@RYK said:
I would define a serious collector as one who does one or more of the following: attends coin shows (especially if one takes off work or travels to do so), subscribes to one or more coin publications (including online ones), belongs to one or more coin clubs or associations (especially if in a leadership role), buys and reads coin books, (intentionally
) socializes with other collectors (either in person or online), builds exhibits and websites to display one's collection, and writes articles, gives lectures, mentors newbies, or in some other way educates others about the coin hobby. The more of these attributes the individual can claim, the more likely he is a serious collector.
A casual collector, in my eye, is stereotypically one who buys yearly proof sets from the Mint, one who collects coins from pocket change, and or one who has a stash of "old" coins from a grandparent, but one who has not made any serious effort to elevate his level of expertise beyond the US Mint brochure or what he observes on his own.
There are various gradations of serious and casual collectors, and like any other subjective term, it probably defies a strict definition.
Time flies and things change.
When I wrote that, I was probably an 11 on the 1-10 scale of serious collectors, 10 being most serious. Now, I would consider myself about a 3.
@RYK said:
I would define a serious collector as one who does one or more of the following: attends coin shows (especially if one takes off work or travels to do so), subscribes to one or more coin publications (including online ones), belongs to one or more coin clubs or associations (especially if in a leadership role), buys and reads coin books, (intentionally
) socializes with other collectors (either in person or online), builds exhibits and websites to display one's collection, and writes articles, gives lectures, mentors newbies, or in some other way educates others about the coin hobby. The more of these attributes the individual can claim, the more likely he is a serious collector.
A casual collector, in my eye, is stereotypically one who buys yearly proof sets from the Mint, one who collects coins from pocket change, and or one who has a stash of "old" coins from a grandparent, but one who has not made any serious effort to elevate his level of expertise beyond the US Mint brochure or what he observes on his own.
There are various gradations of serious and casual collectors, and like any other subjective term, it probably defies a strict definition.
Time flies and things change.
When I wrote that, I was probably an 11 on the 1-10 scale of serious collectors, 10 being most serious. Now, I would consider myself about a 3.
Which one do you like better?
The "3" is more in line with my present values and worldview. I miss the camaraderie of collecting, traveling to shows, the buzz of auctions (buying and selling), the thrill of the chase, and the dopamine hit of the capture. I do not miss the buyer's remorse, the pressure to swing at pitches, and various other disappointments that come with the hobby.
As far as geeking out on coins, the cerebral aspect, I have found that you can dive into many disciplines and have the same enjoyment. I have also come to the conclusion that you can have a deep appreciation of objects without owning them.
@RYK said:
I would define a serious collector as one who does one or more of the following: attends coin shows (especially if one takes off work or travels to do so), subscribes to one or more coin publications (including online ones), belongs to one or more coin clubs or associations (especially if in a leadership role), buys and reads coin books, (intentionally
) socializes with other collectors (either in person or online), builds exhibits and websites to display one's collection, and writes articles, gives lectures, mentors newbies, or in some other way educates others about the coin hobby. The more of these attributes the individual can claim, the more likely he is a serious collector.
A casual collector, in my eye, is stereotypically one who buys yearly proof sets from the Mint, one who collects coins from pocket change, and or one who has a stash of "old" coins from a grandparent, but one who has not made any serious effort to elevate his level of expertise beyond the US Mint brochure or what he observes on his own.
There are various gradations of serious and casual collectors, and like any other subjective term, it probably defies a strict definition.
Time flies and things change.
When I wrote that, I was probably an 11 on the 1-10 scale of serious collectors, 10 being most serious. Now, I would consider myself about a 3.
Which one do you like better?
The "3" is more in line with my present values and worldview. I miss the camaraderie of collecting, traveling to shows, the buzz of auctions (buying and selling), the thrill of the chase, and the dopamine hit of the capture. I do not miss the buyer's remorse, the pressure to swing at pitches, and various other disappointments that come with the hobby.
As far as geeking out on coins, the cerebral aspect, I have found that you can dive into many disciplines and have the same enjoyment. I have also come to the conclusion that you can have a deep appreciation of objects without owning them.
Thanks for the observations. It’s good to see what perspective time provides.
I just gave my club presentation. The interesting thing about the experience is that while I owned many of the pieces I talked about, there was a significant amount I didn’t own, and in the end I found that owning the pieces didn’t matter much for the quality of the presentation or discussion.
