I have been working on my US Type Set for years (15 or 20). Not surprisingly my thinking has changed over that time. Here are my current rules: 1. The coins must have been struck by the US Mint OR under a contract with the US Government (such as the Fugio Cent). 2. The coins will be limited to business strikes; no proofs or commemoratives. 3. The date range will be from 1787 (the Fugio Cent) through the end of 90% silver coins (1964). 4. My Type Set will be composed of the highest grades I have of any particular type, not the most valuable for that particular type. 5. All coins will be slabbed by either PCGS or NGC with occasional exceptions. 6. The basis for types will be A Guide Book of United States Coins (the Red Book) with possible additions/deletions as I see fit. (Gold coins with designs created before 1834 are not currently included in my Type Set – too expensive.) COMMENTS (What did I leave out?)
I could copy-paste your post near word for word: I have been working on my US Type Set for years (15 or so years). Here are my current rules: 1. The coins must have been struck by the US Mint OR under a contract with the US Government (such as the Fugio Cent). agree 100% 2. The coins will be limited to business strikes; no proofs or commemoratives. agree 99% (I think it's good practice to include a single Classic Silver Commemorative) Mine is the York, Maine since I am from Maine. 3. The date range will be from 1787 (the Fugio Cent) through the end of 90% silver coins (1964). Mostly agree, but I push this a bit, for instance Ike Dollars and SBA are included. 4. My Type Set will be composed of the highest grades I have of any particular type, not the most valuable for that particular type. I pick the coin I "like" the most, which is often the highest grade AND the most valuable example I have. 5. All coins will be slabbed by either PCGS or NGC. agree 100% 6. I also require a CAC coin when it's a stickered type. 7. I also try to limit myself to $50-$300 per coin. See here: https://www.geekprydecoins.com/TypeSet/
I'm missing only 3 coins: A Gobrecht Dollar A Draped Bust, Small Eagle 1796 Quarter A Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle (1796-97) Half Dollar All are 5-figure coins.
You didn't leave out much of anything, but I collect Proofs when I can. The one Proof I would love to find would be a Trade Dollar. I have completed all of the type coins up to 1964 including the "old commemorative" coins and all of the gold as defined by the NGC registry. There are some others that the registry that does not list, which I have added. But I don't have all of the types that there could be. Some of them, like having the "LIBERTY" above Ms. Liberty's head instead of to the right of her face, are very expensive. I'm just not up for another 5 figure coin right now. Here's what I mean about more types. These two half cents are not the same design, but they are considered to be in most type coin lists. 1794 1795 If you really want to get ridiculous about it, you would need a couple more 1794 half cents, but I'm not going there.
Here is what I mean about the early quarter eagles. The 1796 to 1798 type. 1802 to 1807 type If you every get into the pre-1934 early gold, the really tough ones are the quarter eagles. The 1804 I posted above is the most common type among the five recognized. 1796 to 1834 types.
I didn’t know there were Stacks W57s coins with CAC stickers… usually they all look like road rash sufferers. No worries, your coins are all great!
Why stop at 1964? If you plan on passing the type set down, eventually todays coins will be 100-200 years old and they're really easy to acquire today. I think some modern designs are pretty nice. That's why I went with the US Type including moderns on NGC. That one doesn't include gold but it does have the expanded types for the SLQs, 3 cents etc.. A lot of Seated types. I'm 69% complete. Im young enough to where I think i'll mostly finish it in my life time. Probably about 10 I'll never be able to get but I do my best. The type can be whatever you want it to be. I have no hard set rules on minimum grades. If i can get a 70 I get it. If I get tired of paying for MS Liberty seated dimes I might live with a cleaned one or get a VG early one just for a break and to have an example of a well used one too that still looks halfway decent.
I started a basic 7070 type set many many years ago.. expanded it to the 7070+ moderns but in the end this and the full morgan sets hit the same wall.. those last few overly expensive coins. This actualy caused me a fair amount of frustration for several years until I finaly expanded that basic 7070 to full 19th and 20th century type sets. That actually gave me quite a few other coin types to search for and buy and not all 3-5 figure coins (though it did add to that list as well lol) now I'm reaching that wall again but instead of letting it frustrate me I've added a few "low cost" sets to work on in between getting pieces for the "big boy" set lol and again really enjoying collecting and making this circulated 19th century set.
A half-cent here, a half-cent there, pretty soon you're talking about some serious money. You have an amazing collection, I always find your comments interesting.
@Vess1 “Why stop at 1964?” You don’t have to stop, but it’s one sign post, where the silver coinage ended, that you can. You can continue. At one time I was at 100% completion on the NGC registry for the half cent through dollar type coin set. They don’t have slots for all the modern quarters. There are spaces for one representative State, America the Beautiful, etc Quarter. I’m not complete now because they have added spots for Washington Crossing the Delaware, the Innovation Dollar and something else. The coins have to be NGC or PCGS certified to qualify. It used to be that the modern certified coins were cheap, but no more from what I can see. I just can’t bring myself to pay $75 or more dollars for a $10 coin because it’s in a holder. I can’t even find them certified at the shows. You have to buy them on eBay. The other issue is the sheer volume of non circulating coins the mint puts out these days. To keep up with them all, you will be ordering from the mint constantly. Most of them mean nothing to me. Some of them are unattractive. I have said “ENOUGH!” If it’s in the Proof set, I’ve got it. If it’s not, I don’t.
