Putting Together A Set Of MS Lincoln Cents

The most expensive coins tend to go up over time. So getting them earlier may make some cents (pun intended).

But salaries and wages tend to go up so getting them later could be the only option.

It typically buy what I can afford and then update later. At some point I consider the set complete and will not update further. Within the last year I completed my Washington quarters with the lowest grade at around AU58. I will not update them further unless someone is giving away a higher grade.

'nuff said

Even if a MS Set of Lincolns was ALL I ever collected would I ever shy of massive winnings be able to pay that piper. So far, I have never paid over $138 for any one single coin, and I refuse to do so. That said, the ONLY coin I lack of an absolute Lincoln set 1909-present including proofs and varieties 1954 on is the unobtanium 1909S-VDB. That hole, because I can't afford it will be filled eventually by a nice Chinese fake shortly!

My meager funds do allow me to buy mint and proof sets in quantity and put together a guite decent set of the other denominations so that at least, 1965 through 2009 will be MS/PF. I like the completed sets, nice but not necessarily show-stopping, the collection is yours, you have to enjoy it even after you complete it, or you'll wind up selling it.

Here is another take on your original philosophy:

If I were to begin my Lincoln set by laying out huge money for beautiful mint-state examples of the '09S-VDB and the '14D, there is a fair chance that I'm going to finish the set. On the other hand, doing it the way I've done (starting with change finds and working my way back / forward since about 1980) I doubt I will ever finish the set because I DON'T want to shell out the big bucks. Plus, my set wasn't done with mint state coins from day one. I've just updated to better examples when I stumble across them.

People don't often realize that some of the "key date" Lincolns aren't the hardest to get in high grade. Many of the teen and twenty S-mint coins are really big money when you get north of MS63. A mid-MS red 1926S will cost you close to six figures and the 1909S VDB in the same condition is less than 10% of that. You have to look at the whole set before you establish a target grade!

First of all I'd like to bring out the fact that Mint State Red Lincolns are prone to the environment very easily and black spots can ruin your whole collection . But I'm sure you already know this . Anyway like you say having brown uncs.right next to choice red cents just doesn't cut it . I worked mine backwards only because of the price of the early Lincolns in BU . I don't care who tells you what ; you go by what you can afford .

That is quite a collecting challenge ... and you have received some honest advice from true CCF experts.

Keep us posted on your progress ... some photos would help.

I have a near MS Lincoln set. I backed into my set - i.e., I didn't plan this from the beginning.

I started with the goal of putting together a Lincoln set that had been started in childhood from circulation but never finished. It was originally going to be a brown, circulated set and I got close to that minus a couple of keys, but then from there I said:

It wouldn't be that hard to do uncirculated for all of the memorials and the 2009+ were already uncirculated, so I finished that.

Then I thought, you know, it would be pretty reasonable to do uncirculated back to 1940 or so and so I finished that. Then I noticed a lot of people did back to 1934 uncirculated so I did that.

Then I noticed that uncirculated back to 1928 wasn't too expensive either. There was the 31-S, but that was only a little more in uncirculated grade than the brown examples. The 31-D ran me a bit as well, but not too bad.

THEN, and here's where the quest got sort of expensive - I said, ya know, the PHILLY mints aren't so bad going all the way back to 09 so why not do those in uncirculated too?

Now, I had brown coins and not brown coins all mixed together and decided I was going to try to finish my set in MS 63 RB to as close as I could afford.

I started in on the pre-28 D and S mints and let me tell you, that was a challenge. I made a few compromises where I got attractive coins at good prices and wouldn't mind upgrading a few, but overall am pretty happy with my set. Some really tough coins in there. I found the 15-S and 24-D really hard to find at reasonable prices with the look I wanted.

The last one I added was the 09-S VDB in MS63RB PCGS. Got an inheritance from my in-laws and my wife said why don't you go ahead and get that coin you wanted. Thanks Jane and Paul. Oh, and my 14-D is just a VG8 since that's a really expensive one in MS. Maybe someday.

Sorry for the long post if you are still with me...to summarize, I bought what I could afford and saved up and ended with a bang on the last few coins.

I have often wondered the same thing Scurry and have thought about posting a similar thread to yours.

I finished my first "nice" set of Washington quarters late last year and I wanted to start an MS set of "something" classic.
And I pondered the same questions you have asked here. I have enjoyed reading these responses as much as you have!

So here is my thought process, so far anyway:

No, I am not going to buy any semi key or key dates this year. I want to learn and study this series and learn what an "MS-XX"
or whatever grade should look like. I want to feel confident that when I go to spend my hard earned $'s on a key / semi key
date coin that I know more of what to expect. So I am making my first dozen purchases or so on some of the less expensive coins.
Then when I have studied those and am more comfortable I will buy a couple of the more expensive ones. But, I don't want to just
have all the "hard ones" left at the end either.

I have not yet made up my mind if I will just bite the bullet and sell off a great deal of my collection for "the big one",
or...... to use your example of the 1914D drop down to a MS61BR. Something tells me tho that I will compromise some. But
not a lot. I will be working on this set over the next probably 7 years so I am just making some purchases and learning
right now.

Seriously tho, I have thought seriously about making a post just like this one. Thanks!

I wish you well and keep us posted~!