I know the first rule of collecting in registry-ville is “buy the coin, not the label,” but the coin I got in the mail at the end of this week was all about the label.

A 2019, 1/4th oz American Gold Eagle, Early Release, Blue label, graded MS70.

In 2007, I bought a MS70 1/4th oz AGE for my 21st birthday. It was my first ever gold purchase, 2 years before I started the 10G set.

When Ben was born, I bought a 1/4th oz 2016 AGE in MS70 to celebrate and one day give it to him as his birthyear coin. I bought one with the 30-year anniversary gold label. Why? Because the series started in 1986, the same year Shandy and I were born, and Shandy said she wanted to have our first child before her 30th birthday. Ben arrived 2.5 months before her 30th birthday. So, the 30-year label was significant in that way.

With Sam, it was important to me that this be an “Early Release” coin, in the blue label. Why? He was born 2.5 months early, so “Early Release” seemed especially appropriate for him. The blue label with the scales, largely matches the gold label with the scales for Ben’s coin. There’s a visual match there that I like.

With Sam, the “MS 70, because he’s perfect” thing seems a bit ironic after everything he’s been through and the scars he bears from the shunt surgery. Even so, he’s showing signs that, as his personality emerges, that he’s going to be a very sweet child, and he seems to match the description, “flawed, but perfect.”

Acquiring this coin was probably one of the goals that was most important to me at the start of this year. Having had the coin for Ben, it was very important to match it for Sam. In the aftermath of Sam’s birth and the subsequent financial stress it hasn’t been possible but it’s a goal I’ve never lost sight of. The day I found out about the raise my comment to my wife was, “You know this means I get that gold coin, right?”

It’s also on my agenda, but less pressing, to one day get one of these for 1986. It’ll complete the set of our small family’s birthyears. But I’m not in a huge rush there, and that coin might be an MS69 instead of a 70. I’ll make up my mind on that later. It’s a lot easier (and cheaper) to get MS70s for the current year, however. That’s one of the reasons I’d really wanted to get this before 2019 ended if at all possible.