Series Collectors Poll: Completeness or Quality First?

I think Beef1020 said it right.... have a goal of how you want your collection to be/look like. try to buy within your budget. there will be some coins that you will go way passed your budget on the rarer dates. remember you have time to do this. coin collecting is a life time hobby. I laughed when I over heard a coin conversation at my last coin show in Vegas...."there's always gonna be another coin to buy". I buy mostly world coins. buy the best grade you can afford. you will be much happier with a higher grade coins than lower grade coins down the road. but if the key dates are way to expensive then buy lower grade ones. you can always upgrade later or buy higher grade now...on you can make that choice.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

The conundrum you have is exactly why I stopped going after series. Right now, I strive for XF or better US Type Coins. Just one XF or better version of each of the coins will do for me. I've bought a few low grade earlier coins to fill holes and I don't regret it, but I haven't spent a lot on them either. My advice is to go for quality on anything you go after. If you change your mind on what you want, you don't want to be stuck with a bunch of low grade coins.

 

Wow, what an outstanding lot of advice from everyone. At least a fair majority of consensus as to approach, in one regard or another. It really sounds like that I am experiencing a case of being overwhelmed after cataloging everything and seeing what a small dent it has made. Ultimately, I think that I feel some sort of unreasonable obligation to "catch up".

Every single response is sound and solid advice, and I cannot express how much I appreciate it. I truly wish that I had the ability to take the time to respond to each and every one of you. beef1020 and iPen really both hit the nail on the head for me, as that is 100% what my intentions were when I was starting up again.

It appears that I just need to "stay the course", and try to exhibit just a bit of patience. Thank you for the clarity, everyone!

 

You don't need to take the same approach every time. When I got back into collecting two years ago, I concentrated on acquiring a variety of coins that were both attractive and interesting to me.
However, putting sets together is part of the fun...so I decided to complete a date/mint uncirculated set and chose the Franklin Half because of its affordability.
Recentley, I decided to put together a Buffalo Nickel set which included both type 1 & 2 for 1913, then only 1 coin thereafter for every year...that way I avoided buying some of the more expensive mint marked versions.
Most of us have limitations to our coin budgets, so being versatile in our collecting is a good way to go...........

 

That has worked to this point but many of the most popular "keys" in US coinage are too expensive for the vast majority of collectors, even in lower grades. Most of them are also very common.

I expect many if not most of them to be money losers over the longer term, especially those in lower grades. As an example, the 16-D dime is worth about $400 in AG-3 and $700 in G-4. If it were any other coin in the series, it would be considered circulated dreck, which is exactly how I expect to be viewed years from now.

I expect a lot more collectors to move away from set collecting toward a (modified) "Box of 20" concept.

 

I collect from a limited number of series and almost never buy anything else. In most of them, most of the coins I own are AU or better. Also, in most of them, its effectively impossible to complete any of them.

Since I don't expect to complete any of them, I generally stick to buying what is available as long as the coin is decent and priced reasonably for the quality.

 

It is interesting that you say that, recoinect. That is exactly how I started getting back into this hobby. When I collected as a teenager, it was mostly from circulation and reasonably obtainable 20th century coinage. When I started again, though, I knew that I wanted to collect but not what I wanted to collect.

I started by lurking in the forums, and watching people talk about their latest acquisitions, and then started looking around a bit about what was on the market. Along the way, I made a few purchase that struck me as interesting, with absolutely no direction at all.

The reason that I gravitated towards where I did, is that I find a great combination of history, varieties, and affordability exist in 19th century half-dimes and dimes. Turning 40 this year, I figured that I should have a good amount of time to flesh these out and not have to rush to complete anything.

Realistically, I have come to accept that I am either going to need to go with low-grade fillers or just skip certain keys, explicitly. Understand that I do not represent everyone, but I am pretty okay with that, personally. That will not stop me from looking for them, though, because finding that "incredible deal" is part of the thrill for me.

I had considered the "Box of 20" concept, at one point. Just is not for me, though. Definitely see the appeal in it, but there is just something about a full series that I enjoy.

 

From another thread:


https://www.cointalk.com/threads/box-of-twenty-fail-edition.251744/

 

Nothing wrong with that.

However, I believe the most popular "key" dates achieved their current status when collecting was predominantly out of circulation in the 30's to the 60's. In the internet age, it hasn't been and won't be because the options available to collectors are much greater than they used to be.

