The Good Collection

关于此套币: I credit my grandfather for instilling in me a love of coins. He assembled three penny collections for each of his children from circulated coins that a banker-friend brought by for him to search. The one he collected for my mother, was given to me. This, a few silver dollars and two one dollar gold pieces was the start of my collection. On my ninth birthday I received a half eagle from my parents, bought from a bank by my father while we lived overseas. These two gold dollars and this 1898 Liberty half eagle ensured my fascination with American gold coinage would stay with me. It was twenty years before I completed a 12-piece gold type set of US coins. I submitted these to PCGS and the grades ranged from AU58 to MS63. I began to appreciate the nuances of grades, from surface preservation,strike, luster, eye appeal; first, seeking to have an all mint state 12-piece set; then, an all choice set; finally, an all gem set. My grandfather grew up in a time when these coins actually were used in commerce. My mother grew up in a time when a favorite aunt would give her $1 on her birthday… sometimes a silver dollar, sometimes a gold dollar… but in the Depression Era of these birthdays, a fortune nonetheless unspent. And I am from a time when mint-state US gold coins could still be bought from European banks for their bullion content. My grandfather once said, “The only thing that is as good as gold, is gold itself.”