Mint sets

I started my coin collecting back in 1998. At first, I wasn't sure what I intended to collect so I just went with getting the US Mint sets. I started with the Proofs and added the mint sets next.

I learned a lot about the circulating and non-circulating coins then. For example, I didn't realize that the half-dollar coin (Kennedy) was still being minted as I hadn't seen one in circulation since the mid-1970's.

In the past few years, I decided I'd like to have the Silver Proof sets also. Those are actually super-nice.

The bad thing about collecting these sets is that I tend to look at them once and then I put them away. At least in my coin books I open them up and actually look at them and wonder who used them.  With the sets, I know no one used any of these coins. They are all sterile and without stories.

That's one of the reasons I started collecting Lincoln cents, Jefferson nickels, Roosevelt dimes, Walking Liberty Half-dollars, Franklin half-dollars, and Peace dollars (among others, of course). I started collecting Washington quarters because I tended to get a lot of them in change.

Whatever the reason, I still collect sets from the US Mint.

Stalemate

I wonder why I haven't been working very hard on my coin collection lately until I had a dream that explained everything.

First, the dream wasn't really a numismatic dream specifically; rather it contained some veiled references to my current coins and showed some other coins in use. Basically, the dream involved a thief who attempted to steal my entire collection by taking my car keys from my truck. Once he had the keys, he tried selling the truck but would only take Walking Liberty Half dollars and Winged Liberty Dimes in payment.

That got me thinking - after I woke up. I should spend some time looking at completing or upgrading those two collections.

Then I got hit with sticker shock!  OK. Maybe I don't need to work on those collections.

Maybe I should be very careful about which coins I'll be buying this year.

Dealing With The Facts

OK. So I have no idea why I titled this post like I did. Maybe it's because I've lost some of my enthusiasm in coin collecting lately with the extreme costs associated with the areas I'm particularly interested in pursuing.

To begin with, I have always liked the 2 1/2 dollar Indian Heads. I had considered this the most likely gold coin that I'd be able to collect and actually complete the set. You only need 15 coins and you have collected the entire set from 1908 to 1929. [Note: the set goes something like this: 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1911-D, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1914-D, 1915, 1925-D, 1926, 1927, 1928, and 1929.]

Now, however, the rarest critter of the set (the 1911-D Strong D) is being sold for around $5,500 without NGC even grading it as MS63, AU55, etc! The encapsulated coin had been improperly cleaned (and noted as such on the slab) so there was no grade associated with it. That didn't stop the seller from claiming "UNC MS SLABBED NGC LOOK *VERY RARE* UNCIRCULATED MINT-STATE BEAUTY NGC" in the advertisement for sale.

Plus, since the price of gold is (to me) unreasonably high, I can't even start collecting this pretty cool coin.

Lincoln Cents Update

I finally bit the bullet and went online to buy my 1938-S Lincoln cent. I always knew it wasn't a very expensive coin so I can't imagine why I didn't already have it.

Imagine looking at your Lincoln cent collection and noticing you have four (4) empty spaces. Those would be, of course, the 1938-S, the 1909-S, 1909-S VDB and the 1922 D (no D).

Imagine if you filled the rest of the book from 1909 to 2012 from circulating cents, bags and bags of 'wheat' cent, and one incomplete Whitman inherited from your father-in-law. 

You would be wondering what in the world happened that you don't have a 1938-S. There were 15,180,000 minted. And that is no where near a rarity compared to some of the other years and mint marks.

Well, I wondered why I didn't have it. I checked some of my favorite online coin merchants (none of which, by the way, are on eBay) and didn't find one available. So, since I am a member of Coin World and the entire Amos group, I decided to search for it on their website. One of their advertisers, Coast to Coast Coins, had the item and wanted $14.95 for it. They advertised it as being "near-BU" so I took a chance. 

The coin I received had no obvious flaws, was nicely toned for a Lincoln cent, and would probably grade EF-40 to EF-45 and, in my humble opinion, was very worth the price!

Where are the quarters?

All of those America the Beautiful quarter dollar coins that have been printed by the mint must have been swallowed up by coin merchants and serious collectors.

I have not seen one single instance of a circulated quarter of this series where I live or where I have visited in the past years. I have traveled to San Antonio, all sorts of places in west Texas and southeast New Mexico, and in Las Vegas. None of these places have I seen these quarters in circulation.

