A "Complete" collection, Is it still an achievable/worthwhile goal ??

[Goldseeker]

The only 25mm alum-br $1 coins that I DON"T have are the ABC coins for last year and this year.

I believe that I do have a complete set of 25mm $1 coins in my albums.

As I do the 5c, 10, 20c, 50c and $2 coins.

I don't go for any Perth Mint coins at all nor the gold coins.

Yes, it is getting a wee bit pricey but, I need those coins even though I am running out of storage space.

[trout]

Yes, it is getting a wee bit pricey but, I need those coins even though I am running out of storage space.

You don't NEED those coins Mate, The sky will not fall if you don't buy every single coin that RAM produces.
I used to feel exactly the same But since I cured myself of that particular OCD the freedom is amazing :dance2:
The money that I would have spent on RAM frivolities over the last couple of years went toward quite a large collection of very high grade Maundy coins instead. :good:
I still buy from RAM but I am far more selective now, Unfortunately RAM did produce some exquisite and interesting coins and sets this year So it was still an expensive year regardless of me being selective :angel:

[interest]

I'm nearly with Goldie there,
I believe I also had as near as possible to a complete set of 25mm dollars,
at least one of every MM, Privy, every show, every press, every which way but bloody loose. Except the ABC series of last year this year & those silly war animals .
One of every 5 cent, every ten cent, every 20 cent every 50 cent up until now, that's only cupro nickle not gold or silver or errors.
That is fifty years worth of coins a good point in which to nearly stop.
 I will keep getting the five cents until they stop & anything I really like.

I do believe if you wanted to spend the money it would be possible at this stage to acquire a complete set of decimals, just by buying a complete set of the yearly uncirculated sets would give you a big leg up then it's just a matter of picking up the all the MM's etc etc etc.
Wouldn't like to do it but it could be done.

[trout]

When the first set of ABC coins came out I had a good long hard think about what I was collecting and I realized that I had Many coins that I really didn't like that much.
I had bought these coins simply to keep the collection complete and had nothing whatsoever  to do with enjoying collecting them.
Even though I No longer get every single mintmark, counterstamp or even new issues I still consider my collections "Complete" because I have all the coins that I have chosen to add to them :good:

[autocoupler]

Early on in the peace I set my sights on a full set of Halfpennies, Pennies and Florins, and tried not to go below VF for the harder/scarcer dates. I found as  many might, some of these even in VF grade sure can be a strain on the pocket. Thankfully the other denominations didn't have any attraction.

Before too long the variety arm of collecting grabbed me, and I must say this has given me the most pleasure, the thrill of the hunt you might say especially in the early days of the internet when many sellers including shop front dealers weren't too savvy about information relating to varieties.

In the meantime a set of circulation decimals sounded a good idea, and it was fun sourcing all the various mint sets, including the Reserve Bank wallets, which still continues today but not for long. The ever expanding aluminium bronze dollars, including mint marks, privy marks and counterstamps also made it to the list, but I drew the line at all coloured offerings as well as the ABC stuff. I think some of the counterstamp dates will turn out to be good results for the Grand kids though.

Collect what pleases You, not what others think You should. After that it's all fun

[notcb]

Hi,

One point that keeps coming up in the above thread is what happens to the collection when you pass on?

Do your heirs gather up the collection and flog it on Ebay for whatever they can get, do they take it to a dealer and lose 50% or do they approach an auction house and lose even more of its intrinsic value?

One thing I have tried to do is educate my heirs to understand the true value of individual items in a collection.

The two heirs were born in 1978 and 1980.

So for their 30th birthdays I constructed albums each  containing UNC notes with the signatories current in the year of their birth.  (Knight/Wheeler & Knight/Stone)

Each denomination had several varieties, such as gothic or OCR-B, centre thread or side thread and DBP test notes.

The albums also indicated the retail value(s) of each note at the time of their birthdays in 2008 and 2010.

When they see the large differences in value between very subtle differences in the notes, it helps to focus their minds on the importance of looking at each part of the collection in isolation.

Has it worked?  Not sure, but they certainly appreciate the value of the notes in their albums in comparison with their face value!!!!

Cheers

Peter  (notcb)

[wwwww]

This is why I focus on completed series, e.g. pre-decimals, Aussie gold, etc. It is very rare that dates get added to it (actually my half sovereign set was recently made incomplete by the reclassification of the 1855 Type II and 1893-M Old Head as business strikes but I'm not at the mercy of the mint pumping out more half sovereigns every year).

[echidna]

This is why I focus on completed series, e.g. pre-decimals, Aussie gold, etc. It is very rare that dates get added to it (actually my half sovereign set was recently made incomplete by the reclassification of the 1855 Type II and 1893-M Old Head as business strikes but I'm not at the mercy of the mint pumping out more half sovereigns every year).

Reclassified by PCGS ?

[wwwww]

This is why I focus on completed series, e.g. pre-decimals, Aussie gold, etc. It is very rare that dates get added to it (actually my half sovereign set was recently made incomplete by the reclassification of the 1855 Type II and 1893-M Old Head as business strikes but I'm not at the mercy of the mint pumping out more half sovereigns every year).

Reclassified by PCGS ?

My 1855 Type II was slabbed as a business strike (it has residual cartwheel lustre in the legends unlike the proofs which have a cameo finish), PCGS hasn't slabbed any 1893-Ms yet.

I've always considered both business strikes, it makes sense, the survival rates for the 1855 Type I are about 1 in 400 so for 3 circulated examples of the Type II to have survived there must've been approximately 800 to 1200 issued before the die was overdated to 1857 (which is too high for a proof issue).

The 1893-M there are 6 surviving circulated examples, 5 in very low grade, one was slabbed by NGC as PF55 (so they consider it a proof). PCGS hasn't slabbed any yet. The survival rate of the era then is about 1 in 40 so for 6 business strikes to survive, a mintage of about 240 is implied (which would be too high for it to be a proof-only issue). The PF55 has some mirror reflectivity in the legends but no cameo which is often seen for the 1893-M full sovereign so I don't think that's any evidence of being a proof.

[kchan1111]

Woow what grade is your 1855 half sov?

[wwwww]

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