PCGS Set Registry Awards

The PCGS Set Registry started with a few hundred sets back in the 1990s before becoming the first such collecting platform to hit the internet in 2001. During that year, PCGS held its inaugural Set Registry Awards event by bestowing 15 deserving sets with those first recognitions. Today, the annual PCGS Set Registry Awards recognize hundreds upon hundreds of sets across a variety of categories, reflecting the phenomenal growth of this exciting numismatic community over the past quarter century. The number of PCGS Registry Sets is approaching 200,000, with members from all over the globe participating.

Among the hundreds of awards that are being bestowed to collectors throughout the PCGS Set Registry, we want to shine the spotlight on the latest PCGS Set Registry Hall of Fame inductees and Platinum Award winners.

The first of these 2025 PCGS Set Registry Hall of Fame inductees is a collector known as Black Cat, whose Complete Patterns, Die Trials & Experimental Pieces set wowed the judges with its outstanding diversity. This set is a particularly daunting venture as it encompasses more than 2,000 pieces ranging from the 1700s through the 2000s. A set like this requires time, patience, and luck. Three things that even the deepest pockets can't buy. Therefore it is stunning that Black Cat has managed a 27.69% completion rate, which is more than a dozen percentage points higher than the set positioned as runner-up. Meanwhile, the set's weighted grade point average is 66.13 and, with bonuses, the GPA comes in at a whopping 67.15 numismatic miles beyond the second-place set.

In another feat of magnificence we also have the other PCGS Set Registry Hall of Fame inductee, which goes to Canadian Coins Complete Basic Set, Circulation Strikes (1858-1952) from The Lantern Collection, owned by Terry Butcher. According to Butcher's About Me page, they started looking through pocket change as a teenager but didn't really pick up on the hobby until a couple decades later. "In the late 1980s I started going to a local coin shop that had weekly bid boards, and this reinvigorated my interest, which has gradually led to building the sets I have today over the past 30+ years." Butcher's PCGS Set Registry journey started more than two decades ago and now entails more than 170 sets that are ranked number one for Canada, not to mention dozens of other assemblages on the PCGS Set Registry. Their impressive Canadian Coins Complete Basic Set, Circulation Strikes (1858-1952) requires 384 coins and is 99.74% complete.

PCGS congratulates all the 2025 PCGS Set Registry Award winners, a complete list of whom can be found online by clicking on the 2025 PCGS Set Registry Award Winners landing page. Many amazing sets continue to be built, which goes to show that, without participation of our members, the PCGS Set Registry would not have grown into what it is today.

We wish all members the best of luck in building their sets ahead of the 2026 PCGS Set Registry Awards season!