As some may have seen, Dansco recently released a new run of the the popular Type Set Album. I have always been fascinated by the idea of a type set, but the album itself was too expensive. Now that they have become available for around $30 on ebay (and slightly less on a few websites), I have joined the 7070 club! I will chronicle my journey in this thread. Embarking on this set, I have noticed how few raw coins I own. When I was starting out in the early 2000s, everything was mainly raw (State Quarters, wheat cents, Eagles, etc). My LCS did not even carry any slabs! Now the majority of my collection is slabs. As I will describe in future posts, even a few of the items in the album came from cracking holders. So this will be somewhat of a throwback to the raw era! Without further ado, I present phase 1 of my album:
Page 1 has only two coins so far: *an 1845 Large cent...a purchase from my LCS for $20 (perhaps a slight over-pay...this was around 10 years ago)...I grade it around Fine *a 2000 Memorial cent...nothing special here, just an UNC coin (not a WAM)
Everyone can feel free to share their own type set experiences. Also if anyone has comments / suggestions on how to go about completing a type set, those would be greatly appreciated as well!
Nice start! I think the hardest part will be setting goals for your set IE grade preferences/inclusiveness(key dates vs common dates) etc...Its a satisfying feeling filling a hole. I just added a trade $ to my 7070 a week or so ago.
Unlike page 1, page 2 has a bit more going for it: *1858 Half Dime *1938 Buffalo Nickel *1958 Jefferson Nickel *1891 Seated Dime *1964 Silver Roosevelt Dime *1968 Clad Roosevelt Dime
Study the money coins. Classic head cent, capped bust, seated libs. Buy them asap as they are going up in value. The rest will come easy. Also don't waste money on coins to later upgrade save that for coins that make your target grade. Gonna be a fun challenge.
With page 2, two of the coins used to be slabbed. The Half Dime formerly rested in a red PCI details holder. It has some slight issues, but the details are sharp and it has decent toning. Perfect for the album!
Good tips! I'm not spending any new money yet. All the coins currently in the album were the ones I already had (some will be upgraded, but those were bought as junk silver...some at good prices, while others when silver was much higher than today).
Congrats on the Trade Dollar! That is a coin I've never owned and look forward to acquiring at some point! Grade preferences are important and so are dates. I'm mainly avoiding key dates (I'd rather have a higher grade than a more expensive but lower grade...just personal preference).
Back to page two. The Buffalo Nickel has some nice rainbow toning (you can't quite see it in the photo), but unfortunately was tooled. Still good for the album!
There's the old adage that there's no price too low for a problem coin, but...from time to time good deals can really be had on genuine slabs that can prove to be perfect fits for a Dansco. Congrats on starting the 7070. I've always enjoyed watching people progress through these.
Thank you! I have also heard that old adage and it does hold some merit. My goal is to find those detail coins that are have slight issues or that might even be gradeable on a future try. Some details coins have no hope, but others are still nice. For example, the half dime that I posted has some surface issues, but it's not very noticeable in hand.
I did the 7070 twice. The first time, I had 12K invested. That was a mistake. Many of the coins did not belong in an album but it looked great. When I took it apart, I put it back together, much like the OP is doing. A much smarter way of going about this set. It's going to still look great at a fraction of the cost.
Never heard that before. And I disagree; there is certainly a price too low for a problem coin. My VF/EF 1797 large cent has problems, but good luck finding one for $20.
Why do they start with the Draped Bust for the half cents and large cents? Why not include the Liberty Cap?
I had no rhyme or reason for how I filled my type set. I just bought what was available while I could afford it. A lot of the more-expensive types have problems because I'd rather pay less for a high-detail coin than more for a problem-free low-detail coin. The point of my type set is to showcase all of the designs produced by the US, and I feel that goal is moot if I cannot see the details. I will upgrade to problem-free when I have a more-sufficient cash base (or when I find a really good deal, like $25 for an AU Barber Quarter), but right now I am happy with what I have. However, recently I made it a challenge for myself to knock out as many types as possible with a single year. Major dates would be 1854, 1873, and 1909, for example. I also have a bunch of fakes in my type set album, mostly of types I cannot afford, since I do not looking at holes and the designs are fairly close to genuine coins. Ordering a type set of fakes is actually a great education, and you will be able to pick out 90% of the modern fakes.
They wanted to make this album easy to fill. Liberty cap and flowing hair coins are too cost-prohibitive.
@TypeCoin971793, that's what I figured. If you want to avoid problem coins, then they are pretty pricey.