PCGS Set Registry

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Your Set Registry Customer Service Staff
Email: setregistry@collectors.com

BJ Searls
Manager

Cosetta Robbins
Assistant Manager

Gayle Kean
Coordinator

Michele Redmond
Coordinator

Jenny Vo
Coordinator

Set Registry News
Category Summary | Completion Summary | New Sets

The Everyman Collections include the following categories:
• Half Cents
• Large Cents
• Small Cents through 1958
• Two Cents, Three Cents and Half Dimes
• Nickels through 1938
• Dimes through 1945
• Twenty Cents
• Quarter Dollars through 1964
• Half Dollars through 1963
• Silver Dollars through 1935
• Non-modern gold coins

Commit All Feature
In addition, there's a new feature in "My Set Registry" which has been requested a number of times. Now you can commit all changes to your sets with one click rather going to each set to make the change. When you add new inventory and select the option to add coins which match or replace coins if the rating is higher, simply go to "My Sets" after adding your new inventory. If changes have been made to your sets a button will appear called "Commit changes to all sets." Click this button and all sets with changes will be updated at once. This should be a time saver for those who are especially active in the Registry.

9/8/09
New Set Composites Online!
1798 Mint Set with Gold
1798 Mint Set
1797 Mint Set with Gold
1797 Mint Set

9/5/09
A Special Message from David Hall

Set Registry Varieties and the Comprehensive Theory of the Numismatic Universe

Dear Fellow PCGS Set Registry Participant,

The PCGS Set Registry is our job, but it’s also a lot of fun for us. And we think it’s become a big part of the rare coin experience for a lot of people. The PCGS Set Registry has evolved a lot in the past ten years and there have been some changes along the way, including changes to certain coin’s status. In this email I want to explain what we’re doing in detail…

And let you know what it means for your coins, specifically coin varieties.

But first, I want us to have a little fun describing the evolution of our thinking and something Ron Guth and I have dubbed “The Comprehensive Theory of the Numismatic Universe.”

Over the past year, as we were working on the new PCGS CoinFacts, we were constantly dealing with questions of market structure.

The questions were…

How do we create a listing structure for numismatics that is logical and easy to understand?

How do people collect coins?

How do people think about coins?

Where do you put certain coins?

Which lead to questions we had been asking since before we started PCGS…

What’s a proof?

What’s a variety?

What’s a regular issue? Or are they called business strikes? Commercial strikes?

Color on copper? Full bands? Cameo?

And on and on. If you really think about all of this, it is not as simple as it seems. You of course start by defining your terms, but for every definition there always seemed to be multiple exceptions.

For over 25 years, we’ve been asking these types of questions and we’ve made a lot of progress. Here are just a few examples of things that we’ve brought to the market in terms of defining terms and answering questions…some of the definitions and answers changing how certain coins and coin series are thought of by the numismatic community.

1792 Half Disme…this coin used to be considered a pattern. But because of the work of the PCGS Advisory Board experts and the fact that we’ve been calling it a regular issue silver half dime and we’ve made it a full fledged member of the United States Type coin set, this coin is now seen for what it really is…or least what I and a lot of other experts think it is…the first Federal issue of the United States…our first regular issue, i.e. commercially issued coin. This just one example of the many coins for which our work has changed the market viewpoint.

Full Band Roosevelt dimes…People collected full band Mercury dimes, prooflike Morgan dollars, and full step Jefferson nickels before there was ever a PCGS. But we recognized that Roosevelt dimes also had the full band issue and we brought the concept to the marketplace.

Cameo and Deep Cameo/Prooflike and Deep Mirror Prooflike…A refinement in striking status for many coins.

Special Strikes…There are coins that aren’t proofs, and they really aren’t regular strikes. We were calling them “specimens” and now we call most of them “special strikes.” This is still a work in progress. And by the way, PCGS founder and coin researcher extraordinaire John Dannreuther is working on a book on 1792 to 1935 proof coins (actually it will be three volumes) that is going to be nothing short of monumental and will really wrap up the whole proof issue. He’s made incredible discoveries.

PCGS Set Registry…When you think about, the PCGS Set Registry is all about structure. And we’ve always had to define our terms and make many decisions, including inclusion/exclusion decisions, about where coins go in the Set Registry. The goal always being to make numismatics work logically and pleasantly for all participants.

PCGS CoinFacts and the PCGS Set Registry

And now along comes PCGS CoinFacts. And I hope you have taken a look at PCGS CoinFacts. It’s a spectacular presentation of coin information. And the great thing about it is that even though it has more pure coin information than you can find anywhere else, it is very much a work in progress and just a minor preview of things to come. It is really important information for the coin marketplace. In the marketing material I call it “A 25 year dream come true” so please excuse my enthusiasm.

