As mentioned before only 19 of the 41 issues have graded examples and of those only 11 had mint state examples, often as a single coin, making completion of a graded mint state set extremely unlikely, the equivalent raw coins also seem to be lacking. Assuming the coins actually exist for such a set a typical price for the whole would be £18450 as such coins would be about £450 each covering the hammer price, buyers premium, tax, shipping, import duty and for only a few auction houses a bank transfer fee. The last one really annoys me as it is completely unnecessary with modern online banking practices , fortunately it is not the norm at all although I am not sure how to change it. As I am in the UK all of these will also be subject to the prevailing exchange rate at the time as world coins, even British colonial issues, are very difficult to get here at home.
A set of raw coins in VF is much more realistic and at £2870 (£70 per coin) much more affordable, particularly over time, coupled with the fact that VF may the finest known for some issues the prospect of completion of the set is also much higher. As a result I do have quite a few raw coins in VF/EF particularly for those issues where there are no graded examples at all so at the moment I have the makings of a 'mixed set'.
I am sure that I am not alone in that I do not just have a single set but multiple sets* and those are in varying degrees of completion and this situation just places further restrictions on the available funds and the chances of completion of any one set - but coins and their history are just so fascinating and diverse.
The advice always seems to be 'buy the best that you can afford' and I generally agree with that however, at times, the 'gaps' really bother me!
* $15million should be enough to try and complete the Napoleonic sets
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