So Many Varieties...are They Needed For A Complete Collection?

I think it would be nice to have them all in a collection but most of us won't live long enough to do such a collection or have the funds.
I try to collect all the years first then the varieties come next I prefer Au and better.
Everyone has different idea's to collect

Like the posts above, my history is similar. I started collecting decimals, 1858 - 1967, then varieties within the same decimals. While not complete , I started on maritime coins...also not complete, but I'm having fun with them.

Then I thought maybe I should just go to the year 2000. That date has since been moved to whatever current year it is. Collecting modern decimals led to the many, many non-circulating decimals that renewed my interest. I hadn't realized just how busy the RCM was from 1968 to date.

It is quite fun to get all the coloured quarters, silver loons, etc.

I also agree that there is no correct answer.
I personally tend to only include major variations - and even then don't sweat it if I don't have it.

I do not have a 1964 EWL nickle, nor do I have a 1973 large bust quarter - and I will never own (unless it's gifted to me) a 1948 silver dollar... and my sets are quite fine without them.

As a matter of chance I actually found a single type 4 1965 penny when I finally went through my pile that had been accumulating for (egads) nearly thirty years - but for a long time I only had one spot for a 1965 penny...

This touches on a pet oeeve of mine;
I recently started buying & using the blue Lighthouse/Lechtrum series of books - the pre-set spots are sometimes aggrivating;
I finally broke down and started making my own printed labels for the books - I mean who in their right mind would put a 1936dot penny in one of those books?
(This is in part a trick question, because there are a whole lot more of these books out there than 1936dot pennies.)

Those people in Germany really needed to put more research into what coins need spots...
Ditto on the uncirculated only coins like a 1998 loonie, or 2000W penny, or a 1999P-anything!?!

I agree that every collector can choose what they want to collect and consider that collection complete until they choose to expand it.

I decided after Canada stopped minting the one cent coin, that it would be a good time to complete the collection of small cents that I had started as a teenager and stored away for 40 years.

I was only going to collect them by year, until I stumbled across a world coin catalog that showed the 1955 NSF cent as a valuable coin. I looked through the coins I had stored away and found that I had a high grade 1955 NSF already. I figured since I had one of the hardest varieties already, I might as well search for the others listed in the major catalogs.

Then I thought, I might as well get all the Large cents too, since they are not all that expensive. (I stick to nice circulated coins. The BU ones are beyond my budget.) Then I discovered the 2011 Charlton variety section on large cents, and started looking for those varities also.

Then I cherrypicked an 1859 N9 DP9#1, and discovered Dr. Haxby's catalog of die pairs, and got hooked on looking for interesting die pairs. After collecting about 50 different die pairs, I decided I might as well try to get them all.

That's how collecting is. One thing leads to another. But in the end it's whatever you choose. It's all fun. Enjoy!

Great answers. Everyone will have a different perspective. I've collected things since I was very young and when I started collecting coins as a young teenager (I had seen the back pages of comics where you learned you could find a 1936 Dot penny in your change, or a US doubled 1955 cent), I would check everything in my change. When working, I would get rolls from the bank, and once in a while buy 5 or 6 Vickie coins for $40, if we didn't need diapers for the baby.
On the reverse side; if I were forty then and I had been working for twenty years and made a big salary, maybe I would often be buying a high grade Geo V dime for $40 or a $400 coin every once in a while.

So Mr.$40 roll-hunted and found many varieties and errors and collected them hoping they're the next 1969 large date dime; while Mr.$400 was at a coin convention and owned that darned 1969 !

Fast forward 40 years and I have a $10,000 very wide-ranging collection with all those varieties and lots of errors (okay not true, I think Zonad has them all), while my alter-ego has passed and his children are selling his high grade Geo V dimes on ebay for $10,000.

Another thing to think about is what do you define as a variety. There are mint varieties like the Victoria obverses, Maple Leaf 47's, or NSF 1955 cent, things the mints meant to be there, or error varieties like the doubled-dates and EWL 1964 nickels that weren't. You also have thousands of one-offs or interesting or minor error and varieties, who knows. Any one could be the next big thing.

More recent finds like 1977 n/f and 1996 n/f nickels are of interest to many collectors but others may not be interested at all. If someone makes a book with a hole for them, they may become more popular, but there may be thousands hidden in rolls with guys like me who never even bothered to look (I know I have a pile of BU 96's but would rather scour ebay for older coins).

Now if I can just find that 1886 obverse 4 large pointed 6 dime in VF for a reasonable price, I'm all set !

It really all depends on your personal preference. I like to collect the less rare varieties and commemoratives as well. I also enjoy making a date set of coins from 1937 to present.

I collect most Canadian coins from the 1920s or 1930s onward. I understand the poster's dilemma. For me it depends upon how much I am into that denomination and of course affordability.

I have quarters from 1937 onward. I am still missing the '47 Dot and the '73 Large Bust. I think I could afford those two coins but I am just not enough into quarters to do it.

I love the silver dollars and have bought the Arnpriors and the five versions of the 1965. Also some of the short water lines.

Pennies were the first coins I collected as a kid. Recently I bought the 1985 Pointed and the two harder to get 1965s. Since 2000 there have been some pennies not circulated that had special properties (like 2008 non magnetic) that might have been just available from year sets for example. I went after all of those if they were under $50. I do not have a 1955 NSF cent. I'd rather put that money towards some better quality silver dollars.

So you can see it is about trade offs. I cannot afford a 1969 Large Date dime. If $10,000 magically appeared in my mailbox one day, I would not buy that coin even though I have most other dimes from 1937 onwards. I'd get more joy out of 100 other high quality coins than that single one.