Granted, I haven't seen more than maybe 150 quarters during the past few years in circulation but even the cashiers don't have them. I specifically ask if they have any of those coins and most reply first off, "I didn't know there was a different coin out." Then, they look and ... nothing.

So, I have officially given up on getting a set of American the Beautiful quarters from circulation. I will have to start spending $1.25 or $2.50 or such on coins from dealers. Sigh................

UPDATE: As of May 2012, I have exactly two (2) of the series. Both are circulated and came from my daughter in Virginia. I still have seen zero (0) examples circulating out here.

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Above image borrowed from and is exclusively owned by the U.S. Mint (www.usmint.gov). The "America The Beautiful Quarters" is a registered trademark of the U.S. Mint. All rights belong exclusively to the U.S. Mint.

Expensive time for me

Not too much for me to write about in the coin collecting world these days. The price of coins that I want have gone up and up.

I no longer bother to check the prices for the coins I'm interested in obtaining. I would rather just relax and think about the days when I actually would buy a coin at a reasonable price. And since I can't find a decent coin dealer in this area (I don't consider a pawn shop to be a place with real experts in the coin business), I spend most of my time looking at Coin World. Even the Internet has lost its charm because of the huge increase in the number of counterfeit coins surfacing.

Oh, well. Guess I'll just have to flow with the river's current and let it take me where it will.

Anyway, I have seen exactly zero examples of 2011 nickel, dime, or quarter this year. I still have not seen any of the America The Beauty quarters at all in circulation.

However, recently, we were in Del Rio, TX, along the Rio Grande River just across from Cuidad Acuna, Mexico, when I was given a 2011-D Lincoln cent in change! The coin was taken directly from the mint roll and handed over to me! Really nice!

On that trip, I also received in change a 2010-D Roosevelt dime in MS condition! On the other hand, I also got a 1956 Jefferson nickel in Fair condition! Might be a good place to go through the pocket change!

Silver is getting ridiculous

I try to upgrade coins in my collections but recently I haven't had the funding to ungrade. With the price of silver over $40/ounce these days, anything prior to 1964 is way too high.

Good for the sellers ... not so good for the buyers.

Help!

Lincoln and Territorial Quarters Update

Finally got the 2010-D Lincoln. Man, sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get one of the new issues these days. I now have a substantial Lincoln Cent collection.

Sadly, there are just some of these coins that are way outside of my price range. Unfortunately, I'll never be able to buy a genuine 1909-S VDB or a genuine 1922 plain (D no D). I might be able to fork over enough to get a 1909-S but that also might never happen. Since I prefer non-slabbed coins to put into my book, I wouldn't be able to trust the coins that aren't slabbed.

One Lincoln I don't have yet that should be in my range is the 1938-S. I just haven't run across one yet that I both like and can afford.

But those four (1909-S VDB, 1909-S, 1922 Plain, 1938-S) are the last Lincolns needed to complete my entire collection from 1909 to 2010. Does anyone have a spare that they would sell me - that won't break my bank?

I also got almost every one of the Territorial Quarters in my collection. I still lack the American Somoa 2009-D. I sure wish I could get that one. Anyone want to sell me one of those?

With that one exception, I have every Washinton, Statehood, and Territorial Quarter from 1932 through 2009. I have not seen ONE example of the new series of "America the Beautiful" Quarters (trademark US Mint). These may be impossible to collect through circulation. Might have to break down and buy them..... sigh.

Finally, I received both my Mint State and Proof Sets for 2010. Packaging is nice and, for once, all of the coins appear flawless. I've been collecting these since 1999.

A New Venture in Coin Collecting

Today, I made a decision that will change the way I decide where to spend my discretionary numismatic dollars.

I was reading Coin World and saw an article about the Canadian 50 cent non-circulating dinosaur coin. Intrigued, I did some more investigating into this unique looking coin. It is bi-metal with a Tyrannosaurus sort of critter. What I thought was cool was the way the dino would 'jump' out at you when you tilted the obverse.

OK. Maybe a little bit of a child is coming out in me. But since my daughter studied to become a paleontologist and my wife is a geologist (with big interest in those big extinct critters), I figure it's OK for me to have a desire to collect coins with that theme.

So, I spent two months budget getting the 2008, 2009, and 2010 versions of all of the Canadian dinosaur coins.

Then, I noticed the New Zealand 1 oz Ancient Reptiles silver coins! Wow. Great looking. But I hesitate to fork over USD$431.00 for five 1-ounce coins. Maybe in the future.

