Macro vs. micro collecting

shirohniichan

I find that my interest in coin collecting is broadening.

Back in 1998 I became intensely interested in collecting US coins from 1875 and 1876 because I liked business strike trade dollars and 20 cent pieces. My goal was to collect every variety of US coins of those years from all mints. That made me interested in distinguishing between small differences in lettering, mintmark placement, etc.

Now I find I am leaning toward a broad interest in coins of British colonies and commonwealth nations. Since a number of the countries no longer exist as they did when they issued these coins, I'm interested in finding old maps that show the former borders and countries' names. This makes me want to study how the British empire waxed and waned under George V, compare the exchange rates between the countries, learn about their economic and strategic interests, etc.

Has your interest in coins narrowed or broadened? Has it gotten you interested in other areas, or have other areas gotten you interested in coins?

elverno

My micro interest is numismatic material from 1789-1815. Because of the incredible number of coin issuing countries and the remarkable events of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic/Regency period it is in fact something of a macro collecting strategy.

In medals alone I have well over 3,000 to look for. There are hundreds of coin issuers of which I've only managed 150 or so and there are 30 countries at least that issued paper money that I haven't got examples from. Sometimes I think I need to narrow my focus...

Does anyone else have this experience?




I actually like it!

Aethelred

I find my focus getting more narrow. When I started many years ago I collected everything. I quit collecting US about 6-7 years ago and sold them all. Stopped collecting German coins about 5 years ago and sold them. Gave up Scotland and Ireland about 2-3 years ago and sold everything.

I now only collect coins from Great Britain with a focus on George III.

ccrdragon

My interests have broadened considerably over the last two years - thanks mainly to the fine and wonderful people who post such great pictures on these boards. I collected very narrowly two years ago - just indian head cents and buffalo nickels, but now that my eyes have been opened to the incredible possibilities of the darkside, I have expanded my tastes to many. many different copper series (as my sig line suggests, I really like copper!!!!).

So I guess I owe you guys both thanks and frustration for opening my eyes and expanding my horizons.....

Aethelred

Here is some unc. 200+ year old copper for you to gaze upon.

Refrema

Well, I started with all US, and then I began to specialize in Ikes. After completing very high Registry sets, I did all of the varieties, Doubled Dies, and Toned Ikes. As I recently told a Morgan collector, when you look at your coins from 5 feet away, they all look the same.

Several years ago, I got interested in Coins and Medals with Viking Ships on them. Actually I have more fun with them than any of the other collections I have. I decided to make a Type set from Norway and Denmark, while working on that I saw a couple of German Notgeld pieces with Danish flags on them.

That led to a set of Notgeld from Schleswig Holstein, and lots of research about the Plebiscite after WWI to decide the border between Denmark and Germany.

Somewhere I saw a couple pieces of Swedish Plate money, and that started me doing research on them. After reading several books about them, I am now an expert at some other useless information, but I sure do enjoy working with them.

Collecting is fun, but the hunt for something special, and the research involved is the real fun. Sometimes I spend more on books than on coins.

ccrdragon

Dam, dead king!!! Those are beautiful!!!!

farthing

I'm not sure if my focus has narrowed or expanded, mostly it's just shifting around. I'm still working on my English collection as well as everything else in my sig line. However, I'm spending more of my time, effort and budget on Conder tokens. Delving into the stories and history behind these tokens is what makes them so interesting to me.

cladking

There are always more and more things that I want to collect. The last five years
has really gone to focus my efforts in liteside moderns but I won't feel that this area
will need as much attention before too long. When the time and resources become
available I'll be putting more effort into some classic US, ancients, modern world and
far side stuff. (tokens, medals, exonumia)

rhound1977

I wish my focus was working as well as some of the folks here. I too started with a U.S. type set, and still have most of it. I did sell some high end coins from it to finance my British endavours. Most but not all of my purchases have focused around GB from George III to Elizabeth II. I have been building a type set of sorts for these Monarchs. I am also nearing completion of a Unified Germany type set. Empire to present. I gave up on German States, I'll leave that for someone with deeper pockets.

I do still buy general world coins of low cost to include in my world set numbering over 1,300 coins. I occasionally buy eye poppers, coins that catch my eye, such as the proof German 1 mark in my sig line. I commend those that stay on the straigh and narrow and remain focused.

theboz11

I started with US gold as a Business and collected narrow areas like my Cats,,, the gold will all be sold but the COLLECTIONS will keep growing.

edit to add
I was thinking the other day, after I posted my gold holding,,, that these coins are what is left over from my travel days on the coin show circuit,,, allllllll the GOOD stuff was sold to collectors

laurentyvan

I have always had broad collecting interests (despite an almost finished US type set) but have recently found my coins to be inferior to much of what I see posted on the forums. Then I realised they are not inferior-simply less expensive due to my wide focus. If I was specializing, the quality (grade) could be a lot higher-more money to spend per coin. So I'm not going to feel bad about VF's and XF's - I can't compete with the big boys on this forum... nor should I try.

I'm at about 200 countries and many more to find-just have to look harder.

WhiteTornado

When I first joined CU back in 2001, my focus at the time was mainly Liteside stuff, in grades up to XF, and from about 1850-1950. Then I found the wonderful Darkside and its many denizens.

I first started off collecting Darkside all over the map, literally. Now I have narrowed my Darkside focus to mostly France, Greece, Ireland, and some Great Britain, 1850-1950. I still am collecting Liteside because I enjoy both Lite and Dark, though I’m trying to stick to better examples in circulated grades. I have a long way to go to finish my various series.

I still stray on occasion from my stated collections, just because a coin "looks neat", but not very often.

shirohniichan

In trying to understand the context surrounding some coins, I see my areas of study have grown even broader.

I'm researching some US coins and now find myself looking into legislation that allowed them to come into being. In order to understand how well received they were, I have to see how ordinary it was for coinage laws to pass both houses with unanimous consent.

I hope I don't lose my focus in trying to cover too much ground.

AFNCoin

I still collect coins from all over the World, and then I have several countries I specially like to collect (Germany, Netherlands,Great Britain), and then I have my real love which is Canadian 1c through 1 doll coins. So I kind of Micro and Macro and in-between all at once. I usually only spend the real moolah on my Canadian coins however, and everything else takes the back burner.

But, I find it helpfull to have several projects going at once, because occasionally even on my Canadian collection I become a little burned out, and so I take a break with adding to my Netherland or Germany collection for a month or so.

AFN

cosmicdebris

Eagles let me collect them all

But I do one day hope to have a full Goetz pattern collection. It amazes me none of them ever made it to a circulating coin.