Is coin collecting a disease?

DesertLizard

I caught the "disease" as a kid many moons ago. I got "cured" for a while and did stamps, cards, etc. But I always seemed to come back to coins!!

What is it about coins??? Does anyone have a theory?

More interestingly, I have tried to introduce, grandkids, friends, golf buddies, etc. to the hobby but none is ever interested. Hence I conclude the disease is NOT hereditary nor is it contagious! Many infected buddies also complain about not getting kids, spouses, etc. involved.

But what the heck is it that prompts men [why few / no women?] to spend scads of money on silly pieces of metal?

Well, I had a relapse and am back collecting...and enjoying it more than ever. Especially nice with the net where I can "meet" other afflicted souls! I love you guys [girls too], so much sharing of knowledge on these forums!

steventheyn

Dave Bowers wrote an article about why some people leave the hobby and then come back to it. It was in Coin World a couple of weeks ago. I think that there is some sort of urge in our minds that causes us to collect. I believe this "urge" is only in the minds of some people. My family could care less about collecting coins, but somehow I got the collecting gene. Maybe this gene appears more often in men then in women. That's just my theory.

stman

I recently got grandaughter interested by buying her a proof eagle and proof set of birthyear. I often give some kind of coin as gift to family. As far as some not being interested it leaves more coins for us to grab. And welcome to the boards desertlizard.


stman

jakemrjr

I just like watching my collection grow. Plus I like silver coins for the silver content

IrishMike

I don't think it is a disease but a passion to me. There is always a new coin to be seen just around the corner and if your budget doesn't allow for it, then there is knowledge that can be sought out. The best collectors seem to me to be the ones with the most knowledge. I was able to sit and talk with a dealer for nearly an hour today about lincoln cent varieties. He kept pulling out coins, pulling out Wexler's book and explaining them to me. He ended selling me a 1959 d, d within the second nine. He had half a dozen of these and I ended up buying the slabbed one, just so I have one for comparison. Another new avenue of coin collecting has been opened up to me. I have several washington and franklin varieties, but never a lincoln one. My point is that this hobby has so many variations you can never get bored with it, if you take the time to become knowlegeable about it.

ARCO

DesertLizard - you have asked the great question posed since man emerged walking on two legs. It is a disease, and I hope to hell that no one finds a cure!!

Now, I would apreciate some potion that I could drink that would help me act a bit more rationally towards collecting and stay more focused within my budget and collecting areas. After a week or two of no coin buys I end up going on a coin BINGE. I cruise the seedier parts of town with my secret cash wad and then blow it in an orgy of coin lust!!

I have pondered the same questions time and time again, and yet the answer still fully eludes me.

Let me know when you get a good theory.

Tyler

Dog97

It's a behavioral pattern called Compulsive/Obsessive disorder. It's an incorrigible disease. Treatment with Prozac lessens the symptoms so you might be able to sell your hoard of 500 Morgans but it never regress completely. You will still want to keep 1 example of each date & mintmark. Or 1 coin of each Type, depending on how the disease manifests itself in the patient, I mean collector.
Dr. Dog

Conder101

About a year and a half ago I posted an e-mail to the Coinmasters mailing list in which I analyzed it from the viewpoint that it WAS a disease. It fit the catagory very well with transmission, suseptiblity to infection, differing immunity amoung those exposed, Acute and chronic forms of the disease, remissions and relapses etc. If I can find a copy of it I'll post it here.

jp

Coin collecting is pure evil, yes it's true!
The only way to save yourself is for you to send me all your coins ASAP.
Don't wait, do it now!

Evil I tell you pure evil............

Got to go look at my coins now.

ANACONDA

Collecting is not a disease, but the diseased often collect.

adrian

JoeHolt

well Im back to coins after makeing the rounds of cards and the such even depression glass and salt and pepper shakers (partly due to what is now the Ex Girl friend)
but your right it is addictive

Joe

MacCoin

I been off and on for the last 30 years. but the last 3 years I have been obsessing able my collection.

laserart

I don't think coin collecting is a disease ,but sitting here in front of this computer for hours on end sure needs to be addressed

09sVDB

A disease, no. An obsession very possibilly!

coinrookie

Let us just say it is an afflication of the soul. It does not have to be just coins. If you truly have this condition then the object that you desire can be anything collectable. Alas, I do not think there is a cure. But what a nice condition to have to live with.

may

Yes.

alefzero

OCD runs rampant among collectors of just about anything you can organize into sets. But it is pleasurable enough that few would seek to get it treated.

