Why I Am "Enjoying my Enjoyment" -- Appreciating the Hobby
Clankeye
Posts: 3,928 ✭
I will try to be brief.
I collected coins as a kid then drifted away from it. What brought me back was the slabbing revolution. Got me interested again, it was new and dynamic.
I was around in 89-91 when the market exploded. At the time I collected Morgan dollars. I sent in four coins for regrade and three out of the four got a bump. It was a $15,000 hit. I was elated and my interest began to shift to commemoratives--high grade with color. I took all my "winnings" and put them in commems. At the peak of the market I spent $8000 on a slabbed 67 Stone Mountain commem. You heard right.
All that time I would look at my "collection" with confusion. Somehow it lacked meaning to me. What was I doing this for? Money? The beauty? Am I a collector or an investor? It diminished the joy I could feel in the coins.
You know the story. Market crashed. My $15,000 dollar gain became at least double that in losses. I was lucky to get half my money out of the Stone Mountain. I left collecting/investing to lick my wounds.
So why do I tell you this? Because I am happy now. Very simple. I started collecting again a couple years ago. I have very few coins, and none which I paid over $500 for. I do not have to sweat bullets about the market. The coins that I do collect have great meaning to me. I collect Washington Carver commems because they symbolize an incredible history of our country (the opening of race relations and the civil rights movement). I have started recently to collect coins of the Philippines minted in the United States, because I find the story behind them fascinating, and the designs to be stunning. I look at them a lot. I am taken with their beauty.
I feel like for the first time, I am getting numismatics right. I know what I want out of it, and I am able to participate at a modest level. This forum has added to my experience of the hobby greatly. To be able to have a give and take with fellow collectors and dealers is a good thing.
I am not writing this in any way thinking that my take on the hobby is better than, or more enlightened than anyone else's. I am writing it in part because sometimes it gets very contentious around here, and I think people start questioning why they do it. What is the purpose behind collecting these orbs?
The purpose is as different as there are people on this forum. And I just wanted to let you all know why I am enjoying this great hobby again, and offer my sincere wishes that you all are too.
Carl
I collected coins as a kid then drifted away from it. What brought me back was the slabbing revolution. Got me interested again, it was new and dynamic.
I was around in 89-91 when the market exploded. At the time I collected Morgan dollars. I sent in four coins for regrade and three out of the four got a bump. It was a $15,000 hit. I was elated and my interest began to shift to commemoratives--high grade with color. I took all my "winnings" and put them in commems. At the peak of the market I spent $8000 on a slabbed 67 Stone Mountain commem. You heard right.
All that time I would look at my "collection" with confusion. Somehow it lacked meaning to me. What was I doing this for? Money? The beauty? Am I a collector or an investor? It diminished the joy I could feel in the coins.
You know the story. Market crashed. My $15,000 dollar gain became at least double that in losses. I was lucky to get half my money out of the Stone Mountain. I left collecting/investing to lick my wounds.
So why do I tell you this? Because I am happy now. Very simple. I started collecting again a couple years ago. I have very few coins, and none which I paid over $500 for. I do not have to sweat bullets about the market. The coins that I do collect have great meaning to me. I collect Washington Carver commems because they symbolize an incredible history of our country (the opening of race relations and the civil rights movement). I have started recently to collect coins of the Philippines minted in the United States, because I find the story behind them fascinating, and the designs to be stunning. I look at them a lot. I am taken with their beauty.
I feel like for the first time, I am getting numismatics right. I know what I want out of it, and I am able to participate at a modest level. This forum has added to my experience of the hobby greatly. To be able to have a give and take with fellow collectors and dealers is a good thing.
I am not writing this in any way thinking that my take on the hobby is better than, or more enlightened than anyone else's. I am writing it in part because sometimes it gets very contentious around here, and I think people start questioning why they do it. What is the purpose behind collecting these orbs?
The purpose is as different as there are people on this forum. And I just wanted to let you all know why I am enjoying this great hobby again, and offer my sincere wishes that you all are too.
Carl
Brevity is the soul of wit. --William Shakespeare
0
Comments
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Other than that, what a great post! Who knows, this might (I repeat might) even turn out to be a thread about the joys of collecting a not a flame fest. Nah, could never happen.
Seriously, though..... I don't sweat over large purchases either by limiting myself to a max of about $300....The spouse would kill me, anyway. Gonna have to save up for a St. Gauden's $20 gold piece!!!
