About five years ago, a dealer who specialized in ultra-expensive United States coins had an advertising campaign that said, basically, your entire coin collection should be able to fit into a single PCGS/NGC coin storage box. Such a box holds exactly twenty coins. This was obviously an elitist sentiment and it was generally derided as being pretentious. But I thought it had some merit.

The Carson City ten-dollar gold piece or eagle series is the most difficult of the three gold denominations struck by this mint to collect. It contains the single rarest gold coin ever struck by this mint: the 1870-CC eagle, which is even rarer than its more celebrated and far more expensive counterpart, the 1870-CC double eagle. The completion of a Carson City eagle set is a very formidable task.

Assembling a collection of Carson City five dollar gold pieces or half eagles is extremely challenging. Completing a set of these coins, regardless of grade, is among the more formidable tasks a gold coin specialist can endeavor to undertake. Consider the fact that only 45-55 examples of the key coin in this set — the 1870-CC — are thought to exist.

Old time collectors often bemoan the fact that there are “too many grades.” In their opinion, there is no need for a ten point Mint State/Proof scale (i.e., Mint State-60 to Mint State-70 and Proof-60 to Proof-70) and even less of a need for multiple numerical levels in the circulated grades. I strongly disagree with the theory that there are too many grades.

Unless you are Bill Gates, the chances are good that you have a coin buying budget. It is my contention that every United States coin has a price point above which it no longer makes economic sense to purchase it; unless you are an avid specialist within a series or you are totally compelled to have the best of every coin and/or type you collect.

The following terms appear are commonly used in numismatics. A basic understanding of them can make the new collector’s experience in this hobby more enjoyable. Abrasion: A mark on a coin caused by contact with another coin. Bagmark: A mark on a coin caused by contact with other coins when placed inside a bag for shipment to a bank. Most large-sized gold coins, show extensive bagmarks from this process.