But I have another passion now - dinosaur and pre-historic reptile coins. Cool.

Finally got them in

It took a while but my Kennedy's got here along with those two little ole Lincolns.

I still wonder why I bother with these half dollars.

Oh, well. Still need a ton of them.

And I still don't have all of the 2009 Lincolns although my son did find me a 2010-D the other day. Isn't he a nice boy?

Why am I doing this collection?

I'm waiting patiently for my order from Millers Mint to arrive. But I'm not sure why.

You see, I've decided to spend a couple of hundred dollars to update my collection of Kennedy Half Dollars. But, again, I'm not sure why.

It's an ugly coin on the obverse but the reverse (all versions) is OK. I guess I want to complete this collection.

I started on these halfs shortly after my father-in-law passed away. We found a stash of Kennedys and divided them up amongst the girls. As I was looking at them, I realized we had maybe 12 unique dates/mints. That was enough for me to go buy a Danesco album and start looking for others. I went to the local Wells Fargo and purchased two rolls of Half Dollars but only got average coins.

Even with this recent order, I'll still be short a few coins for the complete set (only P and D mints. Decided against the S mint but that was before I realized that I had 7 S Proofs in my collection already, duh).

But all is not lost on this order. You see, the real reason I went to Millers Mint was to purchase a 1914-S LINCOLN CENT (VF20) and a 1933-D LINCOLN CENT (AU50) to add to my cent collection! Can't wait for these two to show up!

Unusual finds

In the past few weeks, I've had three experiences that I found interesting in the coin collecting world. The first one happened when we were on vacation in Hawaii where a lady was trying to pay for her sandwich is a silvery looking coin. The cashier would not take it so I asked to look at it. The coin was Chinese and one that I didn't have. The lady kindly gave me the coin.

The second occurred when we were traveling from Dallas to Houston. We stopped for lunch and, as I was paying for our meal, I noticed that the Take A Penny dish had an unusually colored cent in it. I picked it up and found out it was a 1940 Lincoln Wheat Cent. It was actually in very good condition, probably VF or better. And, yes, I did take it!

The third experience was at a local Wal Mart. I was waiting in line to pay for my night lights and the gentleman in front of me was paying for his new reading classes. The total came to something and 17 cents so he pulled out a dime, nickel, and two cents. The cashier looked at the nickel and asked what is that. I asked to look at it and found it to be a 1912 Barber nickel in VF condition. I offered the gentleman a dollar for it but he declined (dang).

All of these finds have encouraged me to really start looking for new ways of filling the holes in my collections.

Finished!

Woot! I am now officially finished with my Washington Quarters collection!

I found my last two quarters at MillersMint.com and have added a MS64 1936-S and a MS64 1943-S as the last ones!

This collections, 1932 through 1998, consists of F8 all the way to MS65 quality. I also have several proof quarters I put in the extra spaces in my book. I know, most people prefer to have their collections with all MS but, what the heck? Now, I can go back and enjoy looking for upgrades!

Naturally, some of these coins will not be upgraded simply because I don't have the funds necessary to locate a 1932-S in MS64. Even if I could, the coin will probably be slabbed and I really don't collect slabbed coins. But I can always hope that someday I will upgrade most of these.

I also have the complete Statehood quarters but only have one (ONE!) territories quarter. That will give me something to do while I drool over upgrades!

Now that I have a completed collection of Washington Quarters (from 1932 to 2008), a completed set of Jefferson nickels (well, nearly since I need two of the newer dates), and a completed set of Franklin half dollars, I plan on finishing my Roosevelt dime collection.

Almost forgot

Almost forgot to mention that I finally completed my Statehood Quarter set with the addition of that Utah P coin. A complete set of circulated Washington Statehood quarters is now in my possession.

Now on to the Territories.

No more this month

I have completely exhausted my coin funds for this month. Normally, I have a little left over each month and I congratulate myself on being stingy.

This month turned out to be different. I finally broke down and purchased the last key date for my Washington quarter collection and, at $190, took quite a chunk out of my budget.

I also started at filling out my Type Sets. Let me explain about my Type Sets. I am currently doing two different Type Sets. The first one contains only the first year of issue of each type. This is turning out to be much harder than I originally suspected. I am getting mostly G4 coins because of the costs.

The second Type Set I have named my "best available" coin. That is, I go for the best example I can find (and afford). This set isn't too hard but some coins are still out of my price range. I have many MS and BU coins but the majority of the older ones are in the EF or VF categories.

