Collecting Coins Not the Only Interest for Some Collectors

For some reading this collecting coins is their hobby of choice. Yet some also collect stamps; automobiles; political campaign buttons; baseball cards, comic books, matchbox cars; Hess Oil trucks; Barbie Dolls, et al.

Lou Bassano is one such collector. The former New Jersey State Senator has been collecting stamp since childhood. In his teens he winked at coin collecting by trying to accumulate Lincoln Head cents by years. He remembers using an eraser to "really make dark, badly worn coins look shinny and new," a bad habit also shared by this writer and many other novices collecting in the 1950s who found their coins in circulation, and promptly pressed them into a blue cardboard Whitman coin folder.

But stamp collecting was his passion. With no effort he could rattle off volumes of information about issues, series, denominations and, as serious collectors are wont to do, interesting and amusing philatelic lore. Collecting coins remained a minor distraction until his adult years.

The first series that inspired him to actually purchase coins by years from a dealer was the Capped Bust Half Dollars of 1807-39. Though cost prevented him from completing the series, he nonetheless assembled an impressive run, mostly graded in Extremely Fine condition. The majority were dated from 1823, and told this writer, "In those years you could buy such pieces for under $100 each, with many being in the $40-$60 range. Compared to mintages of 20th Century coins the Capped Bust Halves were relatively rare. I liked collecting them because I found them attractive, and affordable."

His next leap would vault him into numismatic history. Lou Bassano spent decades putting together what still remains the finest set of Mercury Dimes ever assembled. He estimates his investment in the collection was around $80,000. When it was auctioned on August 6-7, 2000 in Heritage's Philadelphia Signature Sale, Bassano's fabulous, gem Mercury Dimes were hammered down for $741,155 yielding 274% of the bid price listed in the Certified Coin Dealer Newsletter "Blue sheet". Quite a feat by someone who admits a keen interest in stamp collecting.