I collect any and all that I find in circulation just for the fun of it and keep them as part of my savings. since we can't find much silver or valuable notes in circulation anymore, this is just about the only fun I get as a 60yr old collector.
You and I seem to be on the same wavelength. I have most of the dollar series and all the 28 and 35 series and am now trying to replace them with star notes which is getting a lot more costly.
Next year I will be 80 years old. Still get around quite well though. Sometimes I think "why am I collecting this stuff" because I really don't feel I have the years left to enjoy it. Thank God I have two wonderful grandsons who will be inheriting my collection someday.
I'm glad you have someone who will take over. They're very fortunate. I'm also in my mid 70's and hoped some of my Gkids or GGkids would pick it up, but so far nothing. Kids today just don't care to collect. O well, This is why I'm beginning to sell of most of the valuable parts of my collection.
You may want to give it some time, if that’s an option for you. My Dad was a coin collector for as long as I can remember, but I never showed an interest. Despite my lack of interest, Dad gave me his entire collection two years before he passed. I was 40 years old then and I’ve had the collecting bug since. I suppose it’s just one way I keep Dad close.
I'm also a senior citizen, but I still enjoy collecting and it looks like my grandson may take over. He goes to my coin club monthly meetings and coin shows with me. This is my favorite silver certificate.
I like the $2 note @Thomas R Reynolds! All of the pre-Presidential portrait notes are Awesome but I'm never going to find anything like that floating around. The new stars brought my total up to 4 & I'm still hunting my 1st Web.
That "Educational Certificate" is very high on my want list. Its either that or the 1916D Mercury dime. I've been an avid coin collector for 40 years now but only the last five have I been accumulating currency. Currency collecting is really enjoyable.
I have a bunch of common SC's, mostly 1957's and some 1935's in much lower quality. I'd like to get them graded regardless of whether I keep them or sell them, but the cost is really prohibitive. What wuold you SC experts guestimate the break-even grade to cover costs is on common SC's, probably a 67 or so, right ? Maybe even higher ?
You pretty much have to assume that the minimum cost to grade anything coin or currency is $16. Then you have to place a value on the item you're going to have graded. If the FV is $1, but the collector value is $3 then the value of the item is $3. If you paid $16 to grade a $3 item. You certainly won't get $19 for a $3 item. So if the math does not work, then no matter how you dress it up, the math will remain the same and so will the value of your item.
I started with the 35s, and picked up a 28,34 and 57 along the way. I finally bought my 1899 2 dollar and thanks to the friendly and knowledgeable people on here, I found it was a first block. So I then went after a first eagle to match. I do have a 23 but I'm hoping to get a first block 23 to match the others. So the search is ongoing.
It won't be a perfect match, though: the first block of the 1923 series used prefix letter A and suffix letter B. That series didn't use any non-letter symbols in the serial numbers like the 1899 series did (well, except for the replacement star).