We’ve been working on parts of PCGS CoinFacts for years. In fact, the template for the individual coin pages was designed by our internet design team in 2002! Some of the questions and concepts are things a few of us have been discussing for twenty-five years. We’ve been working on survival estimates for three years. John Dannreuther and I first worked on the historical price guide data base 15 years ago. I’ve been working an average of 10 hours a week on the PCGS price guide and historical data base for over five years. Ron Guth and John Dannreuther have worked on the PCGS coin number system, soon to be expanded to include all die varieties, for the past three years. But we first turned up the heat when we bought the “old” CoinFacts website from Ron Guth a few years back. About a year ago, we were ready to greatly expand PCGS CoinFacts and Ron Guth decided to spend his full time on the “new” PCGS CoinFacts.

As we were working on unveiling all of our PCGS CoinFacts work to the public…as we worked on the truly comprehensive, ultra expanded version of the PCGS numbering system…we again had to deal with a lot of the same old “What is this coin?” questions. We were constantly refining our definitions and revising our structure. We dubbed our structure…the PCGS CoinFacts structure…CTNU…the Comprehensive Theory of the Numismatic Universe. And in our weekly “priorities” meeting we have basically drove our IT (computer programmers) staff crazy with changes that were demanded due to the CTNU. In fact, even though PCGS CoinFacts is now live, we have recently made the decision to change how we order the pages. It’s a major change, but based on the Comprehensive Theory of the Numismatic Universe, a necessary change. The point is…WE ARE GOING TO DO THIS RIGHT!

So what does this mean to the PCGS Set Registry and your coins??????

We deal with certain questions when it comes to the PCGS Set Registry. And we’ve been dealing with these questions since the Registry started. Lately, because of PCGS CoinFacts and the CTNU, we’re doing a lot major work on market structure and that includes questions that effect the PCGS Set Registry. The questions we deal with for the PCGS Set Registry are…

What sets should be PCGS Set Registry sets?

What coins should be in the sets?

What is a major variety?

What happens when a coin’s status, i.e. proof, regular strike, special strike, changes?

The point is…sometimes things change and that can effect the PCGS Set Registry.

Certain sets may be added to the PCGS Set Registry. And we do that a lot, mostly to expand the Registry and give you more collecting options.

Certain sets may be dropped when they don’t really make sense. This is a rare occurrence.

Certain coins may be added to sets. This happens occasionally.

Certain coins may be dropped from sets. This happens, but it’s a rare occurrence.

The status of varieties may change and coins may become recognized as major varieties. This happens a lot in the numismatic marketplace over the long term and major variety discoveries are indeed one of the exciting things about coin collecting. But sometimes a coin “loses” its status as a major variety. This sometimes happens because numismatic research shows the coin isn’t what we thought it was, and sometimes the coin just isn’t as major as we thought it was. A well known example is the 1869 Indian cent. If you look at a Redbook from 30 years ago you’ll a listing for the 1869/8 Indian cent…an overdate. Today, this coin is considered a “just” a re-punched date, not an 1869/8, but an 1869/69. It is not a major variety.

Sometimes a coin’s “status” is changed by research of the numismatic community…proofs may no longer be considered proofs, and vice versa. Sometimes, coins may even be found to actually be counterfeits. The most recent example is the discovery by PCGS that the 1896-O, 1900-O, and 1902-O micro O Morgan dollar varieties were actually counterfeit coins that were made as many as 70 or 80 years ago. This is a rare occurrence.

By the way, the PCGS Grading Guarantee has a list of some of the coins whose status is currently “up-in-the-air.” Here’s a link to the Guarantee and the list of enigmatic coins…

http://www.pcgs.com/guarantee.chtml

What we are doing now…and the reason I’m sending this to all Set registry participants…is we are looking at every United States coin and every Set Registry set thru the “eyes” of PCGS CoinFacts the Comprehensive Theory of the Numismatic Universe…OK, there really isn’t a Comprehensive Theory of the Numismatic Universe, but that’s what we call it. There may be some changes to some sets and there may be some changes to certain coin’s status.

There will only be a few sets affected and there will only be a few coins affected. But we want to get it right! If a coin isn’t a major variety, we shouldn’t call it a major variety. It is unlikely that your coin sets or your coins will be affected. We’ve fine-tuned the Registry over the years. And this minor fine tuning will continue in the future. In fact, there are some controversial coins…a partial list is below…that are currently being researched. Bottom line…minor changes in the PCGS Set Registry are part of the coin market. Some of these “minor” changes may have a major effect on a few individual coins. That’s just the way it is.

