Isn't it better just to collect photographs of coins?

Singapore

Seems less than ideal to spend big dough for rare coins only to then lock them in a large safety deposit box at the bank which is inconvenient to visit and allows viewing only in small room lacking appropriate ambience.

If you have only large glossy photographs you can comfortably keep them in your house, unconcerned about being robbed by roving bands of violent numismatists.

nwcs

You don't know how often I thought about the same thing.

lordmarcovan

I had the same thoughts. But unfortunately, not all of us have the technical skill to photograph those coins well enough so that we won't miss them when they're in the safe deposit box! And photographs don't have "heft" to 'em.

MrEureka

For me, 90% of the fun is in the hunt, 10% in ownership. Somehow, I don't think hunting for photos would be as much fun.

hughesm1

You know, if the technology available to the average consumer today existed 23 years ago when I started collecting, I'd have one heck of a collection (of digital pix that is.)

jeffnpcb

Yes,I'm selling all my coins and keeping my Heritage discs and books!!!!

AH HELL, WHO AM I KIDDING!!!!!THAT IS ANOTHER THING I'M NEVER GOING TO DO!!!!

dan1ecu

Interesting question. Psychologically, what is it about possessing the "real thing" that is so much more exciting than having just an image? I don't know.

Maybe in the back of my mind, I'm hoping that some day the coins I have will be worth a lot more than what I paid. Maybe I derive some satisfaction from knowing that I was a smart enough buyer to put together a desirable collection at the right price. At any rate, you're right. It would be a lot less expensive and less risky to have a "virtual " coin collection.

Dan

Singapore

A year ago I would have posted this completely as a joke. Now I'm not sure I'm kidding.

And note that I'm referring to photos in general - not just photos of your own coins, or photos you personally took (in my case that would be a real problem, as I'm no Ansel Adams, and a collection of horrendous, out-of-focus coin photos probably wouldn't that appealing even to the most robbery-averse among us).

I've been building a numismatic library for more than year with the intention (initially) of researching my chosen field to help figure out which coins I wanted to buy. But its also turned out to be fun and interesting to track down old catalogs and discover photos of coins in conditions that I didn't know existed. So the thrill of the hunt concept mentioned by Eureka can apply to the photos as well, in my opinion.

JA

IrishMike

.......only if you back up your hard drive.

TheNumish

To me it's the difference between having a real life Playboy centerfold or just a picture of one hanging on a wall. Excluding Anna Nicole Smith I'd take the real thing.

shylock

That's not as wild an idea as many may think, though obviously nothing beats the real thing.

I'm an image hoarder of MS Indian cents and tinker with the idea of one day making a large portion of the gem examples available on a website database. For example, I've got at least half of the finest known PCGS 1859s so far. The ideal is to image as many of them yourself as is possible so the quality of the photos are consistent for comparison, so a project like this would be as time consuming and require as much networking as putting a full set together. But wouldn't it be cool for a collector to compare his coin (or one he's thinking of buying) to others at the same grade level, all available on one website? In fact, if someone stuck with this type of cataloging project long enough, that coin the collector was thinking of buying may already be in the database.

Which brings up another wild idea: with the widespread use of digital imaging these days, will we reach a point where almost all higher end coins have been imaged somewhere on the net?

islemangu

I can not think of many better places then locked in a windowless well lit vault room with the real centerfold. But I go there she/he/it stays. At home I would want my best photographys for easier visits. Why did PCGS ever stop doing the photo profiles? It would be neat if any members could post some obverse and reverse of some.

ldhair

Oh do both.

millennium

Laugh if you want, but not too long ago there was a story on a young man (poor) that loved coin collecting but knew he did not have the resources to actually purchase the coins he needed. He took photos out of magazines,the redbook and other places and placed them in the Whitman folders...I guess it was one way to both collect, and learn the history of coinage...at a small price.

jonesy

Maybe some of you guy have neglected to get a Wife. Enjoy your pictures!!
Glenn

relayer

I have a nice "Virtual" collection of dealers photos (Anaconda is major contributor) that put my coins to shame.

But it's still fun to take my coins out of the safe deposit box and bring them home to play with.