7070 Used To Be Such A Big Deal, Is It Still

A lot of people still do them. I own and am in the process of completing a type set, however mine is slabbed for display and safety purposes.

I have both a slabbed set and an album which are both not yet completed although mostly complete. I have selected anywhere from F-15 to MS-67 graded coins for the graded set and I try to acquire nice problem free examples with above average eye appeal.

First, I like the idea of a type set and that's what a 7070 is all about.
My only complaint about the 7070 is that IMO it isn't complete.
Go to NGC and look at their Registry Set type set.

All completed with the Dansco 7070, just need to upgrade.

...and to clarify. What is the cheapest most expensive coin in the set, you know what I mean. Like I'm not going to put a 1922d in for the cent. I'm obviously going to use the best example of the most common date. So what is the most common date of the most expensive coin. I guess that is what I'm asking.

Most expensive depends on what your minimum grade is going to be. A good goal for the 7070 set is everything VF or better. At that level your most expensive coin is probably going to be the Classic head cent. A true problem free nicely struck VF Classic, even for a common date, can easily set you back 4 figures. It will also probably be the toughest coin to locate. Classics tend to come either mushy, low grade, or with problems. Even a significant number of the straight graded and even CACed coins at this level (VF or better) still have problems that would get them detail grades if they were any other series. TRUELY problem free coins are TOUGH. And if you find one they are expensive.

One of the nice things about the 7070 is that it can be put together, in nice grade by most collectors, Other than the Classic head cent there aren't any real stoppers in the set. And the set also lends itself to a "budget" approach for small collectors. There are I think something like 76 coins in the album. If you get one coin a month, it will take about 6 years to complete the set. Not an overly long time. Next set a budget per coin. If you can afford it $100 makes a nice figure. Now here is the trick. Take a box and every month you will put $100 in that box, and the money for all purchases for the set comes out of that box. If you spend less than the $100 that month the extra rolls over into the next month and builds up for the more expensive coins. The key is to buy the common coins early so the excess for buying the expensive ones builds up faster. So for the first 12 months you are buying high grade cheap coins, At the end of the year, your set is close to 20% complete but nothing overly impressive. But there is now enough money in that box to get that Classic head cent! The next year repeat the process, buy the less expensive coins in better grade and let the excess money rollover. At the end of the year use that extra to buy the next most expensive coin. And if it cost less than the money in the box, that rolls over into the next year as well. As the years progress and the coins you buy each month cost more the excess in the box will grow slower, but by the time you are reaching the point where the monthly coins cost more than $100, the excess you need for each month will most likely be in the box already. (And the "expensive coin at the end of the years is getting less expensive each year) I budgeted $100 a month but probably 2/3 of the coins in the set will cost well less than that each month, so the money is there early for the expensive coins to keep you motivated and also there as you need the extra when you are reaching completion. I'm pretty sure a 7070 set can be put together in VF or better for less than $7,600.

That is what makes this hobby interesting. So many possible variations. Myself, I put together a Whitman 20th Century type set. After that I got bored with type sets. However, so many others love them.

Great advice from Condor 101. This is largely how I completed my 7070, both in terms of the budgeting approach and the VF or better approach.

When doing VF or better, I did allow for exceptions. I am not going to put a $1000+ cent into my 7070, so I settled on a nice G4 instead. It's old, of course it's worn!

I tried to go with a progression so that older coins might be in lower grades like VF, progressing to AU and UNC coins as you get into the newer dates. I think it makes a nice presentation but there's lots of options on how you want to build your set.

In terms of the cheapest coin, a number of holes can be filled from circulation. So one cent would be the cheapest for the Lincoln Memorial. I filled the modern slots from a 1973 uncirculated mint set that my dad gave me when I was a kid (I used the D mints).

The Seated dollars were the most expensive and I also had a hard time finding a 20 cent piece and a Capped Bust Reeded Edge half that I liked.

My 7070 has been done for a while now but I have still been doing the occasional upgrade if I see something nice.

It's a great set and I had a lot of fun doing it.