Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="thecointrader, post: 1495326, member: 6477"]I like the idea of a 20th Century United States Type Set. One coin of each major design, composition and denomination. The Lincoln Cent portion of the set, for example, would include a 1909 "with VDB", a "wheat-back", a 1943 "steelie", a post-1959 "Memorial" (and if you so desire a 1982 or later copper-plated cent. Jefferson nickels would have a standard issue, and a "War Issue" from the 1940s with actual silver content. Other represented coins in the set include Roosevelt Dimes (silver and clad), Washington Quarters (silver and clad), Half Dollars (Barber, Walking Liberty, Franklin, and Kennedy silver and clad), ninety-percent Silver Dollars (Morgan and Peace), and modern dollars (Ike silver and clad, Anthony etc). As your collecting budget expands, you could eventually add 19th Century Coins (Flying Eagle Cents, Shield Nickels, etc) to the set. One reason I recommend Type Sets for new collectors is that non-collectors sometimes take an interest to such a set. They are also educational, as you learn about each design type and (hopefully) some of the history that led up to each change in our nation's coinage. While your numismatic knowledge expands, you can ask family members or friends to look through the coinage they receive in change, and perhaps they will find something of interest -- perhaps an error coin or obsolete design. If you prefer to collect a date and mint set, consider 1883-1912 Liberty Nickels or 1948-1963 Franklin Half Dollars. The Liberty Nickels are, for the most part, inexpensive in circulated grades, with only a couple "keys", and all were minted at Philadelphia, except in 1912. Number of coins in the set is limited, so it's not like you're trying to collect a hundred years of Lincoln Cents from three different mints, and including a "No Cents" example from 1883 makes for great story-telling to non-numismatists about the gold-plated rackateer nickels which were allegedly passed as five-dollar-gold-pieces to unsuspecting merchants. For my own personal set, I was lucky enough to come across an unlabeled Capitol Plastic acrylic nickel holder with exactly enough holes for all of the Liberty Nickels, with two extra holes. I placed a gold-plated rackateer-style 1883-nickel in the first hole and put a replica-1913 in the final open hole to "complete a set with a story to tell", several stories actually. Although I've since moved on to collect mostly rarer certified coins, this unusual "Complete Liberty Nickel Set" is still one of my favorites! The Franklin Half Dollar series is a reasonably priced beginners set that can be acquired in uncirculated grades. Advantages to collecting this set are the limited number of coins in the series (35, not including proof issues) and the fact that the coins contain 90% silver content. They are large and flashy coins, and stories about Ben Franklin are legendary. Be sure to read about Ben, and you'll learn a lot of interesting tidbits about the man and the coin, including why there's only a tiny, tiny eagle on the reverse of the coin. If you prefer foreign coins, I suggest a topical collection. Find a non-numismatic subject that interests you and assemble a collection around that theme. I have a friend who is a bird watcher, for example. He also dabbles in coins. I've suggested to him that he put together a set of coins which feature birds on the obverse or reverse. Are you into geometry? Collect coins of unusual shapes. Square coins, three-sided coins, multi-sided coins, coins designed with a center-hole or bi-metallic. Find a theme that interests you, and design your own "type collection" around that theme. When you do finally decide what you want to collect, be sure to post it here, so the rest of us can share in the joy as you build your collection. And welcome newbie, to Coin Talk and to the Hobby Of Kings![/QUOTE]

Log in or Sign up

Reply to Thread

Useful Searches