Key Date Coins Beyond My Budget.

I decided that when I got out of my rut and sold my stock of ASE's, that I would buy boxes of halves and search them. Then I would wait until I had enough silver to trade for a 16 d mercury.

I have a complete set of Lincoln cents missing only 1909 S VDB and if I really felt the need I could buy one at a very low grade but I'm not rushing out to get one. The same with the 16-D Mercury dime as I have the rest of that set.

I think it happens to a lot of us and it all boils down to the priorities we set as I'm currently building a certified 20th century US type set and what I will spend on it would let my buy the low grade 1909 S VDB.

When that happens to me, I tell myself that I didn't lose by a dollar, but that the other person would have kept going as long as necessary. Sometimes you have to stop somewhere. Usually I think it's best to put in the highest price I'm willing to pay, and then just check back when it's over. That avoids auction fever. I've done that a couple of times and won by onc cent. That makes you feel like a smarty-pants.

But back to the topic, as Coinfrog and some others said, the problem is built into the hobby. I got started on Lincolns as a kid, so that's the only set I'm determined to complete if possible. I halfway filled a Mercury set from circulation, and I look at it now and then as a possible next project, but I've decided it's too much. Buffalos, another set I partly filled from circulation long ago, are also distinguished by a few frustratingly costly keys. I saw an album of Buffs missing just two coins go for about $500 at auction, and was tempted, but I didn't feel connected to someone else's collection, and the semi-keys were ratty.

Here's a question: if someone just had the urge to fill an album, what would be the least expensive one to do? I'm thinking Jeffersons, most of which can still be found in circulation, and none of which are horribly expensive to buy, exluding varieties. I have one of them as a relic of my youth.

I'm with you on avoiding the low grade culls Tbop. I think I'd rather go without a key date than spend hundreds (or even thousands) on a low ball coin just to fill a spot in an album. That money can be put towards higher grade (but not as rare) coins.

I can't go without and leave the empty hole...so there are just some things I don't collect.

I collect a circulated set of Mercury-- because even though it took years-- I got the 16 D.

I won't collect a set of uncirculated Mercury-- because the hole(s) would bother me too much. However, I will collect a set of uncirculated Franklins, because there isn't a whole at the end of the game.

There is truth to this. The most expensive hole in my 7070 (US Type album) is less than half the price of every other "final hole" in all but one of my unfinished Dansco album date sets.

Heh. Just read DavidUK and jbuck's comments. Great minds think alike?

I started coining coin sets when I was 10 with the Lincoln cents and I still collect sets at 71. That said some of these sets like the Lincoln Cent set, Mercury dime set have one empty hole in them.
I was asked once why I was a collector of sets instead of just buying individual coins and my answer was because I'm a collector and not an investor of coins. If I was an investor I would just buy one or two coins of each coin type but it would be the rarest ones because it would have a larger monetary growth than buying the whole set with that hole not filled.
Maybe I'm wrong but that's my take on it.