Are there "gifted numismatists"?

BigE

Is there such a thing, like a "gifted athlete" or a "gifted student"? Or do you think it has nothing to do with any God-given trait and just comes from years of experience and studying. Could a "gifted student" easily become a "gifted numismatist"? Whatcha think?--------------------BigE

kieferscoins

Yes. Some of the YN's are impressive with their grading skills blowing out the competition at the PCGS grading contest. And they haven't been in the hobby for more than 6 years!

Cameron Kiefer

TomB

Hmmmmm.....I just used that phrase.....and you had posted in that thread.....might I explain? I use the term to describe something that you implicitly state exists, that is, a "gifted student". The reason for this is because a numismatist is a student of the hobby/industry, not just a collector. If you actually are questioning the existance of any "gifted" whatever, then I would simply state that one would be considered gifted if they not only had the desire, drive, ability, time and chance to succeed at something but then actually did succeed at it.

Anyway, I don't view being "gifted" as having a god-given talent as one might just as easily view it as having a genetic predisposition for an interest and ability.

Longacre

I think it comes more from experience than some natural gift (at least in terms of numismatics).

BigE

Absolutely no offense intended TomB, I just thought this was an interesting topic to post. Would a "gifted student " be one that gets straight A's, and a "gifted numismatist" be one that wins the grading challenge? --------------------BigE

fivecents

Definetly studying and experience to a certain level. I believe that some of the numismatists in the upper level of this hobby/ business are truely gifted.

kranky

I think certain people's brains are wired to be better at grading than others. If you have that talent, plus an interest in it, that could make for a very talented grader, seen as "gifted" in a way. I think it's like programming - some people have a natural talent for it, others don't. Some of the talented ones don't like it so they don't pursue it, and some of the untalented ones like it so much they persevere anyway and overcome the handicap.

Outside of grading I think people with a photographic memory or just an above-average memory who pursue the hobby could be viewed as gifted numismatists. In some ways the hobby is like a gigantic trivia game - a sea of unrelated tidbits of information. The people who are able to assimilate them into something meaningful can benefit.

For example, I think of njcoincrank, coinguy1, Legend, and others who make their living in the business. They have to be knowledgeable about so many coins, prices, market trends, strike characteristics, etc. They see a coin for sale and make an offer on it - how many tiny bits of information were instantly analyzed and combined to arrive at a number? And they can't afford to be wrong very often, or else they would quickly be in a different line of work.

Certainly many people have worked and studied in order to learn a great deal about numismatics without having any special gift for it.