Just Having Fun

关于此套币: I first started collecting Jefferson nickels as a kiddy poo, pulling coins out of change and bank rolls. The 1938-S and D, '39-S and D, and the 50-D were elusive dates. But slowly I nailed down the entire set through 1956, when I stopped collecting.

Then, 30 years passed and for some reason which I don't remember, I began collecting again, beginning with the Standing Liberty Quarters and the nickel 3 cent pieces. When those collections reached a certain level, I wasn't finding enough new or upgrade coins to hold my interest. So I scouted around for a third "easy" series to hold my interest between the coins of the other two series.

I soon settled in on the Jefferson nickels and began collecting them NOT full steps. That was no fun; it was too easy. To make the Jeffersons more challenging I decided to start collecting them with full steps.

Once I made the decision, I checked the steps on my childhood nickel collection. I didn't have a single coin with more than 3.5 steps. That should have been a tip-off that full-steppers would be a major battle.

I started piecing together a nice collection, coin by coin. It's a fun series, with lots of difficult dates and great varieties. I especially love the doubled "eye" and the doubled "Monticello."

Somewhere along the line, Mitch Spivack offered me a complete collection. It upgraded about half my collection. I knew that if I bought it, yes, I'd have a great collection. But I also knew I'd stop having fun because I'd be unable to find many upgrades.

I bought it. And to my surprise, even after putting together two hot collections, Mitch and I were still able to upgrade it. Since then I've probably added 20 new coins to the combined collection. And I'm still adding to it -- and still having fun. [email protected]