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I realized I collect just to scratch an itch

JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
I travel excessively and I work sick hours and my free time is precious

Therefore:

Collecting is just a giant distraction for me for me. A welcome one

I'm enamored by the beauty of coins more then the history. When they meet it's a bonus
I don't sweat the financial aspects of it
I enjoy the hunt
I don't blink
I collect many things
I enjoy socializing at shows
I don't care if I ever complete a set
I could see myself taking a long break from coin collecting at any given time
I like what I have put together so far coin wise

MJ
Walker Proof Digital Album
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......

Comments

  • This content has been removed.
  • MidLifeCrisisMidLifeCrisis Posts: 10,550 ✭✭✭✭✭
    image

    I want to be like you when I grow up! image
  • SwampboySwampboy Posts: 13,094 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I travel excessively and I work sick hours and my free time is precious

    Therefore:

    Collecting is just a giant distraction for me for me. A welcome one

    I'm enamored by the beauty of coins more then the history. When they meet it's a bonus
    I don't sweat the financial aspects of it
    I enjoy the hunt
    I don't blink
    I collect many things
    I enjoy socializing at shows
    I don't care if I ever complete a set
    I could see myself taking a long break from coin collecting at any given time
    I like what I have put together so far coin wise

    MJ >>



    I agree with every point although the working sick hours phase of my life is in my rearview mirror.

    image

    "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso

  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,537 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I like that. It's reason to celebrate.
  • I take antibiotics to alleviate/scratch an itch from time to time, not quite the same thing but the journey to get to that point is more enjoyable.

    As for coin collecting I care very much about the history and completion of a set and less about the aesthetics although the people I meet make or break the hobby for me.
  • JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
    lousy edit. I call for a mulligan below.

    MJ
    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,537 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I care about completion, too. Money doesn't get in the way of that. Empty holes and pockets do. image
  • MrHalfDimeMrHalfDime Posts: 3,440 ✭✭✭✭
    "I travel excessively and I work sick hours and my free time is precious

    Therefore:

    Collecting is just a giant distraction for me for me. A welcome one

    I'm enamored by the beauty of coins more then the history. When they meet it's a bonus
    I don't sweat the financial aspects of it
    I enjoy the hunt
    I don't blink
    I collect many things
    I enjoy socializing at shows
    I don't care if I ever complete a set
    I could see myself taking a long break from coin collecting at any given time
    I like what I have put together so far coin wise"

    A very interesting collecting philosophy, and one in which we share a great deal. Perhaps the areas where we don't agree would be:

    "I'm enamored by the beauty of coins more then the history"
    I cannot separate the history from the coins, and it is that very history which brought me to collect the coins.

    "I don't care if I ever complete a set"
    Perhaps it is the OCD in me, but completion of a set is always an implicit goal whenever I begin a series.

    "I could see myself taking a long break from coin collecting at any given time"
    This is where our collecting philosophies differ greatly. I have been seriously collecting for over thirty years, and I cannot see myself ever stopping. Neither divorce nor open heart surgery were enough to make me take a break from collecting.
    They that can give up essential Liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither Liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin
  • RYKRYK Posts: 35,799 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I travel excessively and I work sick hours and my free time is precious

    Therefore:

    Collecting is just a giant distraction for me for me. A welcome one

    I'm enamored by the beauty of coins more then the history. When they meet it's a bonus
    I don't sweat the financial aspects of it
    I enjoy the hunt
    I don't blink
    I collect many things
    I enjoy socializing at shows
    I don't care if I ever complete a set
    I could see myself taking a long break from coin collecting at any given time
    I like what I have put together so far coin wise

    MJ >>


    I agree with all of the above, except, again, the history component. I would flip the first statement (sort of). I am a big believer of the "history in your hands" aspect of coin collection. Obviously, I care somewhat less about the beauty of my coins. image
  • MilkmanDanMilkmanDan Posts: 3,761 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I'm enamored by the beauty of coins more then the history. When they meet it's a bonus
    >>


    I like this, although I personally switch beauty with history:
    I'm enamored by the history of coins more than the beauty. When they meet it's a bonus.
  • JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I think the history part of coin collecting is secondary for me because I didn't collect coins as a kid or even as a young adult. I collect other things that satisfy my pure history itch. As far as the set completion thing goes I am a work in progress kind of guy. I might finish some sets accidentally.

    I also think I don't care as much about the completion aspect is because some of the type or date/mint marks don't come like I want them at all or often.I'd rather be without. Being that I never filled or had an album as a kid I don't have that fill the hole or completion aspect of the coin collecting bug. Believe I understood those that do and I totally get it.

    Mr HD- I also think why the history part of collecting is secondary to me is that I was drawn to the beauty of specific coins first not that long ago. This was my hook. I also have OCD but obsess on the quest foremost. I also think why I could step away at any given time is that I haven't been collecting coins all off my life or even a significant portion of it. There are other things if push came to shove that I could simply walk away or take a huge time out without impacting me much. I love coin collecting in the today. It's a pleasant distraction today.

    MJ
    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
  • KoveKove Posts: 2,038 ✭✭✭✭
    Some very good points. Being that our collecting interests overlap in some areas, I know where you're coming from.

    Most of my collection is early 20th century, fairly recent, so the history is secondary to the beauty. I have many early commemoratives, made for collectors, so I don't often think about who held them. But many of the designs are amazing. However, with some of my other coins, when it comes to holding a coin with a 1600s or 1700s date on it, I do get caught up in the history.

    Building a date/mintmark set can be both rewarding and painful. Except for the desire to know I completed it, I would normally never want 15 Arkansas halves, 3 Cincinnati's, or even 2 Alabama halves. I've got 140 out of the 144 silver commems, and once complete, I honestly don't think I'll ever feel the need to complete a full set again. But the challenge of hunting for the last few coins is exciting. And finding a worthy upgrade is still a thrill.
  • jmski52jmski52 Posts: 23,188 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I agree with your thought processes on coins. I only have two collections in process, but there are other coins I find that I simply can't live without and they have no common thread other than the fact that I like them.

    +1
    Q: Are You Printing Money? Bernanke: Not Literally

    I knew it would happen.

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