Do You Collect Sets Or By Date And Mint Mark

I am fairly new to collecting, but, so far, I have primarily split between dates and types. I am collecting the various denominations of 1853 coins, with only the Gold Eagle left, and am also collecting obtainable Twenty Cent Pieces. I have collected mint and proof sets of my and my wife's birth years, and a few key date coins, like the 1909 S Indian Head, the 1932 D & S Washington quarters, 1928 Peace dollar, etc. Oh, and then there's the other denominations that don't exist today, like the half-cent, Two Cent, and Three Cent pieces (I find the histories interesting). I forget what a straight line looks like.....

It really depends on what set I am trying to collect. If I'm trying to build a complete set of Roosevelt dimes or Jefferson nickels, it won't be to hard for me to collect every date and mint mark on a fixed budget. If I am trying to collect every Lincoln Cent, I am going to have a hard time collecting every date and mint mark.

Sometimes its easier to pick up the keys first and then build your set. The longer you wait to purchase the keys, the more expensive they will get.

I collect my sets by date, mint marks and varieties and my type set by type, of course.

The W mint mark also appears on the 1996 Roosevelt dime. Not sure, but it may be the most affordable W mint mark.

Personally I don't care to have more than one example of the same KM# in my collection. I know collecting every year, mint mark, VAM or whatever is extremely popular (especially the 1 cents!) But I find it boring having loads of virtually the same coin.

I used to collect every year of every UK coin since decimalisation but I found I never bothered looking at them because they were virtually all the same. So I released them back into the wild.

Now I try to collect all the different KM types for different countries.

I suppose part of this depends on what you collect. If you only collect coins from your own country then you are very soon going to run out of coins to attain unless you get one from every year etc.

For example I have A US collection myself that includes an example of all the KM types for the 20th Century (My personal collecting time period) And I don't even specialise in US coins. Not all fantastic grades, but all there none the less.

If you collect world coins there are so many coins to collect you don't need to get more than one of each type and still have thousands to go for.

Variety is the spice of life for me personally. Keeps me interested.

For over 30 years, I have been working on one set by date and mint mark including all proofs and as many varieties that I can find in the best possible strike and condition I can afford and find.
The duplicates will make up another set or two but not as complete with all the varieties and proofs. That is the Jefferson Nickel of course for me.

The other coins I collect are any dates and mint marks, semi keys, a couple key dates, with good eye appeal.
Mostly I chase after Buffalo nickels, Walking Liberty halves, Franklin halves, Washington quarters, a few US copper coins and a few other odds and ends.
I do not plan on making any other "complete" sets at this time but the Franklin's would be fairly easy for me to tackle and a possibility of being next.

World coins I only collect by type. I have albums for my favorites, like USA, Hong Kong, Philippines and Spain, I collect by year and mintmarks. I enjoy filling those holes.