Featured US Type Set.... finally finished

Super accomplishment! It's hard to do especially with a budget. I really like your documentation effort.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

If by “challenge,” you mean a 6 figure hole in your pocket.... Those albums are cool, but there’s no way I’m ever going to attempt filling one. Even if I could get all the coins, those albums are far from archival and would probably cause significant toning. That toning may not be pretty, either.

 

Nice set!

 

Congrats on (almost) finishing the set! Even if they aren't the highest grade, assembling that set is still something impressive to be proud of.

 

Great work! It's a job well done, and especially impressive with the budget you used!

 

I like it.

 

I saw this one and consulted Bill before I purchased it for $239. Pretty happy. Technically the set is now complete. Although there is one last hole for a Type 3 Seated Dollar.

 

Congratulations on your near-completion.

I have a lot of respect for the patience and knowledge (or at the very least, shadow of lost knowledge) that type set collectors have:

If I had to buy a 20 cent piece today, I wouldn’t know where to begin; I’d have to spend a little while looking up mintages, ANA grading standards/Photograde, and HA and eBay past sales just to steer me in the right direction. Then it may take me a while to arrive at my destination. Oh yeah, then I have to do that for every type of coin the US has made.

There also is a willingness to have to buy ugly coins as well—2 cent pieces? C’mon.

 

Isn’t that part of the fun of the whole journey?

Regarding the 2 cent piece.... it’s the first coin minted with “In God We Trust”. The Chief Engraver James Longacre is a pretty interesting dude to look up.

 

Do you have a closer photo of the rev of the Trade Dollar? I'm interested in the marks. thanks

 

of course. They are fascinating, but I know nothing about them. Do you have any insight?

 

I haven't studied chopmarks specifically. I see one on the obv and one on the rev that look Chinese; the "R" is interesting ; I know of at least one person who is trying to collect as many letters of the alphabet as he can! Individual letter marks are much less common.

 

Well Brad if you want to know about trade dollars Doc myself and @ldhair are good places to start. As they’re my main collecting focus.

 

By the way it’s the more common for the date type 1 obverse type 1 reverse

 

I have no idea what that means. Let me do some reading today.

 

You might find this worth reading:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/how-do-you-spot-fake-trade-dollars-anyway.63695/

 

wow. You did amazing job with those posts and just spent the last hour comparing all your diagnostics to mine.

 

Got it. Ksparrow described it perfectly in his thread.

 

This is a great set and a great album to do it with. People love the 7070, and with good reason, but Dansco just isn't keeping their stuff in print, which is sad. I have a 7070, but I've been looking for the gold page, and have been unable to find one at a price that doesn't seem crazy.

I'm doing my set as a modified "complete" US type set, either 1800-1964, 1800-2000, or 1800-present (I literally haven't decided). Here a couple of pieces I have that I particularly like:





I've been working on the set for about 5 years, and I have no idea when I'll be "finished."

A 1792 half disme is impressive by itself, but it's even more impressive, depending on what you mean by "everything." I got to hold a 1792 half disme (F details, bent) once, and I thought that was pretty cool.

Absolutely agreed 100% on all counts. Most of the Chinese counterfeits out there are just not that convincing, but a few are. There are some coins, like Trade dollars and Indian quarter eagles that I will only buy certified or from a dealer I've done longstanding business with due to fakes.

Those are some great choices. You might have to exceed your $105 cap that you've kept to so far for decent examples of these, but not by much. I'd look for them in a nice 63 grade, myself. If you don't go after toned examples, you'll probably find each one for under $200. I'd say it's well worth the investment to fill those holes "properly."

I don't really like the concept of "upgrading" coins. To me, that implies that I bought a coin that I "settled" for at some point, rather than one I truly liked. For example, my set has that gorgeously toned 1923 Peace dollar shown earlier that I paid well above price guide for. I could have easily gotten a lesser one for 1/10th the price or so, but it wouldn't have been the coin I wanted. I care more about finding the coins I want than filling holes.

I agree, it's a great set overall, and the earlier coins all look very well matched.

Speaking of high grade, although I'm doing my set in MS and higher circulated grades, I think after I finish, it would be a lot of fun to go through and put together a set in an album in VF or so. Low and mid-grade circulated coins often don't get a lot of respect, but I like them.

Is it just me, or does this coin have some weird surface issues? Could it be the lighting? It just looks a little "funny" to me is all.

I don't think type collectors have more knowledge of US coins, per se, just broader knowledge. We have the luxury of being able to ignore rare dates and varieties, so that cuts down a lot on the amount of knowledge necessary. The main thing is avoiding fakes, and being a bit educated on pricing.

 

Great comments Paul.

It’s the photo. I am obviously not happy with it. I was trying something new and had the coin roughly 2 inches above a black cloth. But I will try again.