Maintaining focus... how do YOU do it?
coinpictures
Posts: 5,345 ✭✭✭
I keep telling myself that I need to focus and concentrate on my "core" collections, yet I constantly find myself buying pieces outside the core simply because either (1) a particular coin catches my eye, or (2) the price was too good to pass up.
How do you keep yourself from straying? Set your sights on a particular high-dollar coin in your core, and then steel yourself not to buy anything else, knowing that you need to save up for that target piece? I guess I don't have the willpower to stave off the coins in hand for the possible coin X months from now.
How many "core" series or subjects is too many?
When I sit down and look at the areas that I enjoy working with and wanting to work towards completion, I still come up with a fairly long list:
British copper
Germany/German States proofs
Hungarian denar date set
Romanian 1867 proofs and specimens
U.S. half cents and large cents
Newfoundland
Toners*
Misc. U.S. type.*
Those last 2 encompass a very WIDE area, and really are not any kind of focus at all. Yet they're areas I enjoy picking up pieces in.
If I had to pick one area of the above that I enjoy the most, I'd have to honestly say that colorful toners, whether they are darkside, greyside, or lightside, are really the most fun for me. I think it's because every coin is unique and grade really isn't a consideration. There are VF-AU pieces out there that have absolutely gorgeous color and appearance. One doesn't have to spend a fortune.
No matter how much I tell myself I need to focus, I find it difficult to achieve it. When I was pruning my slabs for sale, I found myself putting a lot of coins back that weren't in my core areas, nor were particularly colorful, just because I liked their appearance, or they were exceptionally high grade, or they were very unusual countries or denominations, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to "let them go." Now that I'm starting to wade through my raw coins, I'm finding myself doing the same darned thing.
What approaches have you taken to try and "cull the herd" so to speak?
How do you keep yourself from straying? Set your sights on a particular high-dollar coin in your core, and then steel yourself not to buy anything else, knowing that you need to save up for that target piece? I guess I don't have the willpower to stave off the coins in hand for the possible coin X months from now.
How many "core" series or subjects is too many?
When I sit down and look at the areas that I enjoy working with and wanting to work towards completion, I still come up with a fairly long list:
British copper
Germany/German States proofs
Hungarian denar date set
Romanian 1867 proofs and specimens
U.S. half cents and large cents
Newfoundland
Toners*
Misc. U.S. type.*
Those last 2 encompass a very WIDE area, and really are not any kind of focus at all. Yet they're areas I enjoy picking up pieces in.
If I had to pick one area of the above that I enjoy the most, I'd have to honestly say that colorful toners, whether they are darkside, greyside, or lightside, are really the most fun for me. I think it's because every coin is unique and grade really isn't a consideration. There are VF-AU pieces out there that have absolutely gorgeous color and appearance. One doesn't have to spend a fortune.
No matter how much I tell myself I need to focus, I find it difficult to achieve it. When I was pruning my slabs for sale, I found myself putting a lot of coins back that weren't in my core areas, nor were particularly colorful, just because I liked their appearance, or they were exceptionally high grade, or they were very unusual countries or denominations, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to "let them go." Now that I'm starting to wade through my raw coins, I'm finding myself doing the same darned thing.
What approaches have you taken to try and "cull the herd" so to speak?
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Comments
What in the world is that,,,, what was this thread about????
FOR SALE Items
8 Reales Madness Collection
Pretty much the direction my buying took for 3 to 4 years, although I would also buy coins that "I knew I should" even if I didn't necessarily collect them as a "core" item. When an opportunity presents itself for eventual resale, why not?.
is that you end up being governed by inferiors. – Plato
<< <i>Maintaining focus... how do YOU do it? >>
I don't, just ask my wife.
DPOTD-3
'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'
CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don
Hopefully, that is somewhat coherent...
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
<< <i>I find that excessive credit card debt helps me maintain focus on the things I really need. I highly recommend it. >>
The focus or the credit card debt?
1/2 Cents
U.S. Revenue Stamps
as my core gets better, the upgrades get further apart finding and costs get higher
I have to save up or let one slip away
discipline?