The rare coin market keeps evolving. The rare coin market keeps getting better. PCGS arrived in 1986. The PCGS Set Registry appeared about 10 years ago. And now we have the new PCGS CoinFacts. And of course we also have the Internet, online auction bidding, price guides, etc. All of these things and many more have made rare coins the most information rich and liquid of all collectibles. And I believe all of these developments have brought many more collectors to our market, and have made coin collecting more interesting and fun for everyone. I hope you’re having as much fun with your coins as were having doing what we do with coins.

Sincerely,

David Hall

PS…Here’s a heads up on some of the coins (some also listed in the PCGS Grading Guarantee) that are currently being researched by numismatic heavyweights such as John Dannreuther, Don Kagin, other members of the PCGS CoinFacts Board of Experts, and others, along with my personal opinion on them…

1856 Flying Eagle Cents…Are they proofs or regular strikes? Or rather, are they all proofs? We know they are patterns…or are they? Well, I personally know that some of them look as much like a business strike as any Flying Eagle. And some look exactly like a proof. And I’ve seen many that admittedly look in-between. (We call these…and any coin issue that looks “in-between”…”pruncs” in the grading room). But research is on-going and one day their status may change…or be refined.

1849 J.H. Bowie $5…This is a very rare territorial gold issue. But some experts feel it may be a fantasy coin made much later than 1849, i.e. a counterfeit. Personally, they look real to me, but research is ongoing.

1831 Half Cents…Are they regular strikes, or were they all struck as proofs? This is one that I personally think will turn out on the “they are all proofs” side, but research is far from over.

1914/3 Buffalo nickel…Is this really an overdate? I remember after Tom McCarroll bought one for his fabulous set of Buffalo nickels he told me he thought of the coin as an “imagination” variety. I never have liked this coin and I’m not sure it’s really an overdate. But smarter people than me are looking into this one.

1852 “Original” proof Half Cents…Do they exist?

1841 Proof $2.5 Liberties…This is an extremely important gold rarity. But in his monumental gold books of 30 years ago, David Akers poses the theory…with great reasons why…that there were some regular strikes minted and some of the existing specimens are not proofs.

All early proofs…Many proof pre-1860 proofs (and some post 1860 proofs) are subject to be questioned. John Dannreuther’s upcoming monumental book on United States proof coins will answer a lot of these questions…and this book is more thoroughly researched than any numismatic book in recent history. When JD’s work is published, the status of some coins may change. And by the way, JD is convinced that the 1841 $2.5 Liberty is indeed a proof-only issue.

8/24/09
PCGS Luncheon
Pictures from the ANA and PCGS luncheon held in August are available for viewing in the Scrapbook. Click here.

PCGS VARIETY PROGRAM AND SET UPDATES

The PCGS Set Registry is a work-in-progress. Each year new issues are added, important varieties are discovered, and collectors/experts/dealers lobby for the inclusion of coins of varying merit. In the past couple of weeks, all of the sets in the PCGS Registry have undergone a review to make sure that the appropriate coins are included or not. Part of the impetus for the review was an overhaul of the PCGS Numbering System with an eye to facilitating roll-ups and pull-downs within the PCGS Population Report, the PCGS Price Guide and PCGS CoinFacts. Establishing proper parent-child relationships ensures that all date and mintmark combinations include the correct underlying populations of major varieties, minor varieties, and die varieties.

For example, the 1878 Morgan Dollar contains both Weak and Strong versions of the 7/8 Tail Feathers reverse. For Population Report purposes, adding the Weak version to the Strong version overstates the population of the 7/8TF population. Thus, it is more appropriate to place the population of the Weak 7/8TF under the 1878 Reverse of 1879 Morgan Dollar. For PCGS Set Registry purposes, this will result in the removal of the Weak 7/8TF from the Morgan Dollars "With Varieties" set. Another example is the 1911-D Indian head Quarter Eagle, where the Weak D is no longer considered a "major" variety and, thus, will be removed from the appropriate Registry Sets.

In other instances, new discoveries of major varieties mean that some sets have been expanded (examples include the Close and Wide AM varieties of modern Lincoln Cents). Fortunately, the PCGS Set Registry is both powerful enough and flexible enough to accommodate these changes. The PCGS Set Registry has always been a reflection of the most popular ways in which coins are collected; in many cases, the Registry has lead the way. Most importantly, the goal of the PCGS Set Registry has been to make collecting coins more understandable, enjoyable, and fun.

Sets that will be effected are in the following series: Half Cents, Large Cents, Lincoln Cents, Shield Two Cents, Buffalo Nickels, Liberty Seated Dimes, Early Quarters, Seated Quarters, Washington Quarters, Early Half Dollars, Liberty Seated Half Dollars, Walking Liberty Half Dollars, Early Dollars, Morgan Dollars, Indian Head $2-1/2 Gold, Early $5 Gold, Liberty Head $5. Please note that these sets will not be updated until after the June 30th awards deadline. If you would like details about changes in a specific series, please email setregistry@collectors.com.

1/28/09
PCGS Luncheon videos available for viewing online:
You will need Adobe Flash Player installed on your web browser in order to view these videos.
     August 2008 - PCGS Set Registry Awards Presentation and Price Guide Enhancements
Ron Guth presents awards to the 2008 winners and David Hall discusses new price guide features.
     August 2008 - Panel Discussion on Copper Coinage
Panelists Stewart Blay, Steven Ellsworth, Denis Loring, Richard Snow and Andrew Skrabalak discuss collecting copper.
     January 2008 - The History of Grading presented by Ron Guth, Q&A Session with David Hall
     January 2006 - Grading Summit. Q. David Bowers, David Hall, Jim Halperin, Dr. Donald H. Kagin, Julian Leidman and Scott A. Travers participated in a panel discussion about the history of grading, the grading scale, and the future of grading which also included a discussion on whether or not the rare coin market should adopt a 100-point grading scale.
     January 2005 - The Good Old Days. Discussing “What Was the Coin Market like in the 1950s and 1960s?” was Q. David Bowers, David Hall, Art Kagin and Julian Leidman. This very entertaining video gives you a rare opportunity to hear the delightful stories of Art Kagin, who passed away in July, 2005.

11/14/08
Friends Don't Let Friends Miss Out on the PCGS Set Registry
The Refer a Friend program is a great way for you to get your friends involved in the Registry while at the same time earning points for free submissions. Think of it like airline miles, but instead of a free trip, you get free grades! For more information, visit www.pcgs.com/setregistry/referrals.html or click the Refer a Friend information link in My Set Registry.

9/16/08
Software Enhancements
Today we rolled out a few great new features in the PCGS Set Registry. They are as follows:

Mass Deletions: You will be able to delete inventory in the same way you add inventory. NOTE: If you have sold a set that is at least 90% complete and you want it to remain in the All Time Finest category, you should delete the set rather than delete the inventory items. This will keep your set completion factor intact. Follow the instructions for Delete a Set in My Sets. If you have items that are in more than one set, then retire all of your sets in My Sets without deleting your inventory. Then you can use Mass Inventory Deletion, which can be found in My Inventory, to remove the items from your inventory.

"Show All" in My Collection: For large set composites, you now have the option when you are viewing your set in My Set Registry to show all the items in the set on one page instead of being forced to go from page to page.

Link to Collectors Corner: Collectors Corner, a Collectors Universe company, is a marketplace for coins, currency and trading cards. When you are in a set in My Sets, if an item that is being listed in Collectors Corner is available to fill a slot or upgrade an item in your set, there will be a link in the Action column. Clicking this link will take you directly to Collectors Corner where you can purchase the item from an authorized dealer. In My Preferences, you can elect to receive daily, weekly, or no emails at all from Collectors Corner whenever new items are listed which would upgrade your sets.

Report a cert that should match this composite: This is actually not a new feature, but one that we rolled out a few weeks ago which you might find useful. With PCGS's new variety program, many new coin numbers are being added to the database. Unfortunately, the sets in the Registry aren't automatically updated with these new numbers. If you find that you have a coin that is not displaying as being able to add to your set, use the Report a cert that should match this composite link which you will find just above the set composition in your set in My Sets. This information is automatically sent to us and the composite will be updated within one business day to enable you to update your set.

8/6/08
New Feature in My Preferences
If you are running an older computer system and are on a dial up, you can go to "My Preferences" and uncheck "Show Images on Sets." This will speed up the load time for large sets with images. You will still be able to view images by clicking on the camera icon.

7/17/08
Stewart Blay - David Hall Interview
In conjunction with the appearance of his legendary Red Copper Collection in the PCGS booth at the upcoming ANA convention in Baltimore, Stewart Blay was kind enough to spend a few minutes in conversation with PCGS founder David Hall. David is certainly a man who knows just what questions to ask Stewart about his amazing collection and coin collecting in general. We are sure you will find this interview insightful! Click here to view online.