Anyway, I purchased several coins for my "first date of issue" Type Set including the commemorative half-dollar. Both sets are still sadly empty but these are totally fun! 3 cent silver pieces and large 1 cent coins! Wow!

Now I have to wait until September to really continue since I actually went over my budget in July (already!) and will have to wait out the hots days of August deciding which coins I'll get next.

Jefferson Nickels

I now have completed my Jefferson nickel collection all the way from 1938 through 2003. I still need one 2004-P and one 2008-P and both 2009 coins.

It's kind of nice to have that sense of accomplishment. Filling these few slots should not be too difficult.

And 90% of this collection was completed by going through pocket change!

Oh, no! Misplaced quarter

I really was feeling pretty good about getting close to finishing my Washington quarters collection. I had thought I was down to only needing three more quarters.

Well, I was wrong.

It all started this morning when I was proudly showing my son the collection and noting that I only need three more S mintages. He asked about pricing so I pulled out my most recent issue of Coin Values and started going down the list. Since I have all sorts of coins in this collection, I had to do a quick check to see what they may be evaluated as. I pulled out my trusty loupe and started grading.

As I looked at my 1937-S, I noticed something really weird. Instead of an -S mint mark, it had a -D. Naturally, I assumed I put them in the wrong place but when I looked at my -D, I found it was, in fact, a Denver mint mark. Dang. Two 1937-D's and no 1937-S.

Now I was concerned so I looked at every single one of them. I also found that my Philadelphia 1952 was actually a Denver 1952-D.

Bummer. Now I need two more Washington Quarters. Oh, well. I guess I will just carry on.

Jefferson Nickels again

OK. I haven't been real consistent about reporting my Jefferson nickel finds. Maybe it's because of the alignment of the sun, moon, and Jupiter. Or, maybe I'm lazy.

Anyway, I just emptied my pocket change.

I have ONE 1999-P nickel. ONE? That's it? Just one friggin' nickel? What have I been doing?

Oh, yeah (he said lamely). I've been spending my pocket change without looking through it first.

Folks, this is a coin-collector's mortal sin. We should ALWAYS look at the coins we get just in case some bozo actually spent his great-grandmother's 1909-S VDB Lincoln or his dad's 1955 Double Die!

OK. I know. Not bloody likely. Still, we take the time and examine our coins. Just because we can. And you never know what you might find.

Washington Quarters Update

And then there were three.

I'm down to needing the 1932-S, 1936-S, and the 1943-S Washington Quarter dollars in order to have a complete set from 1932 to 1998.

I did a quick check and figure that I have coins ranging from G-8 to Proof in my collection. OK. So I'm not a purist in that I don't have everything in Mint State. Oh, well. Sue me.

I am so close to finishing this collection that I really want to go to Ebay and find these coins. But I'm not. :( I will stay with completely reputable dealers and not take the chance on getting a G-8 advertised as 'barely circulated'. Hehe.

So, wish me luck. I figure I'll need it.

My next task is to work on the Walking Liberty Half Dollars and try to complete my completely from pocket change Jefferson nickel collection.

Nearly there

I am very near to completion of my Washington quarter collection from 1932 to 1998. I need just six more quarters from the early 1930's and I'll have every one of them. Yippee!

I started this collection by chance when I was looking for some Standing Liberty quarter dollars. I went into my favorite coin shop in Austin and found some fine examples of what I was looking to obtain. However, the price was a little bit too much. So, I went to eBay to see what I could find.

One store listed some Standing Liberties but they also had a grab-bag of silver coins and wheat cents. OK. I made a bid and won. When I got the bag, I noticed there were two examples of AU 50 Washington quarters (1960 and 1947, I believe). I decided I might as well collect the Washington quarters so back to the coin shop. There, I bought my Danesco Washington quarter dollar book (1932-1998). And since this was the first year of the Statehood Quarters, I bought one of those books.

Now, my Statehood Quarter collection is missing one, 2007-P Utah. I haven't really started the Territory Quarters and may run into problems with the extremely low mintages. But, oh well.

By the way, with my Danesco folders, there were some open slots at the back of the book. You know, after the final year of issue, there are open spaces. I decided to use these spaces by filling them with my duplicate coins. My Washington quarter book has more Washingtons, Standing Liberties, and at least two Barber Quarters. Fills out the book nicely and gives me a place to store them!