I think we can segregate serious vs casual "collector" away from the money spent... I've seen numerous "collectors" of plastic that don't have an appreciation for the Numismatics that permeate the hobby once you've scratched the surface of "Coin Collecting". Just because someone has a fat wallet and can spend 4 or 5-figures on something for the portfolio doesn't translate into "serious collector" ...at least to me. I suppose I'm guilty of conflating "serious collector" more with the term "numismatist". I think a "casual collector" can also spend a lot of money (or "park" a lot of money) on coins as a stop-gap to spending/investing/whatever on other liquid assets. In this sense, I'd lump metals speculators buying MS62 Saints at bullion prices as "casual collectors" even though they'd likely be spending 10's of thousands of dollars...
So, with this in mind, I'd say it comes down to the number of books...
The "casual collector" has an old copy of the Red Book and maybe a copy of ANA Grading Standards. A "serious collector" has those... a copy of [fill in the blank]'s Attribution Guide... old auction catalogues... belongs to the local coin club... etc...
Collecting: Dansco 7070; Middle Date Large Cents (VF-AU); Box of 20;
@lkenefic said:
So, with this in mind, I'd say it comes down to the number of books...
The "casual collector" has an old copy of the Red Book and maybe a copy of ANA Grading Standards. A "serious collector" has those... a copy of [fill in the blank]'s Attribution Guide... old auction catalogues... belongs to the local coin club... etc...
This may have worked over 10 years ago, but with a growing amount of online resources, I don't think it's necessary any more.
For example, all the following are available now:
Online Resources:
PCGS CoinFacts
PCGS PhotoGrade
PCGS Census
NGC Census
Heritage archives
Stack's Bowers archives
Great Collections archives
Legend Auctions archives
WorthPoint eBay archives
As for clubs, we have the CU Forums!
I will say that I attended (and presented at) my first in-person club meeting recently. During my presentation, I had access to the Internet on my laptop and people were amazed at how quickly and easily I navigated the above resources to support our discussion and collaborative investigation in real-time.
A serious collector continually looks at his collection trying to determine how to make it better, what should be replaced and how to improve the collection with whatever financial means he/she can allocate to the collection. Also a serious collector will see every negative on the coins he/she owns, every scratch, black spot, dentil hit, rim dent, blotchy/ugly toning, etc and it will annoy the crap out of him/her. A serious collector continually evaluates whether they made a good decision buying the coin.
@lkenefic said:
So, with this in mind, I'd say it comes down to the number of books...
The "casual collector" has an old copy of the Red Book and maybe a copy of ANA Grading Standards. A "serious collector" has those... a copy of [fill in the blank]'s Attribution Guide... old auction catalogues... belongs to the local coin club... etc...
This may have worked over 10 years ago, but with a growing amount of online resources, I don't think it's necessary any more.
For example, all the following are available now:
Online Resources:
PCGS CoinFacts
PCGS PhotoGrade
PCGS Census
NGC Census
Heritage archives
Stack's Bowers archives
Great Collections archives
Legend Auctions archives
WorthPoint eBay archives
As for clubs, we have the CU Forums!
I will say that I attended (and presented at) my first in-person club meeting recently. During my presentation, I had access to the Internet on my laptop and people were amazed at how quickly and easily I navigated the above resources to support our discussion and collaborative investigation in real-time.
...well... THAT's true!! I guess I'm just an old-fart... Maybe replace the phrase "books in the library" with "Coin-related apps on the phone"...
Collecting: Dansco 7070; Middle Date Large Cents (VF-AU); Box of 20;
While there are obviously other ways to determine a serious collector, I'd say that anyone who has 5+ years of checking out this website on a (essentially) daily basis is a serious collector.
For 30+ years I collected coins. Around 4 years ago I got fed up with all the crap... doctoring, counterfeiting (and there are some very good ones out there), gradeflation, having to reslab older slabbed coins due to gradeflation, CAC, etc. etc. I haven't bought a coin since then (well, the 5 oz. Apollo 11 50th anniversary "coin", but that's not a coin IMO).
I still enjoy looking at coins, I still enjoy talking to other coin collectors about coins, I just don't buy them any more. I guess part of it also was the realization that I had "enough" coins. When you realize you have a Registry set, an A quality Dansco, a B quality Dansco and a C quality Dansco and plenty of extra slabbed and raw coins of MORE than one series/Type of coin a little lightbulb may start to flicker in the back of one's brain, that maybe you do have enough. While I could certainly sell a chunk of them, the vast majority I like the coin enough that unless I get offered stupid money for it, I'll keep it. I find that just being on these Boards (and a couple others) is enough to keep the juices flowing.
Also, as RYK has pointed out, there are other collecting fields out there too to get the occasional hit of adrenaline/dopamine.
Comments
Which one do you like better?
The "3" is more in line with my present values and worldview. I miss the camaraderie of collecting, traveling to shows, the buzz of auctions (buying and selling), the thrill of the chase, and the dopamine hit of the capture. I do not miss the buyer's remorse, the pressure to swing at pitches, and various other disappointments that come with the hobby.
As far as geeking out on coins, the cerebral aspect, I have found that you can dive into many disciplines and have the same enjoyment. I have also come to the conclusion that you can have a deep appreciation of objects without owning them.
Thanks for the observations. It’s good to see what perspective time provides.
I just gave my club presentation. The interesting thing about the experience is that while I owned many of the pieces I talked about, there was a significant amount I didn’t own, and in the end I found that owning the pieces didn’t matter much for the quality of the presentation or discussion.
I think we can segregate serious vs casual "collector" away from the money spent... I've seen numerous "collectors" of plastic that don't have an appreciation for the Numismatics that permeate the hobby once you've scratched the surface of "Coin Collecting". Just because someone has a fat wallet and can spend 4 or 5-figures on something for the portfolio doesn't translate into "serious collector" ...at least to me. I suppose I'm guilty of conflating "serious collector" more with the term "numismatist". I think a "casual collector" can also spend a lot of money (or "park" a lot of money) on coins as a stop-gap to spending/investing/whatever on other liquid assets. In this sense, I'd lump metals speculators buying MS62 Saints at bullion prices as "casual collectors" even though they'd likely be spending 10's of thousands of dollars...
So, with this in mind, I'd say it comes down to the number of books...
The "casual collector" has an old copy of the Red Book and maybe a copy of ANA Grading Standards. A "serious collector" has those... a copy of [fill in the blank]'s Attribution Guide... old auction catalogues... belongs to the local coin club... etc...
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
I don't mind, I don't recall having seen this one originally and have enjoyed reading it, old and new responses...
My YouTube Channel
This may have worked over 10 years ago, but with a growing amount of online resources, I don't think it's necessary any more.
For example, all the following are available now:
Online Resources:
As for clubs, we have the CU Forums!
I will say that I attended (and presented at) my first in-person club meeting recently. During my presentation, I had access to the Internet on my laptop and people were amazed at how quickly and easily I navigated the above resources to support our discussion and collaborative investigation in real-time.
A serious collector continually looks at his collection trying to determine how to make it better, what should be replaced and how to improve the collection with whatever financial means he/she can allocate to the collection. Also a serious collector will see every negative on the coins he/she owns, every scratch, black spot, dentil hit, rim dent, blotchy/ugly toning, etc and it will annoy the crap out of him/her. A serious collector continually evaluates whether they made a good decision buying the coin.
I consider myself to be a serious collector/ numismatist, albeit on a limited budget. Like I've read on here, a lot can be said by your library...
My YouTube Channel
...well... THAT's true!! I guess I'm just an old-fart... Maybe replace the phrase "books in the library" with "Coin-related apps on the phone"...
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
While there are obviously other ways to determine a serious collector, I'd say that anyone who has 5+ years of checking out this website on a (essentially) daily basis is a serious collector.
For 30+ years I collected coins. Around 4 years ago I got fed up with all the crap... doctoring, counterfeiting (and there are some very good ones out there), gradeflation, having to reslab older slabbed coins due to gradeflation, CAC, etc. etc. I haven't bought a coin since then (well, the 5 oz. Apollo 11 50th anniversary "coin", but that's not a coin IMO).
I still enjoy looking at coins, I still enjoy talking to other coin collectors about coins, I just don't buy them any more. I guess part of it also was the realization that I had "enough" coins. When you realize you have a Registry set, an A quality Dansco, a B quality Dansco and a C quality Dansco and plenty of extra slabbed and raw coins of MORE than one series/Type of coin a little lightbulb may start to flicker in the back of one's brain, that maybe you do have enough. While I could certainly sell a chunk of them, the vast majority I like the coin enough that unless I get offered stupid money for it, I'll keep it. I find that just being on these Boards (and a couple others) is enough to keep the juices flowing.
Also, as RYK has pointed out, there are other collecting fields out there too to get the occasional hit of adrenaline/dopamine.
U.S. Type Set
Gee, I guess all this talks puts me in a causal Collector + category....
WS