Recently I decided to get back into the US type set game, at least on the most basic level. For the past decade or so, my US coin holdings have been a rather motley assortment of stuff without much in the way of organization. I cast my eye on the 1938-D Walking Liberty half (PCGS MS65) I had. A nice Gem example of a semi-key date. I had paid DLRC $1,500 for it in 2023. Here's what I gave up: Since I'm moving (back) into the type set game, I do not need a better-date Walker as my type coin, nice though that would be. (I'm not collecting Walkers by date- I just need one type coin.) So I figured I'd do well to swap it for a more common-date example and use the rest of the equity on my end of the trade to grab up some of the other types I needed. So I approached Northeast Numismatics about swapping my single coin above for five of theirs. After much emailing back and forth, we struck a deal. Their five for my one. Because I had paid full retail for the 1938-D half, we were initially a bit far apart, but after some haggling I agreed to add a bit of cash to my side of the swap to make it happen. By my calculations, I'm losing $110 "on paper" here- but I really don't mind. I've got five new pieces to play with, and four of them will become type coins for me. (The token was an impulse addition- just because I like it.) Here's what I got: United States: 1929-S silver Standing Liberty Quarter United States: 1944 silver Washington Quarter United States: 1944 silver Walking Liberty half dollar United States: 1925 silver Peace dollar United States (St. Louis, MO): 1850 copper merchant token, Fitzgibbon Daguerreotype Gallery
And after all is said and done, I still have a PCGS MS65 Walker half for my type coin. Never mind that it’s a $165 coin instead of a $1,500 one. It’s got slightly nicer luster and is in a scare early PCGS slab. And I got those other four in the bargain.
With my non-gold 7070 complete for the time being until I decide to upgrade, I have to make some headway on the gold page. I had considered trading high end ultra modern stuff for a gold double eagle but I would probably have to go to a large show to do it.
I am fortunate to be working on that in the opposite order, having gotten all the gold out of the way when bullion was cheaper. I couldn’t afford to do that now. So now, with the gold basic types covered, I can go back and focus on the minor denominations and modern types I lack. Got the tuff stuff outta the way first. Whew! Which is not to say that there won’t still be some challenges ahead for me, in meeting some of my goals.
I bought in on my double eagles when gold was in the mid-$2K range, if I remember correctly. Prior to acquiring some inheritance money in early 2022, I couldn’t afford the melt value of anything larger than a quarter-eagle on my modest salary, so I was in that same boat. I had previously owned some $10s and $20s back in the early 2000s, but that was when gold was around $400/oz.
I have a couple of coins I doubt that will ever net me what I paid for them, but I am super happy with them as they are really high grade ones and are for my brother's birth year, so I like to think he would enjoy them if he was around. I don't look at them much but sometimes I do take them out and really enjoy the superb minting that they represent. These were part of a year set I was doing but I don't see me finishing it.
That is a good deal and swap. The 44 nickel and 29-S both caught my eye while searching there inventory. Plus your one of the ones that forces me to me buy some of the coins immediately when I see them so I do not lose out. This is one I have on order from them for the type set:
