Coin Collecting: How to Build a Basic, Odd-Denomination Type Set

Have you ever heard of a 2-cent piece? Chances are you haven't, but it is an official, legal tender United States-produced coin that was produced during the mid-to-late 19th century, and it is just one of a few U.S. coin denominations which you probably never would have dreamed existed. In fact, it is the novelty of these coins that would make building a collection of them all the more interesting (and creae one pretty interesting conversation piece, too). In fact, of the small-change coins, the U.S. Mint during the nineteenth century was striking 1/2-cent coins, 3-cent coins, and 20-cent coins-along with the 2-cent piece.

Type set coin collecting is not only an economical way of building a collection of coins, but it can also create a wonderfully exciting array of coins to both display and hold. What constitutes a type set coin collection sometimes varies from collector to collector, because some numismatists (those who study coins) believe that a type set must include one example of every single coin design, design variation, and even metal composition variation.

However, for the sake of simplicity and cost, this article will assume that a type set of odd-denomination coins includes only one example of each "odd" denomination; the caveat here is that there will be the acknowledgment of the two major types of 3-cent pieces: the nickel variety and the silver variety.

As you may have guessed from the fact you have never received a 3-cent coin when you bought that hamburger at the local fast-food restaurant, you will not be able to find any of these odd-denomination coins in circulation (unless, of course, someone unwittingly just walked in ahead of you and spent all his antique 3-cent coins at the snack bar-and the cashier handed them back to you in change). Oh, and by the way, though 2 and 20 are not mathematically "odd" numbers, these denominations are popularly referred to as "odd" in the numismatic world because they are, yes, figuratively "odd" in this day and age of the relatively plain-old 1, 5, 10, and 25-cent coins.