Confessions of a Coin Collector
uscoinguy
Posts: 150 ✭✭✭
Not in any particular order- which ones apply to you? Or add your own
1. Although I feel I am a sociable person I find it a contradiction that I have a loner hobby
2. Unlike other hobbies like shooting or classic cars I can’t share my coins with others except on an anonymous registry
3. No one but me knows the true value of my collection-as in money spent
4. The few people who know I collect coins have no interest in coin collecting or my coins
5. I have never talked to or read about anybody that collects coins the exact same way I do
6. Even if I don’t make a post to this site- reading it helps maintain my enthusiasm for the hobby
7. Reading this site or other coin articles too late at night makes it hard to sleep- my mind is now buzzing about coins 
8. There are some coins I really want for my collection but I will probably never be able to afford them. But I have thought about ways to get them- lottery win, inheritance, selling off a significant part of my collection, finding a bag of money on the side of the road
9. No matter how well my coins are secured I still have moments of worry about them
10. The fact that my best coins are in a safe deposit box and not easily accessed can at times be very annoying
11. I wish I had a walk-in vault where I could have all my coin storage boxes and albums on shelves for easy access
12. More than once on the Heritage website I have hit the bid button as the seconds wind down- then look at the total price with the juice and shipping and say crap- I overpaid
13. More than once I have had to upgrade some coins in my sets because I decided to go to higher grades for the set- or later on they do not match the look/quality of the other coins I have since purchased for that set
Comments
So yesterday as my girlfriend and I were heading out for the day, she was talking loudly about what our plans were. I wanted to stop at a local shop to check inventory and she was all like, we are doing this, we're doing that, the coin shop....I said shhhh, I don't want everyone in the world around us hearing what I have.
It is kind of a loner hobby at times.
In this world of fast paced life, having a loner hobby and taking the time to sit down, read a book on coins, study new coins I purchase or fill up a dansco album is quiet time for me. It is relaxing and my form of meditation. It is healthy to have something like that in your life.
I have other hobbies and a lot of friends and family. They take up my time, money and energy, so I'm fine having "coin friends" online and dealers and collectors I'm friends with that are 40-50 years older than me. HAHA
With this hobby I learn a lot about history, I own relics that were used hundreds of years ago and have intrinsic value today and will have intrinsic value in 50 years. I can shoot at the range and spend $20 in ammo that I will never get back in $20 minutes (which I do) or I can sit in my office and put a nice collection together that I will enjoy and hopefully will appreciate in value.
At times, I feel very excited about sharing what I have and what I know but my inner self says that the fewer people that know, the better off I'll be.
And yes, we can post on a public Forum with a ton of anonymity which is why, I expect, that most of us do.
The name is LEE!
I don't really understand the loner hobby label. I have dozens of friends who have a shared interest in coins and history. Of course I had to get off the couch and join numismatic / history groups to seek them out. These groups are out there and would be more than happy to have a fellow collector join in the fun. But if you want to be loner and not share your coins with others that is OK too.
Joseph J. Singleton - First Superintendent of the U.S. Branch Mint in Dahlonega Georgia
Findley Ridge Collection
About Findley Ridge
I feel oppressed in a way. No one wants to hear about my hobby but you guys around here. I have tried to get a few of my friends to go to the coin shop with me. I couldn't drag them in. I feel really alone. If I told most my friends how much time and money I spent in this hobby, they would probably unfriend me. So I keep the excitement to myself. I dream I had a good friend as enthusiastic about coins as I am.
Every time
I agree with at least half of the statements in the o.p.
It could be a lot more sociable, with people riding together to club meetings and shows, the only thing standing in the way are divergent schedules, circles of comfort and self-centered fears. I'm not by nature a "loner", but a scoutmaster once branded me such after I called him a drunk, he commanded the scouts to throw me down a cliff. I never told my parents. Women probably hold solutions to better social skills because they are good at it.
I met some cool people that I would never have met if I didn't start collecting coins again.
http://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2017/07/curious-collector-finds-new-20-cent-coin-die-variety.html
I supposed many human interests have the same consequents, but much of my amazement and pleasure from coin collecting has been the friendships I've made with people of wide-ranging circumstances otherwise, whom I otherwise would never have known and enjoyed.
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
Some apply... at least partially.... I certainly like the 'walk in vault' idea.... I have a huge safe, but the walk in with shelves would allow for the coins to be placed almost library-like. Well, if I build another house, I will do that. Meanwhile.... Yes, there are some coins I still want... Coins are for my alone time... so, although not a loner, everyone needs a bit of solitude, and it beats watching paint dry.
And THEN I can go send $40 of ammunition downrange... 
... with friends. Cheers, RickO
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I found that most of your list fits with my point of view as well. Thank goodness for forums like these, especially when you don't live in or around a big city or area with major coin shows.
I fit some of your descriptions at different times in my life.
When I was a kid everyone knew about me and my coin hobby. If they didn't know, I made a point of telling them.
I spent most of my twenties and thirties as a loner. There are few people where I live and even fewer who care about coin collecting.
Up until last November I shared my coin collection only with my dog Cinnamon. By some odd twist of fate we shared the exact same views and collected the exact same series of coins for eighteen years.
Since her death I have joined several coin forums. I still miss her greatly and I am only moderately happy with the coin forums. I liked it better when someone ALWAYS thought I was right about everything.
Working in a B&M, being a member of a few coin clubs and being here, I actually have a more than average amount of friends with the same interests in coins.
My YouTube Channel
You are a fortunate man.
ANA LM
USAF Retired — 34 years of active military service! 🇺🇸
I've not bid at Heritage but in my experience, each time I kicked myself for paying too much for a coin because the price was firm, I came out smelling like a rose at a later date - in the 1980's often in only two weeks!
Some of these sound like DSM V diagnostic criteria.
My three local three dealers died within 2 years of each other. I guess I'm bad luck.