Have you ever looked at your collection....

and not be as happy with your coins as you thought you were?
Knowing that I want to upgrade a few of my 2 centers I pulled them out last night, and yes I keep them in my humble abode.
Off the top of my pointed head I knew that I wanted to upgrade the 1868, 1869 and 1870 business strikes, along with the 1869 and 1873 open 3 proofs, so that's 5. After looking at all of them i'm up to about 8 or 10, and i'm talking MS65/proof65 coins (brown of course) that are all CAC stickered.
Anyone else look back at some of your high end coins and say....MEH?
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Comments
I looked at them in sunlight once. Not flattering!
Sure, has happened multiple times for different reasons. I end up selling the ones I don’t like. I’ve settled on gold now and I always like gold.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
If you have this reaction, then your standards have risen or your interests have shifted.
I thinning coins from one's collection and consolidating resources to go in new and/or better direction is a good thing. I think it can strengthen the overall quality. Think of it as "continuous improvement"!
The longer you spend perusing coins, the less impressive most coins are.
Yeah I look at my collection and say yuck! 🤢 🤮
I sure have.
No, I never look at my coins, for just that reason!
Seriously, it has happened from time to time. Usually either I didn't notice something bothersome when I bought it, or I've replaced it with a coin I like better. Once I fall out of love with a coin, I almost always sell it.
My problem is the older and more refined my eye gets the more glaring my previous oversights or financial compromises become. And knowing the OP coins we should all be a bit more humble about our collections.
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
I’m slap happy with my collection.
Same here truly enjoy what I collect and looking at my coins. I look at the images I saved online that is just as good to me.
Interest: Latin American history with an emphasis on colonial Mexico & Peru
Sports: NHL & NFL
Thank you Lord for another beautiful day!!!
If you are looking back through a 21st century lens and applying the yardstick of today, there might be disappointment. If you look through a 19th lens and appreciate how these coins measure up to contemporaries, there will always be a sense of amazement that should strengthen interest and the search for others... perhaps in another series or even a series from a different country
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Turned 66 today, maybe i'm just getting a little bit more fussy?
In my old age!!!
All the time. I’ll occasionally lay out a series, and I then usually notice one or two coins I’d like to upgrade. Not upgrade in grade, but upgrade in ‘look’. I love nicely matched sets. Once I find the upgrade, I’ll sell the duplicate. Rinse, repeat...
Dave
For this reason I now collect True Views... only half kidding.
Ha Ha
BST: KindaNewish (3/21/21), WQuarterFreddie (3/30/21), Meltdown (4/6/21), DBSTrader2 (5/5/21) AKA- unclemonkey on Blow Out
Happy Birthday
Rinse , repeat, I kinda like that mantra Dave, but i'm still not satisfied with my current set of coins.
Hopefully everything will be back to normal by April..... you know.... the Central States Show, third Thursday in April.
I'm just chomping at the bit to go to any kind of coin show right now, and I mean any kind!
I only have about 49 slabbed coins and yes I'm not happy with a few that I bought
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb
Bad transactions with : nobody to date
This. Definitely have had the experience shared in the OP before over the last 40+ years collecting. I'd chalk it up to what Catbert said. Unless they are stored improperly, the coins themselves remain unchanged over time (for the most part). It's the eye/mind of the collector that has shifted. Conversely, I've also had the experience of viewing my coin(s) and finding my level of interest in or appreciation for a particular piece has increased. Unfortunately, the former is more common for me than the latter has been.
Happy Birthday!
If you don't appreciate what you have; then you'll never be happy.
“I may not believe in myself but I believe in what I’m doing” ~Jimmy Page~
My Full Walker Registry Set:
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Thanks RB and everyone else that wished me a happy BD.
It's just another day to me.
I believe that if all of our gears are working properly, our discerning eye should improve as a function of time. That, in and of itself should drive our purchases as a collector. And as such, should frame our irrespective goals as individual collectors. If that makes sense. Happy Friday!
I appreciate what I have, I just don't appreciate what I have.
I'll never be happy Jeff.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday, and a refined eye is a good thing.
49 is good, right?
For some strange reason I'm glad that you are not happy with a few.
I'm not glad that you are not happy, I'm just happy that you are not happy like me!
Does that make any sense?
Yes and no. The 19th Century portion of my PCGS 7070 Type collection are all AU58 tops, no MS. However, most the 20th Century portion are MS.
BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,...
I look at my 160 slabs and say wow look what I've accumulated over the year's. All from cheapies to 10$ to a couple of my higher end things and say ive done a fine job with eye appeal and toners. Everytime i brought my personal stuff out to a show not one person says what a dog or you bought that? More of the time its like what's the number on it lol
You want to appreciate your coins? Go to a small or medium sized show, and try to find something, anything, in your series to add or upgrade. Then just browse the typical dealer’s offerings.
When you get home you’ll be loving your own collection.
Most of the members on here in general have darn nice stuff compared to the outside world, and I’d hope that most of them appreciate that.
