What Should Expect In A Complete Cent Set?

It is true with most people that are not hardcore that they will buy a nice looking shiney set and not think twice about it. Lets be honest. If you set Thad's memorial collection down and put a price tag of lets say $300. Put a ebay set down for $25. Which one would they buy? This is the obvious reason hardcore people like Thad wouldnt sell such a set because people do not know its true value.

I have bought a set off ebay, cherry picked that and then bought a ton of cents still in the mint packaging. This is what my set is mostly made from. All are very nice, spotless/problem free examples. Once my wheat set is complete, i'll eventually do what Thad is doing. It all depends on how serious you want to get with them.

I am truely sorry for tooting my own horn..but I just have to mention that I possess a set of certified (ngc-pcgs) Memorial Cents 59-2008, both business strikes and satin finish, all mints, and currently ranked number 9 of 208 sets..this set has been a labor of love and is intended for my heirs...maybe. Who knows what can happen now that I'm retired?

they range from MS-65 (a few) mostly the early years in MS-66, then the later years are 67 and 68 with a few 69's...the set is been fun and will be updated as dollars are available...thanks for the compliment
dean

One cent collectors do have one huge advantage over clad collectors: at least they have rolls to check. Some of the rolls are hard to find or usually come quite poor; they can be quite expensive as well, but the rolls exist. Many of the clad rolls simply don't exist in any meaningful quantity. You can go out and find rolls of quarters from the '30's but try to find a '69-P roll. They're almost impossible. The few you do see are almost invariably assembled from mint sets.

Cent collectors get to see more variety looking for the coins and get to see things that just don't exist in mint sets. Quarter varities and mules are nearly impossible in nice shape because they all come out of circulation.

A lot of collectors don't understand the fascination with nice moderns. They collect something which is normally made quite well so don't even notice the little flaws on some examples. Or they collect the very old coins in worn condition and they almost never see a superb coin in superb condition. But modern collectors mostly have something in common; typical exmples are exceedingly common and superb examples can be quite rare. Even typical (unc) examnples of many coins are scarcer than the '50-D nickel. This means lots of work seeking nice coins and the payoff is a beautiful set that can hardly be matched.

What more would any collector want?

Here's one I snagged out of an OBW roll:

https://goccf.com/t/41589

Cents start red from the mint and gradually turn brown, thus, we have the designations: RD (Red), RB (Red/Brown) and B (Brown). Browning happens mainly due to exposure to air (oxidation). Heavy browning comes from exposure to body oils and other contaminants.

Desirability of toning varies from collector to collector. Some like it and some don't. Personally, I love toned copper coins and bright red ones.....they each have their place.

Wow..lotsa good stuff on this post. oslhelt, very nice collection. I would love to see some pics! You make me want to work harder...not quite as hard as Thad..if I worked as hard as Thad on my Memorials, my fiance would leave me and I probably would die from sleep deprivation..hehe.

This is the thing I LOVE about this site...I haven't done any roll searching or bought a coin for myself in weeks...kinda in a rut. Well you guys sparked the flame inside me...my day is clear and I am going to the bank for rolls and to my coin supplier for any goodies, then back home to my desk to have some fun.

Thanks guys!