PerryHall

It's a mental illness when you spend the food and rent money on a coin that you just got to have.

Shurke

@Ownerofawheatiehorde said:
Yes.

There we have it. After two decades of careful study, the question has been answered.

lkenefic

Wow! What's with the ancient thread resurrection?

I think it's a passion and a tangible link to history for most... it becomes a disease when you're spending the mortgage money or the kid's college fund on coins, sort of like gambling.

NeophyteNumismatist

It's a disease to which the only cure is embalming fluid. May our cures be a long way away!

vulcanize

It is a mental disorder.

Mr_Spud

I think it is not an illness, but is related to the illness that makes some people into hoarders. But the hoarders can’t differentiate garbage from things that have at least some value. Also, like already mentioned, OCD and the need to arrange and organize things is involved. But it still doesn’t cross the line into illness unless it’s obsessive enough that it causes you to overspend to the point you can’t pay bills. The mental conditions that makes collecting pleasurable have deep roots in helping basic survival. Like squirrels hoarding food kind of survival, it’s an instinctual thing that’s being expressed.

HoneyMarket

Coin Collecting It is NOT a disease, nor is it a disorder recognized the the American Psychiatrics Association.

The closest that Coin Collecting comes to being a disorder, comes under the disorder of_ Hoarding_ or possibly Gambling.

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But according to the men (and women) in the white coats...

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Hoarding is not the same as collecting. Collectors typically acquire possessions in an organized, intentional, and targeted fashion. Once acquired, the items are removed from normal usage, but are subject to being organizing, admired, and displayed to others. Acquisition of objects in people who hoard is largely impulsive, with little active planning, and triggered by the sight of an object that could be owned. Objects acquired by people with hoarding lack a consistent theme, whereas those of collectors are narrowly focused on a particular topic. In contrast to the organization and display of possessions seen in collecting, disorganized clutter is a hallmark of hoarding disorder.

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Now, the question you have to ask yourself.

Is your collection organized or disorganized? If the later, you may have an issue!

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Indianlincoln

Not a disease just something you enjoy

TheGoonies1985

Better addiction than many many others things in life.

Walkerfan

It’s most certainly an addiction.

The good thing is you have something to show for it when you’re done…

It’s tangible and, in the long run, profitable.

Shane6596

I enjoy my mental illness addiction disease

OAKSTAR

If any disease or an addiction runs or controls your life.........................................it's probably a problem!

Catbert

It’s a compulsion, not a disease.

TheGoonies1985

I guess OCD is and I have that but who cares as long as you find hobbies you keep your mind busy with and you are happy!!!

TheGoonies1985

Coin collecting is the kid in us that has never died and enjoys the hunt and history!!!

PeakRarities

Ive noticed that some of the compulsive behaviors I exhibit with coin collecting have carried over from other parts of my life. Typically, I tend to "fixate" on at least one thing at any given time, even if it's not coins. Probably a mild form of OCD, but I wouldn't be surprised if I had several different disorders lol

Sapyx

Coin collecting is, as the OP notes, not "contagious" in terms of being able to be reliably passed on to friends or family. However, it is "hereditary" in the sense that it can be "caught", but only by people who are already predisposed to catch it - which amounts to about 10% of the population. Trying to force your hobby onto one of the 90% who are not psychologically predisposed to it, will simply result in frustration for both parties.

Most coin collectors can recall a specific moment or place where they "caught the bug" of coin collecting. That's because coin collecting is not something you can catch from birth, or from a time before you can retain memory of things. Infants are incapable of grasping the concept of money at all, while slightly older children only grasp the concept of money from a purely utilitarian viewpoint - the goodies you can buy with it. You need to be older - probably around seven or eight years old, for most people - before you can grasp the rather abstract second-level reasoning that "yes, coins can be used to buy things, but can also be kept and admired as objects in an of themselves".

