes that I spent the dime to go through them all. I had a spare folder for sale in my antique shop but had to pull it so I could fill it. I was surprised that I had all of them except one.
When I CRHed a bit, I would find many dateless Buffalo. I would roll them and put them aside. At one point, I decided to do the pickling of the nickels to see what was passing through our hands in circulation. I was quite surprised to find that many were semi-key Buffalo. So I used an old album hanging around to create my Pickled Nickel collection. It's stalled out...largely since I haven't CRHed in years, but it is one of my fun collections. Worthless to most, but was a ton of fun putting together. I sometimes consider buying dateless specimens to see if I can fill it out, but that collection is built from the wild. And so I don't. I also started to set aside some environmentally challenged Jeffersons. I saw one collector put a set like that together and I thought it looked rather interesting. I really should get back to both.
In my search I keep hoping to find one that was missed because it’s not as pronounced as the Philly variety.
I've been working on the IHCs. I'm only waiting for the 1877. I am also working on the Winged Liberty Head Dime or "MERCURY". I have always liked them, but, I had to wait until I retired. I've been jumping around from one set to another. I am curious about how long it took you to finish each of your "Mercury" Dimes sets. Did you ever plug a hole with a lousy Mercury until you found one you wanted with your set? Great job! Too sets, huh! I'm 75 and probably won't finish everything that I am working on. I'll leave that to my son.
Best wishes to you as you continue to enjoy collecting and building set. I only buy coins that fit into my sets. I never buy something I won’t be happy with while looking for the right coin. This Mercury Set was completed 5 1/2 months after starting it. It took me that long to find 1 coin at the right price that fit into the set. I filled all the other holes in one day but the 1916-D is what took so long. Expensive and hard to find. I only need 6 more Dimes to finish my Barber Set. Basically all in Good condition. For 7 years I’ve been looking for the last Peace Dollar I need to finish my high grade set. I have two set in lower grade and a third in F/VF. I’m just very picky about the high grade set. I had about 16 folders and albums that I was working on. Now I’m down to 3 left to go. I just took a look at what I had and concentrated on one set at a time until they were completed and moved on to the next one. Again, best wishes.