10/29/07
New and Improved Set Listings Coming Soon!
As you know, PCGS launched its new variety attribution program last year. Consequently, we have many more varieties that we now recognize.   It’s time to re-examine the set compositions and make sure everything is logical and consistent. We may be adding some coins to various sets and we may remove some coins from certain sets. We are definitely going to add one class of sets we call the “Classic Set.” This will be the basic set with the major varieties that have been recognized for the past several decades. We will be checking with all of you who have variety sets before we make any major changes to any set. We’ll work together to make the Set Registry even better.

Here’s what things should look like when we’re done with the set composition re-vamp. If warranted, each series will have the following set compositions:

Date Set – The Date Set includes one coin for each year in the series. Any mintmark and any variety can be used as the “date” in your set. For example, a Morgan dollar Date Set could have an 1899-S, 1900-O/CC, and a 1901 for the 1899, 1900, and 1901 in the Date Set.

Basic Set (Date and Mintmark) – The Basic Set includes one of each date and mintmark in the series. For the most of the Basic Sets, varieties can be used in place of a non-variety coin.

Classic Set (Date, Mintmark, and Major Varieties) - The Classic Set includes one of each date, mintmark, and major variety, with the major varieties being those that have been recognized since the early 1970s. Examples of these long time recognized varieties would be the 3-legged Buffalo nickel, 1955 double die Lincoln cent, and the 1918/7-S Standing Liberty quarter. These sets are dated through 1964. The purpose of the Classic Set is to allow your current collection to be compared to the great collections of the past, such as the Louis Eliasberg collection, the only “complete” collection of U.S. coins ever assembled.

Major Variety Set (Date, Mintmark, and Major Varieties) – The Major Variety Set includes one of each date, mintmark, and major variety currently recognized by PCGS. Major varieties are defined as coins that are easily recognized as having major differences from other coins of the same design, type, date, and mint. Generally, major varieties are significant and can be easily seen with the naked eye. And where there are various “states” to a variety, the major variety is the state which is considered the strongest by the collecting community. For example, there are three states, or types, for the 1936 Double Die Obverse Lincoln cent. Only the Type 1, the strongest and most apparent of the three states, is considered a major variety and is included in the PCGS Major Variety Set for Lincoln cents.

Note that new varieties are recognized each year and the number of coins needed for a Major Variety Set may increase over time. Also note that it is possible for varieties to be “delisted,” i.e. removed from inclusion in the Major Variety set. Sometimes varieties are misattributed by the numismatic community. For example, for years the pricing guides listed an 1869/8 Indian cent. Experts now state that this is not a 9 over 8, but “recut 9,” or “9 over 9.’ This minor recutting is a much more common occurring variety and is not considered major.

Complete Variety Set (Date, Mintmark, and all Varieties) – The Complete Variety Set includes one of each date, mintmark, and all major and minor varieties recognized by PCGS. Using the example of the 1936 Double Die Obverse Lincoln cent mentioned under the Major Variety Set above, for the Major Variety Set, only the Type One 1936 DDO cent is allowed in and necessary for the set. However, in the Complete Variety Set, all three types of 1936 DDO Lincoln cents are required for the set. Note that for early series, such as Large cents, Bust half dollars, Half cents, etc., the Complete Variety Set includes all die varieties as listed in the most recognized reference books.

2/2/06
VAM Issues
When we launched the VAM sets last year, PCGS operations had not yet issued numbers for PL and DM VAMs. This means that those numbers are not in the VAM sets and we are adding them on a case-by-case basis. Should you attempt to add a VAM designated coin to one of your sets and you receive an error message, please contact setregistry@collectors.com and we will immediately update the set with the missing number. Also, none of the VAM numbers were added to the non-VAM basic, variety, basic PL and variety PL sets. We are also adding those numbers as they come up.

8/21/02
Set Registry Weighting Policy
We have had many requests over the last year to explain what criteria is used when weighting sets. The Registry weighting is done by taking three things into account:

1. The overall rarity of the coin, i.e. the rarity in all grades
2. The rarity in the highest 2 or 3 grades
3. The price (because this is an indication of demand and importance to collectors)

The weighting steps are as follows. First, our experts make a spreadsheet which summarizes these three factors for the entire series. Then they assign the weights based on each factor, combine the weighted factors, and assign a "total" weight. It's not 100% scientific, but we feel the weights accurately represent the relative rarity and importance of the individual coins.

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