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Collecting then or now?

The question: do you prefer the modern collecting environment or the one of 30+ years ago?

There are benefits to the modern coin collector in the electronic age that are obvious but how many of you pine for the old days and why or why not?

Probably a question that will eliminate younger collectors but I'd like to hear from some old hands.

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by inferiors. – Plato

Comments

  • TomBTomB Posts: 20,697 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The peaks and valleys on the bourse were higher and deeper, respectively, thirty years ago. If you weren't extremely well versed in what you were doing you stood little chance of coming out anywhere near even, unless you were incredibly lucky and were mentored by someone willing to share. Reference materials were also very hard to come by back then, as well. The TPGs have leveled the playing field significantly and have lowered the boundary to entry mightily, as well. Additionally, the internet has been a platform for all amounts of information and idea exchange, conversation and image sharing that could never have occurred otherwise.

    If my goal was to aggressively pick folks off then thirty years ago would be where I would want to be, but I prefer today.

    Thomas Bush Numismatics & Numismatic Photography

    In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson

    image
  • StorkStork Posts: 5,205 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I wasn't much of a collector back in the day. Given the lack of shops etc I sincerely doubt I could have developed much of an interest without the internet. If I was a collector I'd probably be picking away at a series or two of US coins. Doubt I'd ever have gotten to a show or anything like that, and surely would have been ripped off a lot.


  • laurentyvanlaurentyvan Posts: 4,243 ✭✭✭
    edited December 16, 2016 2:51PM

    12-13 years ago when I walked into a coin store I could browse through binders of coins and pick out some nice F to VF or AU. Now the nice stuff is in slabs at high prices and the binders mostly contain cleaned, polished and otherwise abused coins.
    The decent ones remaining seem to be (for the most part) minors; probably wouldn't pay to certify them...
    Maybe because I'm in the boonies...
    The store I used to do most of my buying from in Rochester NY has pretty much discontinued World coins. The owner grabs all the incoming quality coins for his collection.

    One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
    is that you end up being governed by inferiors. – Plato
  • SaorAlbaSaorAlba Posts: 7,466 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have to agree that then was a lot more of a crap shoot than now. While I think TPG's have helped with grading they have also afforded a whole new set of issues. I was a YN then, and while some oldtimers lament that the hobby is "dying" etc, I can remember occasional scorn for being picky as I was back then. But I also had establish relationships with a lot of local dealers that "looked out" for me and gave lots of good advice.

    In memory of my kitty Seryozha 14.2.1996 ~ 13.9.2016 and Shadow 3.4.2015 - 16.4.21
  • worldcoinguyworldcoinguy Posts: 2,999 ✭✭✭✭

    I like your thread topic. I echo many of the same reasons noted above, emphasizing the impact of:

    • internet forums to connect like minded people to share, learn, challenge, and observe other areas of the hobby
    • peer-to-peer exchanges such as ebay which have empowered collectors and created a more level playing field for buyers and sellers
  • bronzematbronzemat Posts: 2,602 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Lol, I just started collecting around 1986/87. It's when my step grandfather got me into coin collecting.

    I miss the coin shop I went to when I was collecting then, but it closed early in my teen years and thats when I drifted from the hobby. Got into it again in 2008 and have enjoyed it much more thanks to the net & sharing with others online.

  • SapyxSapyx Posts: 1,977 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Collecting was easier then, in terms of being cheaper. There wasn't the attitude that a tiny increase in grade meant a massive increase in price. Fewer collectors plus higher supply means that prices were generally lower for nice coins.

    Collecting was harder then, in terms of lack of availability of knowledge. I recall buying my first (mis-identified) Trapezuntine coin, back in the 1990s. I had no books on coins of Trebizond, and the information available even on who the emperors of Trebizond were, were very scarce; my copy of Encyclopedia Britannica made no mention of them. I had to go to the library at University where I work, just to find out basic information about the country, the rulers, and the coins they issued.

    These days, a collector in that same situation can simply Google it, or go to a coin forum and say "I've got this coin, can someone help me find out what it is"; within 24 hours someone's likely to have told them all they need to know about that coin, and more.

    Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.
    Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"

    Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD. B)
  • MrBreezeMrBreeze Posts: 1,035 ✭✭✭

    I used to be a US collector only. For the two sets that I put together, I would not have been able to do that in two lifetimes without the internet. Furthermore, I would never have become a world collector without the internet. The exposure is what led me down this rabbit hole, and I could not be more happy with where my collection and my collecting interests have gone. In addition, I get way more out of the hobby with the interaction on message boards and the lessons learned from fellow collectors and dealers. The history, knowledge and experience on this board alone could fill many many books. Twenty years ago, I probably would have given up the hobby because I would have exhausted all of the supply of coins that I wanted with the available coins at local shops and shows.

  • sylsyl Posts: 890 ✭✭✭

    I liked it much better 30, or even 50, years ago. Now TPG grades drive everything and people count on the TPG to tell them what they have. Most newbie to mid-experience collectors no longer know how to grade and that's a shame. To make it worse, most Newbies now think that you have top slab any coin that you buy .. what a waste of money. And miniscule increases in the grade #, as mentioned above, cause great leaps in price. I've also found that dealers are now afflicted with the same poor grading or country coin knowledge that they had before .. they count on the TPG's to do their work for them. Give me raw coins and no numbers in the grades any day.