Financially, the problem for actually very common US 20th century "key" dates is that they are not numismatically competitive versus comparably priced and in many instances much cheaper coins. There are many reasons why these coins retain their popularity but any collector who evaluates their options can see it.

 

For each set I was going for, I set a minimum grade based on the lowest grade I found to be attractive for the type. Quality has to be paramount. Don't buy coins you don't like just to fill holes, and when you buy a coin, try to make it one you won't have to upgrade later.

 

There is probably a happy medium to be found between being overly picky for the long haul and settling on a piece especially when it just doesn't come around often. The harder something is to find the more willing I would be to settle. Most sets you could complete the average common dates in about 5 minutes online so there is really no reason to fill holes with those. The other thing I would do as well is make sure you always have enough saved to be able to purchase one of those hard to find pieces if they happen to pop up. Nothing is worse than missing something you have waited a long time for because you blew the budget already on things you could find any day of the year.

This sort of struggle is exactly what turned me off from set collecting especially if you want the set to match from start to finish. When you think about it it is really the cheaper common dates you end up settling on trying to match the keys. Obviously the keys will set the high range your grades can be due to cost unless you are fortunate enough have an unlimited budget. Whatever that max is for the key you are stuck trying to match everything else to that when you could easily afford higher grade common dates.

 

I gave up on completeness of any set, even the modern stuff like silver eagles and comm's. I no longer care if there is a hole in the album or the collection.
As far as quality, I just want something without problems. With key dates, I wait for something really nice with the look I like.

 

I guess to add to this argument, and it may be a bit off topic, but don't just start a set because it seems like the thing to do. Like that's supposedly what coin collectors are supposed to do...

Don't start a set unless you absolutely love the series and have no intention of ever selling. Even if you do all the hard leg work of completing it, picking through thousands of coins to make an awesome uncirculated set, it doesn't matter. It will likely be so expensive that very few people can afford it.

And then if somebody in that small group decides they're willing to buy it off you they expect a "deal" for buying the whole set. It should be the opposite but doesn't work that way. Its difficult to sell a set because too many people just assume a set is a set is a set. Like they're all the same. And not many people have the disposable income to buy one. So do it for the long haul if you're going to do one. Nobody will appreciate its value more than you.

Sent from my XT1093 using Tapatalk

 

I think most of us have some OCD tendencies, it's part of what draws us to the hobby

 

What set or sets do you have in mind?

If you are referring to the most popular US sets, it isn't that there aren't enough collectors with the money. If there are as many as two million active US collectors (my rough guesstimate) there must be at least several hundred thousands whose collections are worth as much or more than mine which is about $50k. The actual reason for what you state is that most collectors who can afford these sets would usually rather buy something else.

This is evident from the data in the Heritage archives. If you stratify US sales records by price point (<$100, $100 to $999...), it is self-evident that popular as measured by the (potential) size of the collector base does not equal an actual preference. My review of this data seems to indicate that only the Morgan dollar and Lincoln cent are preferred by a large number of "big budget" collectors.

 

World, I agree with your thoughts on it but regardless of the reason for people to pass on sets, the underlying fact remains.
I'm doing a Buffalo nickel set and a US type set because I plan to keep them for good. I put together a BU Franklin half set that I let go for something else. It took a lot of work to put one together that good. I lost some on it and whoever got it got their money's worth and then some. I don't dislike Franklins but the set wasn't something I couldn't part with. That's just one experience I had. Maybe others have seen things differently. I just know how people are and everybody expects a package deal on things like this. It's a lot of work to part a set out and not an attractive option.

 

I agree. I sometimes wish I never put together complete sets. I know I can never get my money back and I am stuck with numerous sets.
Way too many just sitting in a safe deposit box at $60 rent/yr.
I even quit making some sets that were partially done.

 

You've pretty much nailed it. The biggest problem is generally when someone buys a set they only really want 1 or 2 of the coins badly or a handful at best so they're willing to pay for those but will only take the rest of them at a discount.

 

That and most people want the enjoyment of gradually building their own set with their own preferences, as they can afford it.

Sent from my XT1093 using Tapatalk

 

The only reason one would sell a complete set at discount is for convenience. Selling the coins individually makes more sense.
My problem with building sets is that when I get down to the last few coins for completion, I tend to over-pay just to get it done.