T S Chase's Bio
I've been collecting for a number of years. You’ll notice right off that I collect what I like, not necessarily the most expensive coins or the ones that will make the best investments. And, I haven’t always been good about finishing one collection before heading off in different direction to start another . . . That’s changing now that I've retired. Retirement has forced me to take a long, hard look at my coin collecting goals and habits. I’m having to slow down and focus on sets I really want to finish.
What I Collect
Examples of my certified collections include:
- MS $5 Gold Eagles
- MS Silver Eagles
- MS Morgan Silver Dollars
- MS & PF Anthony Dollars
- MS & PF Sacagawea Dollars
- PF British 1 silver pounds
- MS Swiss Gold 20 Francs
I also have some custom certified collections that consist of miscellaneous silver and gold coins and commemoratives (and others). Included in that are one some neat ones like the $5 & $10 1999 W Gold Eagle error coins, the 2008 W $5 gold Buffalo, and my one and only $50 gold Buffalo. I have the only PF70 2004 B 50 Swiss Franc coin featuring the Matterhorn!
Examples of my uncertified collections include:
- US and UK commemoratives that have significance to me (military or family history)
- Swiss Cantons (one per Canton) and Swiss 2 Rappen
- BU Lincoln Cents album which is about 85%
- Proof Kennedy Clad & Silver halves
- Miscellaneous world coins from a variety of sources: my travels abroad, my parent’s travels abroad, coins from some of my three sons’ deployments, foreign coins from a bag my dad carried with him on his bombing missions during WWII. Recently I got some from my father-in-law’s WWII coins too.
My Favorites
My signature collection - - my pride and joy - - is my 1943 Mint Set, the S/Sgt LM Chase WW2 Set, which is named for my Dad and is dedicated to him and to my three sons who are serving in the Navy, Air Force, and Marines . . . Please take a look at it. I would love to develop my presentation as beautifully as some of you have done for your signature sets!
My other favorite certified set is Metcalf’s Sterling Legacy. This set celebrates my Mother’s side of the family and consists of UK Silver Pound Proofs, including piedforts. I have a number of raw coins I’ll be sending in for certification soon.
Accomplishments
Over the past two years I managed to get nearly every single coin in my competitive and custom sets imaged and described in the Registry - - No small task. I still have some work to, but this project is coming along. My dream was to put quality photos on line but as hard as I tried, they were never good enough and it took a ton of time to get a single shot! I settled on scanning my coins . . . At least the images are in the system for identification/inventory purposes.
All my uncertified coins have been placed in holders or flips, cataloged, and placed in appropriate storage boxes (That was a biggy for me!). Now I know exactly what I own, exactly where each coin is stored, and exactly which storage box each coin is in.
Goals
My collecting goals now are simple at this point: 1) Keep my modern coin collections up-to-date, and 2) finish selected high quality sets. The not-so-simple part of that is deciding which sets I’ll “select” to finish and which I’ll give up on.
While I don’t like to think about it, I am considering selling off some of my old sets, extras, and duplicates with the aim of financing the completion of my main collections. The problem is that the proceeds from the sale of all of them will probably only buy one or two of the coins I still need.
My financial advisor recently asked me if I was certain if I could liquidate my collection when the time came . . . I said “yes”, of course, but it won’t be so easy I’m sure.