"Registry set" is the current (10 years old or so for Canuck coinage)collecting fad that
TPG's have planted in people's heads as a "must have". In my opinion, it has gotten out of hand. There has always been a "best of" or "nicest" or "most valuable" collection list, but I feel that things have gotten way way out of hand. ICCS doesn't have a registry list, to the best of my knowledge, but there are at least 3 US companies that do. Because of all the propaganda and eBay/Auction talk about "high grades", many newbies or relatively new collectors think that they have to have anything round and metallic slabbed with a piece of cardboard telling the world what some other person thinks that it is. You find $1 coins slabbed for $20, $25, $40 cost and then put proudly away as a "see what I got" keepsake. You find bullion coins, produced by the millions, somehow slabbed and the owner proud that he has a 69, where 80+% of them produced are all 69's. In my opinion, registry set mania has produced way too many coins where the cost of the certification far outweighs the total value of the coin and purchase price, even if held for 100 years. Again, in my opinion,
TPG slabbing has nearly destroyed the art of the hobby and the ability of the collectors to grade themselves. 95% of us are into the hobby just as what the words say "it's a hobby", not a money-making machine or a means to personally congratulate yourself.
There are some great collections and collectors that deserve to be included in formal registry sets, just to show the rest of the world the beauty in art and design that coins represent. To those people, a tip of the hat and my congrats to them. Some people collect the finest and slab them to provide their families and heirs protection and sale-ability for their collections .. again, for those people, more power to you and great planning for the future. Some people do the same thing just to protect and care for true rarities in a historical sense .. just like any antique or artifact. We should be thankful to all those folks. However, for the huge majority of collectors who just enjoy the hobby .. don't be talked into the proposition that a coin has to be slabbed and registered to be able to part of the hobby. Some day, many collectors are going look at their collections, see all the plastic, and say "my god, I've got x thousands of dollars tied up in plastic and cardboard". And heirs will say "Frank always said that this collection was very valuable, but it's worth very little". You can't sell a coin to a retail guide and a certified coin is worth the same as a raw coin, if it's in the same condition. A
TPG coin is easier to sell, especially if it's not in-hand or first-hand, but a coin is a coin in the most basic of senses.
Posted 09/14/2016 3:18 pm
