You are both spot on in regards to “complete” collections – even the U.S. Mint does not own one of each coin it has struck since 1792. The Mint’s core collection was donated to the Smithsonian museum decades ago, but was & is incomplete. The person who came the closest to having a complete set of U.S. Mint coinage was banker Louis E. Eliasberg of Baltimore, MD.

NumisdudeTX

Sir Kaiser-

I do believe that any coin collection that is claimed to be “complete” is only an indication of fatigue or frustration!

I’d love to own more gold coins than I do now (1/2 oz 1999 proof and 1915 1/4 eagle Indian $2.50), but the price just hurts too much. I can easily remember gold at $600/oz. Back then, I was just starting out and had no free cash…but think of what $10K invested back then would have become!

I am fortunate enough to have inherited coin collections from both grandfathers. Every time I get the coins out, I feel a connection to them One collected old US silver; the other was interested more in modern world coins and ancient Greek/Roman era stuff, so there’s almost no overlap.

I still can’t afford to build my own collection as I’d like, but I still feel lucky to have as broad a sample as I do. Sort of a “history of money” over a couple of millennia. Coins are history you can hold in your hand!