What is your best collecting or hobby accomplishment?
Probably completing the Canadian silver dollar collection with varieties several years ago and completing Canadian $5 and $10 gold sets in MS-60 or better, again, several years ago. Rob Lincoln, Neb.
My best coin collecting accomplishment is the completion of my Barber half dollar set in VG or better condition. Dave Burdis Charleroi, Pa.
Being able to complete my graded Indian Head penny collection, with most in an MS grade and nearing completion of my graded Morgan “CC” silver dollars collection. Steve Cheaney Address Withheld
The purchase [of] a Fugio cent. Michael Hoffman Address withheld
Owning every regular issue non- gold coin of the 20th century by date and mint. The last coin I needed was the 1901- S quarter. I know this has been done by numerous collectors before so it’s no big deal. Yet I have never personally met another collector who has done this.
In 2013, I sold part of this set in order to fund a new roof for my house. Of course there are some coins and sets that I wished I had kept, but I have moved on.
I now collect world coins and have coins from 485 places from around the world. It may be the largest collection of world coins in my area. Stanley C. Clark Address withheld
My best collecting accomplishment was completing my Liberty nickel set. I started from scratch with a few coins and worked on it over several years. I spent a couple years trying to find the 1885 and 1886 in a condition and price that was to my liking. Daryl Conley New Mexico
I assembled a complete set of Mercury dimes, Lincoln cents (through 1964), Washington quarters (through 1964) and Walking Liberty half dollars as well as many type coins. I did this during the 1950s and 1960s 100 percent from circulation. Jan Lane Florida
Being able to complete an Indian Head cent collection with the main varieties. John B. San Antonio, Texas
Teaching my grandkids what I know. I make it fun, informative. Michael Emmerson Address withheld
Having retired, I have become involved with Youth Coordinating folks at the Fairfax, Va., Coin Club. I have had the opportunity to make several presentations. Our/my best collecting accomplishment(s) has been the successful introduction of young numismatists into the hobby. Nothing can compare to the budding interests of a young numismatist. They are our future. Lorne Lavertu Chantilly, Va.
I would have to say that my greatest accomplishment would have to be knowledge of numismatics. The ever-increasing and always-evolving knowledge base like learning to grade coins, learning to recognize varieties, as well as the large assortment of reference materials I’ve amassed over the years have always given me great pleasure.
Like the old adage goes, knowledge is money! So it has also been in my collecting endeavors. It has saved me from making some bad purchases as well as gifted me with some very profitable ones. Jay Kirk Owensboro, Ky.
My best was to collect all of the Booker T. Washington “P,” “D” and “S” coins certified and graded in holders as well as the Carver Washington coin set “P,” “D” and “S” certified and graded in holders. Name and address withheld
My best coin collecting achievement is that in over 60 years of enjoying the hubby I have never been robbed or cheated or swindled. James Evans Leominster, Mass.
Completing my sixth Whitman cent album, 1909-1974+. Roger Quintana Address withheld
I purchased a nice, silver 1900 Lafayette – George Washington dollar coin mixed in with silver bullion at a pawn shop. Employees didn’t know what it was and, at the time, neither did I. But I had a nice 2-ounce bullion coin just like it and I thought it made a nice set. Bought it for $15, $1.25 over spot, at the time. Imagine my surprise when I got it home and did a little checking into it. Coin was in at least AU condition with no handling wear or damage to speak of.
It still graces the “Do Not Sell” container in the safe. With a note to my kids of the importance of this coin, when they go through my personal effects someday.
Still looking for a similar find. Kirk Address withheld
My best accomplishment -- and when it happened in 2003 I thought I should retire because there was no way to top it -- was helping uncover the mystery of what happened to the “lost” 1913 Liberty Head nickel. For decades, five genuine examples were known, but one had been off the hobby radar for 41 years.
When George O. Walton was killed in a 1962 car crash in North Carolina, his 1913 Liberty Head nickel was among the coins recovered from the wreck site. But later, it was mistakenly declared to be a counterfeit, a mistake that would take decades to correct.
As a PR stunt to promote the 2003 American Numismatic Association’s Baltimore World’s Fair of Money, I created a reward offer with Stack’s Bowers Galleries and Professional Coin Grading Service for the long-missing coin. The
other four known 1913 Liberty Head nickels would be displayed at the convention, so the search/reward offer would be an excellent tie-in.
A half-dozen people, including prominent hobby journalist Beth Deisher and Associated Press correspondent David Tirrell-Wysocki, worked with me on the project. The result: two of Walton’s heirs came to the Baltimore convention with their late uncle’s coin which the family kept even though it was declared a fake in 1962.
In a secret midnight meeting in the convention’s security room, a half dozen experts compared the Walton coin to the other four examples. They unanimously proclaimed it genuine and a 41-year-old mystery was happily solved.
The heirs lent the coin to the ANA for a decade and it was displayed across the country and at ANA headquarters. In 2013, they sold it through Heritage Auctions and donated some of the $3,172,500 sale proceeds to the ANA. It changed hands several times, and the coin most recently was privately acquired by GreatCollections for $4.2 million this past October.
Who says you can’t buy much with a nickel these days? Donn Pearlman Las Vegas, Nev.
Owning the following coins: 1893- S and 1894, 1889- CC Morgans, though I believe I now have every Morgan silver dollar to complete the series with that one exception. Mercury Dimes: 1916-D, AU-50; 1911-D $2.5 gold dollar, MS-61; two of the three Barber quarters, 1896- S and the 1913- S, still watching for the 1901- S in VG-8 or -10. Have the tough ones for the Indian and Lincoln pennies but always looking to improve the grade over the ones I have. The tough Buffaloes to include the 1914/3 variety, haven’t seen these offered in a very long time. All the low mintage Barber dimes.
But I think the best purchase was the $50 double eagle Ultra High Relief 2099-W! Michael McLoughlin United Kingdom
I haven’t had one yet. I have fairly complete 20th century circulating coin collections, but no rare coins. I have some key dates. I started collecting when I was 8, mostly from pocket change. I lost my one good find, a 1943 copper/bronze Lincoln cent because, I kept in my pocket. Patricia Correia Abilene, Texas
My best collecting accomplishment is collecting So- Called Dollars and having over 90 percent of the Hibler & Kappen book.
Now I have the largest Kentucky National Bank Note collection with over 600 different notes.
My hobby accomplishment is being president of the Palm Beach Coin Club for 40 years and still going. I am now on my third term as president of FUN.
My most satisfying thing was giving a PowerPoint program on my hometown notes (26 notes) at city hall in Newport, Ky., to the mayor, city council and historian. Tony Swicer Lake Worth, Fla.