  • coinkatcoinkat Posts: 22,721 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The answer may largely depend on what one collects. Nonetheless, I do believe TPG has helped more than it has hurt even though it has not continued to develop the progression of grading to make it what it should be.

    Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.

  • laurentyvanlaurentyvan Posts: 4,243 ✭✭✭
    edited December 17, 2016 2:43PM

    " Additionally, the internet has been a platform for all amounts of information and idea exchange, conversation and image sharing that could never have occurred otherwise."

    "I've also found that dealers are now afflicted with the same poor grading or country coin knowledge that they had before .. they count on the TPG's to do their work for them. Give me raw coins and no numbers in the grades any day."

    Both sentiments, I believe, are accurate.
    Like many things, time and "progress" are a double-edged sword.

    (Why can't I understand the quote function? It'll allow one quote but not two...?)

    One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
    is that you end up being governed by inferiors. – Plato
  • SYRACUSIANSYRACUSIAN Posts: 6,445 ✭✭✭✭

    The main difference for me between then and now, was the participation in international auctions. Only the very informed (and well off financially) collectors benefited from international auctions in the pre Internet era, by buying several very rare or conditionally rare coins at great prices and having fun in between them while doing it. Nowadays, people browse sixbid on a daily basis and for a reason: there's practically one or more interesting coins being auctioned somewhere on the planet ,almost on a daily basis.

    For the rest, the other members have covered me. Nice to see you back Laurent. We're practically ALL yeti nowadays, except for shroom. ;)

    Dimitri



    myEbay



    DPOTD 3
  • laurentyvanlaurentyvan Posts: 4,243 ✭✭✭

    Dimitri, I thought perhaps you had departed this "vale of tears"-it's a pleasure to see you posting;,
    however, your post has a melancholy air to it...

    Tell you what, let's have a reunion thread involving as many members as we can from the old days. We could PM them, write to them, send up smoke signals, whatever it takes.

    It would be fun for a day or two or three; catching up on news, sharing some new coins, perhaps even some kind of a door prize.

    I've got to brace LordM- he's in contact with everyone.

    I'm going to PM you.

    One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
    is that you end up being governed by inferiors. – Plato
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @laurentyvan said:

    I've got to brace LordM- he's in contact with everyone.

    Ah, but if only that were true. 'Tis not, alas.


    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • JCMhoustonJCMhouston Posts: 5,306 ✭✭✭

    For me at least, the ability to find rare pieces more than offsets any yearnings for the good old days. 30 years ago when I started collecting world coins I wouldn't have been able to know about any of the rarities when they became available.

  • StorkStork Posts: 5,205 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @JCMhouston said:
    For me at least, the ability to find rare pieces more than offsets any yearnings for the good old days. 30 years ago when I started collecting world coins I wouldn't have been able to know about any of the rarities when they became available.

    I wouldn't even have known about them to collect them. I never could have remotely approached the type of Japanese and Albanian collections I've got going. I may not have even known what Albania was. The flip side is my short attention span gets the better of me... instead of the movie "Squirrel", it's more like "Ancient" and off I go to buy a very lovely coin.

    https://youtu.be/SSUXXzN26zg

    Maybe would have stuck to bullion and US mint stuff. If I was lucky it'd be a 7070, perhaps a Buffalo album and shopping by mail order, with all the risk that entails. Assuming I ever started past the bullion accumulation stage. I mean, that's how my adult collecting started. I wanted to buy some bullion (the lows of the late 1990s/early 2000s) and eventually when living in Japan decided I wanted a Japanese gold coin and started collecting my pocket change. Add eBay, the internet and a fortuitous online (and eventually real) meeting with Roy/Satootoko my coin collecting was launched. Someone posted here a medal with an 'ugly eagle' that I liked, and eventually bought. That launched my medal collection. I NEVER would have gotten into those. On the other hand I'm guessing I'd have a lot more money in the bank...

    The exposure, information, education and availability is tremendous in the modern era. The TPG allows an isolated collector some degree of 'protection' from remote buying. Oddly enough though, at one point in that late 1990-ish era I did an uninformed online purchase of a graded Saint. Stuck it in an SDB and developed a bit of education and increased interest. Looked at it 5+ years later and was astonished/relieved (once I knew something) that it was an old green label PCGS and TOTALLY legit. However, when I bought it I didn't know enough to have not been scammed.


  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 21, 2016 11:51PM

    I loved that movie. For some reason, every time someone breaks wind in our household, everyone else says, "SQUIRREL!"

    What that has to do with the movie, or in fact this thread, I don't know. Sorry. I digress. Again.

    To answer the original premise of this thread, I prefer the collecting environment of today, because of the advantages the Internet hath wrought. Before, all of us who lived in numismatic backwaters were islands unto ourselves. Now we can all gather in virtual places like this. These forums made me what I am as a collector.

    Do I have any positive reminiscences about the Old Days? Sure, a few. But not many. Buying mailorder, sight unseen? I wouldn't go back to those days again for a bag of Spanish colonial gold.


    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • laurentyvanlaurentyvan Posts: 4,243 ✭✭✭

    "I wouldn't go back to those days again for a bag of Spanish colonial gold."

    If you had that big bag of Spanish gold, chances are you wouldn't be living in (as you put it) a numismatic backwater. :p

    One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
    is that you end up being governed by inferiors. – Plato
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