Coin Collecting Strategies - How Consistent Does Your Set Need To Be?

I try to put together a set by first date & mint, then by grade. I have a very limited budget and the higher grades
of some coins are out of my reach. so it's a personal thing
about consistency. however I will always try to upgrade when
the opportunity comes about.

Hm I have a complete set of silver Rosie's. My rule was I could only get them out of dealer junk boxes. I got everything from highly toned XF coins to proofs. I absolutely love how it looks and each coin tells its own story.

For my Newf coin set (date, not type) I try to go no lower then 20 and try to stay in the 40-50 range.

I don't like 60s for any coins made before 1920. With 50s you know they seen some action.

I find sets that range from 12 to 65 hard on the eyes. I like consistency

I think any collection you build is fine as long as you are happy with it's contents and you enjoy building it.

That said, Doug Winter is a "GGCD" (Good Guy Coin Dealer), I agree with his statement of most people underbuy the key coins and overbuy the common ones. When it comes time to liquidate your collection, most sealers (or auction houses) will only look at the key dates anyways, A dealer rarely makes money buy selling complete sets, they break them up to sell in piece meal. Most collectors need those key and semi key dates, and those that have been hunting for a certain piece for a long time, will realize they will need to pay a premium price to fill those holes on less offered pieces.

So buying the best you can afford in the hardest to find coins in your set - you will realize the best potential for a good profit. Now most true collectors don't start out collecting to make money, but let's be honest, when it comes time to sell, you certainly don't want to take a loss on your years of hard work.

I was just thinking about this a few days ago. There were two instances in my past I can remember, both times a rare uncommon coin was offered to me at what was at the time a very fair price. One was an AU Gobrecht dollar (no stars obverse name on base) the other was a VF+ with very light porosity - 1793 Chain Cent, both times I passed, as I could get a lot more coins for my collection, and since I was becoming a coin dealer then, lots more coins for inventory. So I passed on both coins, instead buying lots of $50-$200 coins. It sure didn't help I was at my first really big coin show either, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the offerings ( ANA Show with around 750 tables).

Today most of those coins I ended up buying aren't worth all that much more than I paid then, sure they've mostly at least doubled or more in value, but the two coins I passed on would have been much better buys, even as a dealer I could have flipped them within a month or so for a nice profit, or held them for 5-10 years and made 1000% profit or more.

So in the long run, as I've learned the coins that make you happiest owning are still the best ones to go after, but make sure you know what you are buying, and buy the best you can possibly afford at the time, don't settle for whatever you find first, there are a lot of coins out there just waiting for you to see them. Don't be afraid to step up when there is a great deal under your nose.

CONSISTENCY. If that is supposed to mean all the coins in a collection are all similar in metal and shape, yep, my collection is consistent. All my coins are round and almost all are metal, I think, maybe, not sure.

As has been stated, the consistency of putting a set
together has a lot to do with income level or maybe
comfort level of being able to purchase high cost coins.

Many of the classic sets will have at least a few high cost
coins. So low and middle income collectors (includes me)
may have to make a choice to either have a empty hole, or a
lower grade coin.

For example


This is a page from my dollar date set. This page has the
most costly Morgan's (by year). If I tried to upgrade the
91 through 95 coins, to at least AU50, it would cost me
thousands. My problem is that I have several sets going at
the same time, and many of those have empty high cost holes.

Another problem is, it is easier to get a better deal on
common better grade coins, just because there are more of
them and dealers need to move them. But on the keys and
semi keys they are easier to sell with out having to make a deal.

I think this is why I like modern sets so much. It is much easier
to search out high grade coins for modern sets, and
complete them with all high grade coins. And not spend a lot of your coin budget.

But for the classic sets, I wait for the right deal to come
along. In most cases it will be a lower grade, hopefully
problem free coin. But when it does, it will fill that hole.
And I will be happy.

Edit: If I hit one of the multi-millions lotteries. Everything would change ...
Can you imagine doing the page above with the top coins
for each of those years. 1989CC, 1893S, 1894P, 1895P
and 1899P .... ouch .. but fun to think about.

Sel:

I must say that 100% with Tryna and sel_691.