Tomorrow: Clankeye-the Early Years (should come in about 7000 words).
You've suffered enough. I will spare you.
Carl
Fellow collectors warn me that the coins I like to collect don't have much demand for them, but I find that a great plus! How else could I afford coins with low imtages and substantially lower surviving populations?
Obscurum per obscurius
Brian.
Yes, some of them/you are a pain in the butt, on occasion, but most aren't. And, I'm sure some of them, along with some or all of my previous employers, would say the same about me .
I love to meet collectors, learn what they like and don't like about various coins and the hobby, share stories, experiences and our mutual enthusiasm. Despite the fact that part of this is business, it is also about friendships.
Perhaps the best part of all, though, is finding that special coin for a client - one that he or she has been searching for, for ages, thinking they might never have an opportunity to acquire it...... and then, watching their face light up or hearing that wonderful spark in their voice. It doesn't get much better than that in this hobby.
<< <i>
Perhaps the best part of all, though, is finding that special coin for a client - one that he or she has been searching for, for ages, thinking they might never have an opportunity to acquire it...... and then, watching their face light up or hearing that wonderful spark in their voice. It doesn't get much better than that in this hobby. >>
Find an 1847 seated dime in MS+ condition and you can videotape the sound in my voice when you sell me the coin.
No kidding though.....I would have to think that helping folks as you have described must be one of the best parts of your job!!!
What is the matter with you -- telling us that we should collect to have fun?!?
Nice post! Thanks for starting a fresh thread to try to bring us collectors back on track.
EVP
How does one get a hater to stop hating?
I can be reached at evillageprowler@gmail.com
Carl
Camelot
Philipino coins are ugly. Please do not waste your money on them, or German thalers. I think your money is more wisely spent if you continue to focus on the Carvers. There is too much risk in the Philipinos and thalers. Carvers are a sure bet. Please stick with Carvers. They need you. Philipino coins are overpriced, inflated stuff, as are German thalers. Carvers will boom again some day, and we need an expert in them.
I'll be happy to take the Philipinos off your hands so that you can quickly get focused back on the Carvers
"France said this week they need more evidence to convince them Saddam is a threat. Yeah, last time France asked for more evidence it came rollin thru Paris with a German Flag on it." -Dave Letterman
no reBUTTals accepted!
Clank, I cried after I read that
Marc
I cried after I lived it!
Carl
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Joe
Cameron Kiefer
We'll use our hands and hearts and if we must we'll use our heads.
<< <i>...this might (I repeat might) even turn out to be a thread about the joys of collecting a not a flame fest. >>
I don't know about a Joys of Collecting thread, and I don't know about a flame fest, but we could have a kissy/huggy love fest for Carl.
As much as Oreos, Clingons and Elvis...
...Mrs. Coinbroad, Coinalot and Clankeye have become a part of the fabric of our lives.
Thanks, Carl.
That's great! I am by no means saying that expensive coins are not worth collecting. I believe everyone must and should collect what brings them satisfaction.
In my case, way back when, I was collecting great coins, but coins that I could not afford to keep. No matter which way the market had gone. I have had to learn to stick to some realistic guidelines for myself, to take the stress out of it, and make the experience more enjoyable all around.
Good luck with your expanding knowledge, and wring whatever you can out of the hobby.
Clankeye
except for the big hit and subsequent loss our stories are quite similar. i collected out of amazement for many years, languished in semi-retirement for many more and then returned in 1999 with a hodge-podge that seemed to be going nowhere. i have better collection direction--WOWZER!!--today and enjoy looking at coins and helping out others nearly as much as building my own collection and griping at the forum!!!
this past winter i finally assembled some solid reference books and it's caused a quantum leap in interest and enthusiasm. i look through more coins than i used to, and now i actually have an idea of what i'm looking for. a few weeks ago i found a DD liberty nickel and last week i stumbled across a 1851/81 large cent. not big dollar coins but interesting coins. lately i've been helping the local shop-owner a lot. i have no aspirations in that direction, but i like being on the front line and getting a shot at fresh material.
oh yeah, i picked up a nice 1946 BTW at an auction by accident. i was bidding on a grab bag for the silver bi-Kennedy and the other half just showed up!! it's a nice rim toned BU in some kind of old holder.
you can't beat enthusiasm, can you?!?!?!
al h.
where it belongs.
K S
Carl