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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;sonlarson, post: 2382390, member: 15488&quot;]From time to tome I like to do theme type collections. Many others here do the same. What I like about themes is that one can create their own personal collection. Another is that depending on the collection, you can be as broad or small as you desire. In developing this type of collection, much of the work evolves a lot of research before you actually start collecting the coins. Before you can collect you must narrow your search and focus. To start you must set certain goals.</p><p><br /></p><p>1) What is your specific area of focus.</p><p>2) What is the range of the collection? How many coins are involved? What is your budget?</p><p>3) Is the collection achievable? Can you obtain the coins you need? Where will you find them?</p><p>4) What resources will you need? Internet search, books, catalogs, help from fellow collectors.</p><p>5) What is your time frame? How long will it take to complete?</p><p><br /></p><p>Once your have established you goals, you can start your research. This is going to take a while.</p><p>As you get more and more into it you will discover that you will have to be flexible and perhaps compromise or revise some of your criteria. This is a good thing. You will be able to answer most of the questions in step 3 above. It may be necessary to redefine your focus. Are you maintaining interest, or are you becoming frustrated? It’s better to find out now than to spend a lot of money and then find out you can’t complete the collection the way you want to.</p><p><br /></p><p>Once that is all squared away, then the fun part begins. Find your coins and build you very own personal theme collection.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>A while back I decide to do a collection around 50 Centavos.&nbsp; Using the steps above, this is what I set as my goals.</p><p><br /></p><p>1) Collect one example of a 50 Centavos from any country, which had or currently has issued a coin marked as a 50 Centavos. Grade will be circulated between VF and AU where possible. Silver whenever possible.</p><p>2) I have identified 25 different countries and set a budget of&nbsp; $250 for the collection.</p><p>3) Internet search has proven that while some of the coins may be a little tough, I should be able to complete. I plan to use eBay as a primary source for the majority. I plan to visit local coin shows to fill in the gaps where needed. I have identified other web dealers for some of the hard to find coins.</p><p>4) Ebay search, Internet search, and my personal library of coin catalogs will be main source of research material.</p><p>5) Since I am impatient, I have given myself one month to complete this collection.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Fortunately I already have some of the coins I need in my current World coin collection. This will help the budget since I don’t plan to add that cost to this project. I have already spent over a week of the project doing research and redefining my focus. One coin I dropped from the list because it did not meet the criteria of stating “50 Centavos” on the coin. I currently have 6 coins in possession and a few more on order.</p><p>That gives me a couple of weeks to locate and purchase the remaining coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>Once I have all the coins in hand I plan to photograph and document each coin to bring the collection to a conclusion. At that time I will present the collection on another thread in this forum.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I am interested in knowing if the information presented will inspire others to start their own theme type collections and if you find the format above helpful.</p><p><br /></p><p>I invite anyone to add his or her comments and suggestions. I don’t pretend to be an expert and I am always looking to learn from others.</p><p><br /></p><p>Happy collecting![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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