Putting Together A 2 Cent Collection........

Thanks, Raymo ... I didn't look past the 2 cent set. I'll amend my prior posting!

Harmonica ... The Two Cent set will cost you about $1,000 to complete,minus the 1873; this, in VG-Fine condition. The CN Three Cent set will be much tougher and much more expensive. I don't know your taste, but I hate seeing those empty holes in albums.

As for getting your feet wet, you could assemble some short sets, date runs minus the keys. You need not restrict yourself to the album mentality. I've gotten some old silverware and antique chests, made some trays and formed my own sets of sorts. I suggest that being creative can give you a presentable, yet cost-effective display.

Harmonica.. Welcome to Two Cent Piece collecting. I too find it to be a fascinating series. Here is a link with info on how the Motto was created. http://www.treasury.gov/about/educa...e-trust.aspx

Here are links to short articles I have written on the series...
http://coins.www.collectors-society...ntryID=10612
http://coins.www.collectors-society...ntryID=10429
http://coins.www.collectors-society...ntryID=10420

Happy Collecting

Yes, Penny Guy gave me some great reading material and your price guide of shorts tells me which ones will be the show stoppers. I actually really like the capital coin holder, I think I might go for that.

I have been monitoring ebay like a hawk, when I get my first few coins I will get my mate with one of those camera phones to help me upload some pictures to this thread.

A great series to try for, not to hard to complete, and still affordable! My last complete set was MS66 except for the Small Motto and 1867 DDO both of those were MS64 I have also finished a proof and pattern set in the past (not all the patterns but a few of them, and never had a Small Motto proof either), I sold all of them off when my Dad was really ill and we needed to help out with hospital bills. Now I just go after the die varieties, and have grandiose ideas of completing an entire set by die marriages. (Over 100 in 1864 alone)!

Exoguy - cool holder! A finished set would look great in that!

Thanks for your nice comments exoguy! My set was completed right before registry sets came into play in the market. I remember PCGS sending me info on them, I could not figure out why I should post my coins in a database for all to see back then. I wasn't in any competition, I only collected for myself, as I still do today, and I'm still not a big fan of registry set collecting. I understand the reasoning better today than I did then.

I don't have good photos unfortunately. All my coins were certified, a couple I think were really on the low end of MS66 and probably would not crossover nor even regrade at the same grade originally slabbed at. I had most of the them in NGC holders for the circulating set and PCGS for the Proof set (with a couple ANACS old white, small holders). I sure wish I could've kept the set, it was my best achievement in coin collecting, and I really miss not having it any longer.

The coins I had were mostly RB - I think I might have had a RD 1865 plain 5 and maybe one other RD coin (1868)? The trouble is the RD coins were slowly but surely, turning to complete BN color, even while they stored in as good as possible environment as I could keep them in, desiccant packs, sealed tupperware box, in an air conditioned, dark bank safe deposit box. I began the set while living in Colorado, where it is relatively dry, but moved to San Diego for the last half decade I had them, that is when the change in color began, I also had most of my full red Indian Head cents turn to brown over that time.

Not sure I would go after full red copper coins again, as the loss of the red color makes them lose so much value. RB coins with mostly Red showing might be okay.

The hardest coins to acquire were the 1872 in MS, the 1867 DDO in 64RB, I traded for the DDO through Larry Briggs for the discovery piece of an 1878-S Long Arrow nock VAM coin.

The 1873 closed proof was a tough find also, and my last proof coin needed to complete the set that I purchased. For quite awhile I though I wouldn't find one I liked and though I would have to settle for having only the open 3 proof.

I also never had a mint state 1869/8 (so called overdate) with the die break, I had a chance to get one from Kevin Flynn once but the deal never happened, can't remember why, maybe due to lack of funds or someone else got it before I could.

The proof 1864 LM and 1865 were also tough coins to locate in the condition I wanted, for a long time my LM proof was an ANACS small holder PR61BN with lots of carbon spots on the surface. Took almost decade to find one that I could afford that pleased me. I also never had a Small Motto in Proof, I did pass on an impaired example, I think it was PR50, still out of my league then financially - it was around $9K if I recall correctly.

Back in the days of putting this set together, MS66 coins were fairly common to find in the under $1500 price point, so it wasn't a huge financial outlay like it would be today! (Isn't that case in almost any series though? - 20 years later everything is more expensive in top quality)! ...and I wasn't buying them every week, it took months and months between coins sometimes. Moving to San Diego area and being close to Long Beach really sped up the purchases, many of the coins I found at the Long Beach show made it into my set. I might have got a few off Teletrade, but didn't really peruse them at the major auction houses (which was a mistake in hindsight). A also remember Art Kagin offering a few pieces to me all raw with amazing toning, I passed on them too, as I didn't think they would grade at my lofty limit of 66, they probably would have now thinking back, but I just couldn't pull the trigger on them at the time, and was side tracked then, doing VAM hunting as it was around the time the Top100 book had just come out, and I took Jeff Oxman and Michael Fey's ANA Summer seminar class, my Two Cent Pieces took a back seat for a few years during that period.

I have a few photos of some of the coins from my set, I have posted here at CCF but never in one thread. I can't seem to find the hard drive I had scans of all the slabs on any longer.

Pennyguy, I have read all your articles and seen your full set photo! Love it - it is certainly a beautiful collection. Are all your pieces certified as well? What is the average grade of the set you put together if you don't mind me asking (both proof and business strikes)?

Kevin's book gave some good insight on the proof mintages, it is also now believed the 1864LM and 1865 proofs were also re-struck at later times, as the population reports don't jive with the reported low mintages of either coins, even when accounting for slab crack outs.

I do know the 1864LM is a tough find in Proof, not impossible but very tough. I keep an open search for them in ebay and have only seen 3 1865's and 2 1864LM listed in certified holders in Proof over the past few years listed for auction or sale. One 1864LM proof was impaired and was at PR55, the other was PR63RB.

A few have sold recently at Heritage auctions for ridiculous money, but all were very high grade, including the finest known 1864LM proof.