What is the longest you have went without adding/finding a new coin for your collection?

PillarDollarCollector · June 11, 2024 2:30PM

I my case not very long maybe 2 months max but as time will go on I imagine the lapse may grow by a lot. Part of me loves finding new coins and part of me wants it to slow down but when starting newer series it is to be expected to locate coins more often. I have only been at the Mexico 1 reales for 2 years and less than 1 year with Peru and less than 2 months with Guatemala. So very short times compared to many here on the forums.

Sapyx · June 11, 2024 3:50PM

This is one advantage of being a generalist - it's really, really easy to add to the collection, because virtually anything for sale in a coin dealer's shop that I haven't already got one of, can be added to my collection.

So for me, the answer to the question "when did you last add to the collection" is the same answer as for the question "when did you last visit a coin dealer". I've never once gone into a coin dealer's shop and left without buying anything.

Jabshier · June 11, 2024 4:29PM

I gone a whole year without collecting a single coin , instead I bought old German coin and medals catalogs (the hard to find catalogs) which I probably dumped few thousand just in books some of them I had to bid on books in auctions … I still like using books and catalogs to do my research on my collecting

PillarDollarCollector · June 11, 2024 4:33PM

@Jabshier said:
I gone a whole year without collecting a single coin , instead I bought old German coin and medals hard to find catalogs which I probably dumped few thousand just in books some of them I had to bid on books in auctions … I still like using books and catalogs to do my research on my collecting

I miss that part the first 2 years head deep in my books almost daily for hours. I still read but at this point I have learned a lot I wanted to learn. There is always more but at some point one would need actually been with other fellow collectors in person to share such ideas. I do not ever see myself as mastering what I collect due to the lack of such connections in real life. I learn a lot from those here but I can only imagine what I could learn from them in real life talking for hours on end. On a level of 1 to 10 I would rate myself a 4 knowledge wise some here are much ahead of that level due to decades of talking with other collectors and finding material I do not even know exists. I may reach a level of 5 or 6 maximum some day but never anything higher would be my guess. I started off at 0 so at least I progressed over the last 3-4 years.

Clio · June 12, 2024 5:07AM

12/16/2020 - 4/8/2021 this is the longest gap I have in my spreadsheet as far as purchases go. The year 2021 was especially slow for me and I only purchased 10 coins that year in total which is easily the least I've purchased. I think this is not just from lack of material, but it was a time when I was restructuring my collection, and I began working for a coin dealer.

2/1/2022 - 10/7/2022 Is perhaps the longest gap I didn't buy any coins for my main type set. Those being very difficult pieces to find and upgrade. Starting collecting GV Shillings facilitated a lot of purchasing.

ELuis · June 12, 2024 7:40AM

I buy coins in general and do not have a series that I go for, if a coin I like shows up and if it fits for me I buy it.

I waited 32 years to be able to go back in the buying mode, then stopped again for about 7-8 years. And lately normally can wait maybe a month or in some cases more, but in many cases a week or two.

I do not buy coins from auctions or eBay.
I buy only Raw Coins, and have bought very few graded coins 4-5 that I still have.