Do you have a collecting philosophy? Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. had one: Collect one of every U.S. coin minted from 1793 through his lifetime. It helped, I’m sure, that he was a wealthy financier as well as a dedicated numismatist.
Although there’s some disagreement, Eliasberg apparently spent about $400,000 to purchase the coins in his collection. Of course, the money he spent during his collecting years (1925-1950) went a lot further than the same amount today. Bear in mind that his collecting period included the Great Depression.
When I started collecting in the 1950s, I didn’t really have a collecting philosophy. I just wanted to obtain one (or more) of each Lincoln cent. That approach soon expanded to include Buffalo and Jefferson nickels, Mercury and Roosevelt dimes, and so on.
Really, I wanted one of every coin series I discovered. The problem was that I was just a kid and not a very industrious one at that. For the most part, denominations larger than a dime were beyond my available funds.
My rather aimless approach to collecting continued when I finished my education and took the job that I pursued for
