As many of you know, one of the coin interests that Thalia Elizabeth has is coins from 1900, because they are 100 years older than she is. She lucks out on that year; if you don't count the gold (although she wouldn't mind!!!) it's fairly easy and relatively inexpensive to pick up a year set of US Coins from 1900 (Indian Cent, Liberty Head "V" Nickel, Barber Dime, Quarter and Half, and Morgan Dollar). There are also some pretty inexpensive world coins from 1900 as well and she has some of those. But how easy would it be for those of us not born in the year 2000 to pick up a year set that predates us by 100 years? I was thinking about this as I picked up a circulated Indian Cent "just to have" at the coin club meeting last night. It turns out that the Indian Cent is pretty much the only really inexpensive coin from that year! Three cent silver, half dime (no nickels yet), dime, quarter, half, dollar... that's what I'd need to complete the non-gold year set. The quarter and half are in reach in lower grades, but the others... well, not on my budget! (Only 11 years until Thalia starts college... and 7 until her older brother does!) I didn't specify the year to which I refer, but I'll bet that most of you can figure it out. How about your chances of assembling a birth year set minus 100 years? By the way, just for giggles I punched in the year in question into eBay under "US Coins" and over 90 percent of the listings were for... the Indian Cent. How about that!
I took a quick look and stopped after the first coin. For me the first "birthyear minus 100" coin would be a half cent issued in proof-only. It was $3500-4000. Guess why I quit looking