For those who are felling lonely and isolated in their coin-collecting affliction, there are support groups. Internet forums like this one are one option; your local coin club is another.

Re: the gender division: I have heard lots of hypotheses (mostly stipulated by male collectors) as to why coin collecting is a mostly "guy thing". But the truth is rather more pragmatic: to be a coin collector you need lots of (spare) money, and historically, men have had more "spare money" than women. And once you have an area of society where one gender dominates, that gender stereotype becomes entrenched and somewhat self-reinforcing. If a coin show or coin club is 95% male-dominated, are women going to feel comfortable going there? If you're a coin dealer and 95% of your customers are male and a couple walk into your store, are you going to assume the female is the one who is into collecting, or the male? For those despairing about this problem, there is still hope: the 95:5 male-female ratio might be normal in the US, but it isn't universal. Some countries - notably Britain, New Zealand and Western Australia - have a much closer-to-parity ratio. It's not 50:50, but more like 70:30.

Finally, you can take heart that this affliction is not a modern one. People have been collecting coins pretty much since the invention of coinage 2700 years ago. Pliny the Elder, writing in about AD 78, noted with bemusement the existence of this odd subset of the community that were prepared to pay much more than a denarius, just to obtain a certain kind of counterfeit denarius - the earliest known record of a "numismatic premium".

Cranium_Basher73

PerryHall

I'm not addicted. I can stop whenever I want to.

Jzyskowski1

I have a very simple argument with a photo demonstration.
I show a baseball card and a .999 silver coin. I ask “ these are both collectibles and have an appropriate value of $100, can we agree?”
Then I show a picture of the card after a fire and the coin after a fire( or flood or whatever. With the card you have a pile of ashes and zero value. With the silver you still have the intrinsic value of the silver.
Intrinsic value 😉. Applies to comics, any book or ?
Which is more desirable? A pile of ashes or a pile of silver melt?

may

Just ignore how old this thread it...

I thought it was cool ok!

ricko

I would term coin collecting an addiction affliction. It provides an area of mental focus, a tangible property, and a 'mission' in people's life that is separate from work or social endeavors. Cheers, RickO

Jzyskowski1

@ricko said:
I would term coin collecting an addiction affliction. It provides an area of mental focus, a tangible property, and a 'mission' in people's life that is separate from work or social endeavors. Cheers, RickO

Nice @ricko
Wonderful explanation 👍🏼

Goober

I identify as a middle aged coin collector.

Catbert

@Ownerofawheatiehorde said:
Just ignore how old this thread it...

I thought it was cool ok!

At least post an ALERT - OLD THREAD when you resurrect one. This is considered a courtesy.

OAKSTAR

@Goober said:
I identify as a middle aged coin collector.

I identify as "he" "him" "them" "we" "be" "coin" "collectors"

tincup

I am more concerned about the compulsion / obsession that some seem to have about digging up decades old threads... instead of just starting a new one.

erscolo

This thread is SO OLD I was young back then.

ctf_error_coins

Yes, basically OCD

PeakRarities

@erscolo said:
This thread is SO OLD I was young back then.

Same. I was 7 in 2002

jacrispies

This thread is older than me

Expanding on previously said ideas...

Coin collecting appeals to people for different reasons. Some have severe OCD and tend to be hoarders. I personally have a small degree of OCD, but also enjoy the business side. Being a social butterfly, I love talking with people, discussing ideas, and even negotiating.

@Sapyx Although I agree with your points about the gender division, I do not think that accounts for it entirely. Just because some people have less money does not mean they can collect coins. Using myself as an example, I am a poor student that works harder to collect the coins I love. You can buy what you want, it depends on how hard you want to work.

Perhaps the answer simply lies with how men and women are mentally wired. Although I do not have the research, I assume OCD and other mental factors affect genders differently which can play a role in what we enjoy.

Fairfaxthunder

Its definitely "progressive"...

PerryHall

@ctf_error_coins said:
Yes, basically OCD

At least it's not an STD.

ARCO

My heroin addiction was much easier to kick than coin collecting. The heroin addiction cost a lot less too.