Collecting Coin Sets

The only one I see completing anytime soon is the modern silver eagle and even then I will need to fudge the 1995-W and drop to MS69

The gold $5 I will never complete but over half are common dates available at a good price so that's fine

I am 21 coins away from finishing my Mercury dime set, so of course, I had to start another set in the meantime so I picked up 3 Franklins and a Dansco to put them in. I plan on finishing the dimes, with the exception of 16-d, before I get any more Franklins. We will see how well that goes.

A "set" can mean what whatever you want it to be.

I collect in the same manner as the British Museum does.
Their 'set' will never be completed, and they have perhaps the biggest collection of coins in the World.
Even for that organization, their collection will never, nor is it possible, for it to ever be complete.

Just decide on some bounds on what your 'set' is going to be, and stick to it.
Having said that, still keep an open mind on whatever coin comes along and could very well added to your collection, but outside your core 'set'.

My core 'set' is OFEC: 26 coins, one from every century, since the beginning of coinage, 26 centuries ago.

My 'set' only mostly complete at this stage.
I will post a list. Some coins were struck with the same general type over a period more than one century, but a few gold coins included in the list.

Will take a day or two to write up a list of selected coins, out of a collection of about 1,500, mostly less than 300 years old.

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Athens silver tetradrachm c/- 460 BC
obv. Athena facing right oak leavers on head.
rev. owl facing, in incuse square.

Macedon gold stater, Philip 11 (see avatar), 359-336 BC
obv. Apollo
rev. biga, thunderbolt mint mark (Pella)

Persian Empire, Darius 111, silver siglos
obv. archer kneling, holding bow and dagger.
rev. incuse punch mark, trident mint mark.

Geeece Thyrrhheium, colony of Corinth, c/- 240BC. silver didrachm.
obv. helmeted head Athena facing left
rev. Pegasos flying left.

Rome Republic silver denarius. c/- 109-105BC.
moneyer M Aquilius.
obv. radiate head of Sol right
rev. Luna in bigs.

Celtic pre Roman Britain base gold stater Durotrigues.
obv. astracted head of Apollo
rev. abstracted horse.

Rome gold aureus Augustus 27BC-14 AD.
obv. laureate head of Augustus right
rev. Caius and lucius Ceasars standing , facing.

Rome gold Aureus Vespasian 69-79 AD.
obv. Laureate head facing right
rev. Pax seated left.

Rome silver tetradrachm, Traja 98- 117 AD. Tyre mint.
obv. Trajan bust, facing right
rev. Melquarth bust, facing right.

Rome silver antoninianus, Julia Domna wife of Caracalla
obv, raided hair bust facing right
rev. Venus seated left.

Rome brass seatertius Philip244-49 AD.
obv. laureat head facing right
rev. Annona standing left.

Rome silver argenteus, Maximianus 286-395 AD
obv.laureate head right
rev. the Tetrachs in front of camp gate.

Rome gold solidus, Constantius 11 337-361 AD
obv. diademed head right
rev. Roma and Constantinopolis either side of shield.

India, Kushan gold stater, Kipnander c/- 350 AD
obv. king standing
rev. enthroned Ardoshoko.

Rome gold solidus Leo 457- 474 AD
obv. facing bust
rev. Victoria standing.

Burma silver 80 rattis, mid 4th century AD
obv. stylized sun
rev. stylized temple.

Hephthalites silver drachm. late 500's AD
obv. bust facing left
rev. fire altar with attendants.


Thailand Mon kingdom of Hamsvati silver unit about 9.4 gms.
obv sankh shell
rev. stylized temple.

Byzantine gold solidus Phiocas, 602-10 AD.
obv. bearded bust facing
rev. angel, standing.

Byzantine gold solidus of Carthage, Heraclius constantine 610-41 AD dumpy fabric.
obv. wo crowned busts facing
rev. cross potent on steps.

Byzantine gold tremissis Constantine 1V 668-685 AD.
obv. bust right
rev. cross potent.

India, Kidarites base gold stater, c/- 750 AD.
obv. king standing
rev. Ardoshoko enthroned.

Ceylon pale gold kahavanu. Chola kings c/- 1020 AD.
obv. king standing, facing.
rev. Lord of Sri Lanka, reclining.

Islamic gold dinar, Ghaznavids 1053 -59 AD.

Islamic gold dinar, Sulayhids 1047 81 AD.

Byzantine gold hyperpyron Andronicus and Michael 1X 1320-1325 AD.
obv. Michael and Andronicus either side of Christ
rev. Virgin facing city walls.

Islamic gold ashrafi, Burji Mamluks c/- 1421-38 AD

France gold Ecu D'or Francis 1 1515-47)
obv.croned shield
rev. floriated cross.

India square silver rupee Akbar, c/- 1650

Egypt gold Zeri Mahbub, 1730.

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A few more modern coins:

Great Britain Gold Guinea, George 111, 1794

Japan gold Nibu Kin, Manen perios

Belgium CU Ni Essai (pattern) 20 centimes, 1859.

Great Britain Gold Half Sovereign Victoria, 1844.

U.S.A. gold Dollar, 1853.

German New Guinea Company silver 5 Marks, 1894.

Australia Sydney Mint Sovereign, 1866.

Canada gold 10 Dollare, 1913.

U.S.A. gold Double Eagle, 1924.

Great Britain gold proof 5 sovereigns George V1, 1937.

Netherlands Antilles square gold 300 Guilders, 1980.

Australia Platinum One Ounce Koala, 1991.

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It has taken me nearly 40 years to build this 'set' so far.
One of the rationales for collecting in this way is
that if one collects a specific set (say, a date set of Lincoln pennies), the only coins of significance are the key coins.
With my 'set', each coin can stand on it's own, and is significant in it's own right.

By collecting across the whole of numismatics, I can also cherry pick across the whole of numismatics, looking for best value for money for each purchase. Such an approach requires a lot of research before making a decision to buy each item.

I also get to make a study of World history over my lifetime, - the first step to becoming a 'culture vulture' !

Actually gold coins are not really my thing.
Gold is just another coinage metal. That is the effect that 40 years of collecting has had on my thinking. Gold coins represents only about 2% of my collection.

I have about 1,500 coins in my core 'set', and as you would expect, silver and bronze coins are far more numerous in the collection. Silver and bronze coins have always shouldered most of the burden in the World's circulating currencies, but I will admit that gold coins are slightly over represented in my collection.

For the purposes of this thread, they just happen to be more interesting.

I always got bored doing date sets, never finished one set, bounced around too much. Now it's just type sets for me because of the variety of designs. U.S, and foreign, great way to cut the boredom.

There are many ways to define a set probably almost as many ways as there are collectors. Since I mainly do PCGS slabbed coins exclusively I tend to follow the sets they define on the website, usually by type date and mint mark.

Then I set a goal of either price or grade. So for Barber dimes it is the best coin for each date MM for under $100. I was trying for under $50 but a couple stretched that up. Even still 76 coins in the set at under $100 each gives me an upper limit of $7,600, although a few keys might stretch that further.

For the DMPL Morgan's the same thing but the upper limit is $500 per coin.

For the modern silver eagles I went a different route. Every coin so far is MS70 and I plan to keep that up so quality over a set price.

Doing it this way I spend a lot of time searching as not all coins are available in the grades I want and two coins in the same grade might look different so I can be choosy.