Recycled topic: What are your reasons for collecting coins.
SanctionII
Posts: 12,104 ✭✭✭✭✭
I am sure that this topic has been discussed many times in the past. However, since I have been a member of the forums for less than a month, I will indulge myself by tossing it out for discussion. The "Hobby Of Kings" has many particpants, enough so that many people actually make it their livelihood. The reasons and movtivations for people to collect coins must be many, some obvious and some obscure. What is your reason or reasons for collecting?
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Because I like'em. Morgans, SQ's, Japanese, mint sets etc. My collection isnt based on 1 type at this point. Coins are cool..their historical background as well as contemporary designs.
they're just fun.
Russ, NCNE
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
All kiddin' aside. I think everyone needs a hobby. I hate golf. I used to be involved with motorcycles, but my wife hates them so that's a no go. My grandfather got me started when I was young and I just picked it up again as an adult. It requires a lot of time, but it's a great way to escape my practice. In law you rarely get a sense of accomplishment. It's not like building a house. With a collection, you do have a end -- well sorta til you upgrade, but there is defintely a sense of finality whether its a circulated Roosevelt set or a high grade registry set.
Michael
History of United States.
History of the mints and minting technology.
Mike
Make the big bucks.
...[My father] got me started on collecting when I was a munchkin in the early 1970s. He was a pilot in the Air Force, and that included a stint of about 2-3 years in Puerto Rico in the early 1960s. Now Puerto Rico was circulating American coinage, of course, but they were just poor enough that they couldn't afford the luxury of saving coins they found. A large amount of his early collection was built from change received in commerce there -- lots of Barber coins, Indians, early Lincolns, Liberty and Buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, SLQs, Walkers and all Barber coinage were seen with surprising frequency. He darned near half-filled the Barber collections with coins he found in circulation, got most of the Buffaloes and Mercs, *may* have had most of the SLQs (though the dates were worn off many so you know they were pre-1925), and most of the Walkers. He had almost all Indians post-1878 (except for the S-mint pieces) several times over, with few exceptions -- and an occasional, well-worn date before then.
He found quite a few better dates, too -- 1924-D cents, 1921 and 1921-D Mercs, 1921 Walkers from all mints. He never found an '09-S VDB or a '16-D dime, but still, this isn't a bad record. As far as I know, he still has a lot of that stuff, though as the years went by and he became a bit more prosperous, he started acquiring a lot of other items through mail-bid auctions -- mostly from what was then Bowers and Ruddy -- back in the pre-Internet days when you could get some really good buys.
That must have been a wonderful time and place to be a low-budget collector. We'll never see times like that again. And without that experience of his, I'm probably not a collector today. It's all Dad's fault!
<< <i>It's better for me than drinking. >>
now that I think of it that applies to me too.
<< <i>It's better for me than drinking. Russ, NCNE >>
Russ hit the hammer right on the nail
Okay, really, that is the reason I got back into collecting. I was drinking so much the hublein stock nearly doubled just from my activity. I decided I needed something to do with the money I otherwise spent on booze.
So when I looked at my monthly booze tab, and it was about $150 a month, that's a nice coin a month I was drinking. It really made my change in lifestyle easy as I watched my collection expand.
Of course now I spend way more than I ever did on booze, but at least there is some value in what I get now rather than just a buzz that wears off a few hours later.
I like the historical aspect of it as well as the art and challenge of putting my type set together. I actually keep a ruler at my desk that I bought
at the National Archives gift shop with all the presidents pictures on the back. Under each pic is their term of office. One of the first things I
do when I get a new coin is check to see who was president during the date on the coin. I love to ponder where they've been, who spent them,
who didn't spend them and kept them all these years.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
<< <i>It suits my obsessive compulsive nature. >>
That too.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
<< <i>It's better for me than drinking.
Russ, NCNE >>
Go back to drinking and quit smoking!
<< <i><< It's better for me than drinking.
Russ, NCNE >>
Go back to drinking and quit smoking! >>
It is unlikely that I'll kill anybody driving while smoking.
Russ, NCNE
<< <i>It is unlikely that I'll kill anybody driving while smoking. >>
Has been known to happen when the driver drops the cigerette in their lap and it diverts their attention from the road to their entertainment equipment.
i like them
As far as I can remember, I have always collected coins...that's just the way it was!
Why step over the dollar to get to the cent? Because it's a 55DDO.
Can I have your coins?
uh... I mean... I am a coinaholic too
I guess modern collectors like to remember what life was like when their coins were minted
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
If you go to Vegas and drop $50,000 you have nothing to show for it.
If you buy $50,000 in coins, at least you can sell them for $40,000
My posts viewed
since 8/1/6
I collect coins primarily because they are rare, but also for other reasons.
Some collect coins because they are shiny.
Some collect coins because they are old.
Some collect coins because they are colorful.
Some collect coins because they are historic.
Some collect coins because the design is beautiful.
Some collect coins because their spouse/parent/child/grandparent collects coins.
Some collect coins because they like competition (ie. Registry).
Some collect coins because they may be able to profit from them.
Many collect coins for a combination of these (and other) reasons that they prioritize to fit their tastes, personality, and budget.
It's those damn coins!!! Many of them just scream to be saved from
circulation or be taken off the market. Some taunt me because they
know I have a hole in my collection they'll fit. Others just seem tired
of the rigors of the market and need a good place to rest. They're all
welcome as long as they talk to me.
but recently within the last year it gives me ANXIETY AND explosive GAS
michael
USMC Veteran 1981-1992
Cold War Veteran
It's truly funny, no make that truly sad, that people in this day and age are so wrapped up in their own little world that they refuse to try and teach someone else the correct or accepted way of doing things.
history: you can see how the world has changed and you're holding a coin that's been used by many people for many different things