Funny that this observation came up tonight. I visited my SDB today for the first time in over a year. I swapped a few things so I have something at home that's different from what I've been looking at for the past year. I had the opposite reaction, I was pleased with what I have accumulated. Oh sure, there are some coins that I look at and wonder what I saw in them, but overall, I'm happy.
Louis Armstrong
I have some problem coins in my ANACS photo cert type set. I would love to replace them and will when I can find a problem free example. Specifically, my trade dollar and Barber quarter.
We have discussed our primary series on the world coin side. For what we collect, the most of the coins aren't available in any quantity (if at all) in anywhere near the quality that most US collectors consider acceptable.
In my case, a few collectors could improve upon my collection or even buy what I own in noticeably lower but still decent quality but that's all. I'd like to buy coins I don't own that I cannot find or improve some of the coins I currently have, but concurrently, I never imagined as a YN that I would ever be able to own what I do now. I didn't even know the coins existed.
I can only be an envious lurker in this thread.
I play a bit differently than most on this board as i try to buy low grade ugly coins. Price is my most important criteria. Occasionally I send a few to CAC and a few have actually stickered.
My point is I am clueless when looking at coins so I am rarely disappointed by their appeal. I set my expectations low and I'm generally happy. For me, Ignorance is bliss.
I do get peeved at myself when I overpay for an ugly coin. As an example I bought a coin at auctions a couple of weeks back
and I bid for the wrong coin. Every time I see the coin I see a mistake which will forever haunt me.
The only way I can tell the difference between a high end coin and one of my coins is when I look to the label for the grade.
thus, I try to buy UFAGP coins (Ugly for a Good price).
Happy Birthday sir, 15 months behind you.
I'm happy with my collection for what I have. Shallow end of the pool that's for sure. More like a puddle but it's a big puddle.
I cannot find 1983 p and d quarters that I’m satisfied with that match the rest of my capital plastics set. I’m going to just have to bite the bullet and buy slabbed ms66s and crack them out.
I am just happy to own the coins I own like you said none are easy to find. To me they look great even in lower grades.
Interest: Latin American history with an emphasis on colonial Mexico & Peru
Sports: NHL & NFL
Thank you Lord for another beautiful day!!!
I am happy with my coins. Sure, many could be upgraded. However, I bought them because I liked them... and still do. Cheers, RickO
I have a coin garden.

Sometimes I weed.
Sometimes I plant.
I have pretty much sold everything trying to become debt free.
Just keeping a Buff nickel grading set and some proof sets.
Looking forward to 2022 and a focus on moderns and varieties.
BST: KindaNewish (3/21/21), WQuarterFreddie (3/30/21), Meltdown (4/6/21), DBSTrader2 (5/5/21) AKA- unclemonkey on Blow Out
It’s the opposite for me. I used to be extremely near sighted and could see every little flaw on my coins. But after cataract surgery now I’m farsighted and all my coins look like they went up a couple of grades 🌞
Mr_Spud
Wow you hit that right out of the park!! Couldn't have said it any better
It's easier to avoid feeling this way if it's hard to upgrade. For example, if high grades aren't just readily available and only show up for sale by chance.
we all have at one time or another, its something learned fwiw
Yes. I look at it often enough that I am pleasantly surprised the next time I look at it. Makes it hard to thin the herd.
Higher graded coins do not necessarily equal a “better” coin!
Admittedly, as part of human nature, I'd be jealous of other forum members' coins from time to time....just like I'd be jealous of someone's waterfront estate, high end sports car, offshore boat, etc. There's always someone with more/bigger/better....But realize they all had to make choices and sacrifices too, and are they really happier at the end of the day?
Could I have built a better walker set, if I hadn't been diverted by building a type set, large cent collection, buffalo collection, Barber collections? Sure....but I wouldn't have done it differently. It was enjoyable learning about all those different series, and meeting and discussing these other coins with many different people.
That's usually when a small purge is in order...
My YouTube Channel
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I can buy practically any one coin I really want in the sense that I have the money to buy it. But I limit myself from buying many of these coins because I cannot actually afford it by my definition, unless I care to work longer or have a lower quality of life elsewhere. That's not a trade-off I will make.
As an example, a forum member profiled the 1756 Guatemala 1/2R they bought from Stacks on the world coin forum. I thought about competing for it (don't know I would have actually won it) but declined as I don't buy coins in this price range.
Practically all other coins which I infer others posting here would like to buy but are out of reach, I don't really want it and would not buy it even if money did not limit me. I'm just not interested and don't care about ever owning it. I'd still spend the money on something else if I had it if I spent it at all.
Also forgot to mention up here in the tristate NY NJ PA area a lot of the dealers are telling me how much harder it's become to get fresh stuff. There telling me a lot of the shops are closing up and everything is online now. And when they do have newps usually there wiped out halfway threw the show. IDK but to me there's nothing better then buying a coin in person!!