Budgeting For Young Collectors And Those Starting New Sets!

Wow great job putting this all together. This could be of a lot of use for beginners.
Just one question- for 2 cent keys, since when does 560 x 2 = 900?

The key date coins kind of blow the averages since you can't buy a tenth of a coin unless a dealer would let you put your coin on a monthly payment. I see the humble Buffalo nickels with key dates included will cost you over $4000 for the whole set in the various conditions. I think they are worth every sent along with the Walkers, Mercury dimes and Peace dollars. Because I am a baby boomer the coins like Buffalos, Mercury dimes, Walkers, Peace dollar and even Liberty Standing quarters are special for me since I did see them in the wild. The coins the youngsters of today are seeing are not silver or nickel, but just copper clad in some cheap cover. Are any even silver clad? They are not worth the metal it took to make them. Having non-silver coins that are minted in really enormous quantities takes the fun out of it. The mint should try and create another dollar coin that is not a piece of crap. The thing is what is a dollar really worth these days. You can't buy anything with it and not even a cup of coffee.

Indeed. Specifically for the Buffaloes, a custom could stick with G coins for all of the semi-key and keys as a start and that would total only tally under $1100 high retail for a couple thousand dollar reduced spend, which is notably a HUGE % savings over the originally listed grand total based on a higher grade. One of the the reasons the value seems so high is because these NGC numbers are high retail, and it doesn't take someone long to realize they can usually buy most coins at a discount to this. The decisions to fill holes with G coins is entirely up that individual collector.




For 2cent, it does include the 1864 varieties. I stuck with the general list that NGC as much as possible. The idea was to have a very inclusive list, and a collector could choose as they wished to come down from their based on their own wants. I thought it safer to overshoot than undershoot. Removing the 1864 SMALL would indeed reduce the budget several hundred dollars.




The first big jump in prices on the Liberties happens at F to VF. In VF, the set is $1800, in XF $3800. So yes, these higher grades could be had or comparable spends to many of these other sets.

The great thing about the Braided series is the run can be made affordably. It goes up to around $1700 if bouncing up to F.





Meant to enter 1892-1916. Brain must have seen squirrels. It's been corrected.

H, updated to show an option for Wheaties too. Happy collecting!

Thanks for sharing the information...I have a lot of sets already completed and have researched what to start-- and I really enjoyed reviewing this. It was especially time saving for a quick view of the series I am not as familiar with, thanks again for sharing

The budget for the Barber dimes keeps the 1905 0 micro and 1893/2 as these are listed in NGC's standard list and are not SO expensive in lower grades they are unachievable. These are considered semi-key in my numbers, so my values are at VG. There is room to drop down to G to save a little, but it's not huge savings.

This budget also assumes a collection that strives for all the dates and mintmarks. If the goal is just one coin / year, and the cheapest of the 3 mints being the choice, this set becomes very affordable. Many of these coins, however, are cheap enough in F that their values are tied to silver prices. So what is affordable today, might not be next year if the silver climbs back to $40.

Nice information... I appreciate the time you took to compile and share it.

Yeah, I've settled into a collection that allows for a lot of impulse buying. As long as its dated '82, its open to any country, denomination, and century. I'd like to think the list of coins I will overspend on during an impulse buy is relatively short though, but it is certainly known to happen for things I know wont come around again for a while and I have few regrets in the coin box.

In analyzing the data, I still love the Bust Dimes. Braided Cents and 2 Cents seem like something fun. For 20th century, I'd personally go with the Buffaloes.