20th Century Type Sets Are My Favorite Valuable U.S. Coin Sets To Build (Here’s HOW To Do It!)

Here’s why I love 20th Century Coin Sets. See how you can build a 20th Century Type Set like this, too!

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⚡TIMESTAMPS FROM THE VIDEO⚡

00:00 Intro: 20th Century Type Sets explained

00:10 Why this is my favorite coin set to build

00:25 List of all coins in a 20th Century Set (plus pics)

01:15 The 1st thing missing from this type set

01:44 The 2nd thing missing from this coin set

01:54 What about the 1943 Steel cent?

02:54 Closeups of all the coin backs (list of all coins)

03:51 How to build a 20th Century Type Set like this

04:04 Other coins to include in a 20th Century Coin Set

04:33 I have built many 20th Century coin sets 

04:43 My 1st set was in a framed coin holder

05:19 My 2nd set was in a coin folder 

05:40 My newest set is in a Capital Plastics holder

06:25 Summary: 20th Century Type Sets

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TRANSCRIPT:

Hey! This is Josh with The Fun Times Guide and today we’re looking at my 20th Century type coin set.

I think if there’s one kind of grouping of coins I could ever keep — and just ONE — it would be this set. 

The reason why is it contains basically ONE example of every major design type seen on US coins during the 20th century! 

We have here the Indian cent. Lincoln Wheat cent. Lincoln Memorial cent. We have here… Liberty nickel. Buffalo nickel. Jefferson nickel. Liberty Head (or Barber) dime. Liberty… Winged Liberty Head (or Mercury) dime. Roosevelt dime. Liberty Head (or Barber) quarter. Standing Liberty quarter. Washington quarter with Heraldic Eagle reverse. Bicentennial quarter. 

We have here a Liberty Head (or Barber) half dollar. A walking Liberty (or as this one says here, Liberty Walking) half dollar. Franklin half dollar. Kennedy half dollar. Bicentennial half dollar. Liberty Head (or Morgan) dollar. Peace dollar. Eisenhower dollar. Bicentennial Eisenhower dollar. And Susan B. Anthony dollar. 

Now a lot of people watching this who are “completists”, as I’ll call them… notice two things missing here. 

The first thing is probably… most obvious is that there’s no gold in this set. 

Yeah, it’s free of gold coins because gold coins are so expensive. And a lot of folks who build these kinds of 20th Century Sets don’t really include gold along with them. Not that you can’t! If you have a deeper pocketbook than I, you might include gold coins in such a set. But this one has no gold — and that’s the most common type of format for these types of  collections here. 

The other thing that some might notice is missing would be some of the subtypes (or like… variance among designs) that are commonly collected among US coins. 

I think those looking at this area of the set… See, the biggest omission is the 1943 steel cent, which I have an example of right here. 

This was struck in 1943 out of a steel planchet coated in zinc. And the reason the US Mint struck the 1943 steel cent was to conserve copper for World War II ammunitions. Those who know their history know there was a lot of rationing going on during the early and mid-40s to conserve important commodities like copper and other materials for making artillery, ammunitions, and other necessary things to help us win the war. 

And we don’t have that coin in this set right here. And again, this is a very basic 20th Century Set. If there’s one catch-all collection that a lot of collectors (at least in the United States) love to assemble, it’s a 20th Century Set. 

I want to make sure I show you the back of this collection as well. So we have here the reverses of these coins…

The reverse of the Indian cent. Lincoln Wheat cent — I’m sorry it’s upside down. Lincoln Memorial cent. Liberty nickel. Buffalo nickel. Jefferson nickel. The Barber dime. Mercury dime. Roosevelt dime. Barber quarter. Standing Liberty quarter. Washington quarter with Heraldic Eagle reverse. Bicentennial quarter. Reverse of the Barber half dollar. Reverse of the Walking Liberty half dollar. Reverse of the Franklin half dollar. Reverse of the Kennedy half dollar. Reverse of the Bicentennial Kennedy half dollar. The reverse of the Morgan dollar. Reverse of the Peace dollar. Reverse of the Eisenhower dollar. Reverse of the Bicentennial Eisenhower dollar. And finally, the reverse of the Susan B. Anthony dollar. 

So, how do you build a set like this? 

Well there are many ways to do it. As I’ve kind of prefaced here, there are variants of the 20th Century Set. This is, again, a very basic 20th Century Set with 23 coins. Those who want to go a little more in-depth might have a set that includes the 1943 steel cent. Maybe break out the silver and clad Washington quarters and Roosevelt dimes and Kennedy half dollars. Might include the 40% silver Eisenhower dollar. Might include — if you want to go even further still — might include both the clad and silver Bicentennial coinage. And then, of course, those of you who have really deep pockets… again, might add in the gold. 

I have been building a 20th Century Set, in some form or fashion, since I first began collecting coins back in the early 1990s. As a matter of fact, I wanted to show you here some of my earlier iterations of building a 20th Century Set. ‘

I have here a picture of me from 1994 that shows me building this same type of set in a picture frame. Back in the early mid ’90s you could still commonly find in coin shops and such… these types of frames that consist of a cardboard panel with portals for each of the coins. This set here contains a few more coins than the set that you see here in this Capital Plastics holder right here. 

When I FIRST began collecting coins back in 1992 and 1993, I actually had my 20th Century Set in a coin folder — which is this blue album (or blue folder) right here. In fact, this is my 20th Century Set from back in those days lacking a lot of coins that I could not afford when I was 11 and 12 years old! 

As you see, there are many different types of platforms for collecting a set like this… 

I chose the Capital Plastic set here in 1999 — because it’s made from a deluxe lucite sandwich-style construction. Right here… it’s a 3-panel construction. The center white panel contains the coins. And the 2 outer panels are transparent. And this is like museum quality here! These are very expensive holders, but they last a long long time. They’re inert, so they will not harm your coins. And I think they make for really just a handsome display case!

No matter what type of price point you’re looking at, or what your level of interest is in building such a set… I think this is just a great kind of a basic coin collection to assemble if you love US coins as I do.

So I hope that this video maybe inspired you to build a 20th Century Set. Or at least gave you some thoughts on different options for both — how extensive it can be and for how to house it. 

But again, I’ll always be happy to answer your questions! Just leave a comment down below on your thoughts about the 20th Century Set. Maybe how far along you are. Maybe some ideas you might have for building such a set like this.

And I thank you for watching! Again, this is Josh with The Fun Times Guide — both in 1994 and today, with a halo over my head, signing off.