Can We Post A Complete Commemorative Collection?

I'm putting on my MS classic silver commemorative collector hat for this reply ...

One of the many challenges faced with collecting the MS classic silver set is getting to know and understand the individual characteristics of all 50 coins in the type set .. not to mention the variability in the multi-year issued examples which make up the 144 coin set.

This is not Lincoln Cents 1909 - 1929 ... where the basic design was repeated over and over ... each coin in this series is unique to itself and presents great opportunity for collecting fun and education.

To your point on the Elgin ... get it ... but nowhere is there an Elgin in any grade that shows the crisp details that are common (expected) on modern commemorative.

The lovely MS66 example shown above is as good as it gets for strike quality ... the issue is not strike but the design of the coin itself ... the details were simply not there in the beginning.

I drove myself bonkers when I first explored the MS set trying to find 'well struck' examples ... my issue at the time was the 1936 Long Island Half ... I needed to see details on the ship sails on the reverse ... finally came to accept there were none to see and simply moved on to acquire a choice example.

All that said ... there are indeed coins in the classic silver set where strike quality can matter ... and as a collector your challenge is to educate yourself on which ones those are ... and accept this Elgin example for what it is.

I'm really enjoying seeing and reading what everyone has to share. It's going to be awhile before I can post my own again, but thanks everyone for sharing their coins and knowledge.

Great seeing the circulated coins - thanks @nickelsearcher for the honest examples!

I'm still several days from having something else to post again, but I'm getting a lot of out this thread along the way. Doing these alphabetically seemed like a strange choice but we are getting a good mix of moderns and classics so the changes in style and technique are more clear.

2000 Leif Ericson UNC

I think the thought is ...

He made it to North America around 1000 AD ....

I like that the Ericson looks nothing like what a traditional US coin looks like.

Power is back and so am I! So this Columbian I saw for $100.00 and it was one of those coins that I was really attracted to as most have been cleaned or have ugly toning. If you have ever opened a true original roll of Walking Liberty half dollars, this is what I have had many look like. Bright white middle with gold around the edges. The marks on the front right obverse are actually grease streaks. I thought about cracking this out to remove them but really don't mind them that much. Some chatter on the reverse sail but loved the fields and originality. As with most coins I have, they look nicer in hand than in my poor photos!