Pandas are the premier collectibles among modern bullion coins. And watching videos of panda cubs shows why. Pandas are scarce at coin shows. Only three of the pandas in my set were bought at shows. My adventure began by visiting a local coin shop in the spring of 2016. I bought seven sealed OGP pandas for $120 apiece. After getting all of them certified by NGC, I got the dream/fantasy of collecting the entire set. This dream was intuitive and clear. Nine years, eighty purchases on eBay and nine purchases from Modern Coin Mart and GovMint later, the set is complete.
The hardest dates to find were the 2002 Mirrored Bamboo and the 1999 Serif 1. In 2020, looking hard and closely at an eBay listing for a sealed 2002 panda, I took a $780 gamble and had it certified using Variety Plus. My guess it was a Mirrored Bamboo variety paid off. The Serif 1 coin came certified and cost $1,500 the most I ever paid for a panda.
The lessons learned from this seven-year quest boil down to: Pursue Dreams, and as the I Ching says, Perseverance Furthers.阅读全文