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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;scoinca, post: 172688, member: 7075&quot;]I&#039;ve done it both ways, plus other ways, for a variety of reasons.</p><p><br /></p><p>I just bought a complete set of Ikes (with proofs) for a bargain price.&nbsp; The coin itself doesn&#039;t move me that much, but it fits into my set of sets.&nbsp; I consider that more an investment than a collection.&nbsp; Still, who knows, I may read an article about Ikes and get into it.&nbsp; In that case I&#039;ve got a good starting point for a really nice set.&nbsp; If not, I&#039;ve got it stashed away and it wasn&#039;t all that expensive.</p><p><br /></p><p>APMEX was selling complete sets of silver Washington quarters (minus the 32S and 32D, of course) with a Dansco album for about the melt price of the silver.&nbsp; No-brainer as far as I was concerned - it&#039;s like a free Dansco album.&nbsp; Most of them were just in good condition, but some were nicer.&nbsp; It&#039;s been fun filling in the ones from circulation, as well as searching for and buying the 32S at a coin show.&nbsp; The 32D is a goal for next year.&nbsp; I&#039;m gaining more of an appreciation for that design, especially the original version.&nbsp; I&#039;ll probably upgrade a few of the silver ones through the years, but not urgently, since that part of the set is practically done.</p><p><br /></p><p>I bought a few partial rolls of Liberty nickels.&nbsp; A real ugly coin, in my opinion.&nbsp; Of course, I only got the common dates.&nbsp; At first I was just going to finish off the set as cheaply as I could (again, thinking in a set of sets mindframe), but as I&#039;ve filled some of the holes, the coin&#039;s design has grown on me.&nbsp; I still think it&#039;s ugly, but I like it that way and I can really appreciate XF and AU (and MS of course, but I&#039;m thinking affordable here) examples of it now.&nbsp; I think I&#039;ll feel a good sense of accomplishment once I find nice examples of the 5 or 6 that I&#039;m still missing even if I started off with a partial set.</p><p><br /></p><p>My 2-cent collection has been a one-by-one endeavor, and it&#039;s the set I like the most.&nbsp; However, I started off liking the 2-cent piece as a child, so I was already biased.&nbsp; If someone offered me a complete set of them for a reasonable price, I may take them up on the offer, but only to cherry-pick it and improve on my current set.&nbsp; It&#039;s a small enough set that each of the coins seems to have an individual nature.</p><p><br /></p><p>So I guess it depends for me.&nbsp; The modern coinage is so consistenly struck and cheaply available in such nice condition, buying it &quot;in bulk&quot; makes sense to me.&nbsp; Ones with designs no longer in circulation I tend to collect individually.&nbsp; Since they&#039;re often harder to afford in mint state, I have to consider the character of the coins and their condition.&nbsp; Sometimes a VF will appeal more to me than an XF, or this particular VF appeals more to me than that VF of the same date and mintmark.&nbsp; I doubt that buying a complete set would satisfy me in those cases.</p><p><br /></p><p>Of course, I can always work on upgrading the ones that I don&#039;t like.&nbsp; How&#039;s that for being wishy-washy?&nbsp; Dang, how much did I just type?&nbsp; Time to get some sleep!</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Scott[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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