It's been almost two years to the day since my first journal. For any Futurama fans out there, I was just practicing my dramatic........................................................................................................pause!  Anyway... during the last two years I have come a long way in forming the direction my collecting takes, learned quite a bit about the hobby, and had some great experiences.  A few days ago, I came to some realizations that go beyond collecting. First, that it is time to get organized. Second, that it is time to do more writing. As for the writing, the last few years I have been increasingly active online on different forums, but I realized that the NGC Journals are an obvious way to share with my fellow numismatists. And as for the organizing, I have always tended to be a bit disorganized.  For the last two years I have done a great job only buying what I really want ( and a lot of this has been motivated by financial reasons), But I feel that is time to really go through what I have and "house" it differently. So in this journal and hopefully some upcoming, I'd like to talk about what I collect, how I collect it, and what I intend to do with it. 

Washington quarters 32-98 is my favorite series. I started and finished a raw, circulated set of 32-64 Washingtons and have them in a Library of Coins album. Almost every one , except the two keys, was plucked for right around spot out of LCS junk trays. I tried to keep the conditions pretty matched, all pretty crusty. So that is complete and something that I enjoy perusing once in awhile. I do not have any slabbed pieces from those years and I do not intend to do a slabbed set. In the future I will probably pick up some examples, but time will tell.  I really want to finish a set of the clad quarters 65-98. There is a guy who has helped me quite a bit, who I consider a mentor in regards to these. I purchased all but maybe four of the needed quarters from him raw. I have been debating what to do with them. I decided that I want to get the rest from him as well ( will do this next month) and put together a compete set all from him. I plan on housing these raw, mots likely in an older Whitman Bookshelf album. I like the different vintage albums quite a bit.

I have been slowly pulling Type B reverse Washingtons (56-64) from junk bins. I enjoy this variety, and have maybe two or three of each year. It wouldn't make sense to slab them, and I will probably pick up some examples already slabbed in the future. For now these are  in 2x2s. I have a bunch of quarter tubes, and I am thinking of separating them by year into nine different tubes and just filling them as I find them.  I have never found a type C 64D Washington. I may buy one slabbed, just to keep with me as reference, because I just do not think I am great with the pickup points when looking at coins in hand.  I have made a list of about ten date/mm combinations of silver Washingtons which I now look for when going through junk bins. This way I am not tempted to grab just whatever. I find that having a list with me really helps me to better enjoy my time looking and my time post purchase. 

So beyond Washington quarters, I have a small assortment of medals. Nothing crazy. Private mint issued sterling historical stuff from the 60s and 70s Bronze Medallic Art medals. Etc. These are all scattered about and I am still trying to settle on a final way to house these so as to protect them and allow me to enjoy and handle them when I want to. Any suggestions appreciated!

I unfortunately had to sell off my small bullion collection, but I do still have an assortment of 90% that I have been slowly buying as I find it. On that previously mentioned list I also include date/mm combinations of all Barber coinage that I consider a buy in almost any condition. I also snag Barbers that have good rims and/or some decent visible "liberty".  These I am organizing in tubes by denomination and sometimes year, though it is not an extensive amount. 

Whenever I am at an LCS, I like to go through the world silver junk bins if they have one. I have a small eccentric collection of 19th and early 20th century coins that I enjoy. These are mostly loose or in 2x2s. But I have found that I just do not enjoy them in 2x2s. I used to use non-PVC flips. As many of you know, these can and will eventually break from being bent. But I like using them, especially with the insert for information. I will probably go back to these and go through my world coins to separate out any non-keepers.

I certainly have dribs and drabs of other coins, but like I said I have gotten pretty good at only buying what my focuses are. My goal is to, over the next few months, really get down to the "nitty gritty" and condense and organize my collection in a way that I find pleasing. I will end things here. If you made it this far, thank you! Any comments and/or suggestions welcome!