Fate of coin collections and their owners is oblivion --- unless.
RogerB
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ALL major (and minor) collections will be dispersed and their owners forgotten - except possibly for a name and general comment. Remembrance will follow only those collections whose owners utilize the coins to increase knowledge. Example: Quack doctor and thief Sheldon is remembered for the book he wrote on large cent varieties - a contribution to numismatic knowledge. Had the research not been published, we'd barely recognize the name.
My admonition to all the "great collectors" is to do something useful with the coins. Learn and publish what you have learned. (There is a superb specialized gold collection whose owner has spent years studying, examining and researching the coins. The resulting book will become the standard reference for the next century, and the collector will be remembered for that knowledge, not the coins themselves.)
Ownership is temporary. Knowledge is forever.
Comments
Roger who?
Doctor Sheldon's medical research was also quackery, so he was operating on many levels.
However, many (most) of the supposed 'name' collectors of the last twenty or thirty years will not be remembered. This is because they collected 'rare-in-this-condition' stuff and not actual rare coins.
I have already forgotten the name of the guy who collected Large Cents by variety, and his collection was sold about five years ago. in the whole scheme of things, these names bear no real importance on most of humanity and most of the Hobby. that is the way it is for 99.99999999% of all that have ever lived.
I don't care one iota about my name being remembered. I just love owning the coins and rubbing them with my greasy fingers.
I understand why you would have this point of view. However, when i think of coins i think of the great collectors and their collections---Eliasberg, Pittman, etc --I dont necessarily think of researchers. Their ownership of great coins and collections is forever.
I just do not care about provenance of coins.... I know others do, and that is fine... it is hobby and we can collect what we like. As far as remembering me... well, that is just another area I do not worry about.... Dead is dead... we care about such things now.... and when it is over, it is over. Cheers, RickO
RE: "However, when i think of coins i think of the great collectors and their collections---Eliasberg, Pittman, etc --I don't necessarily think of researchers. Their ownership of great coins and collections is forever."
That's understandable. There are those who want to acquire for the possession and temporary "status" it confers. There are others who do the same, but use their collections to also explore and expand what we know.
The greatest of 19th century numismatic authors had extensive reference and research collections which they used to expand everyone's knowledge. Many of these works are still used, even though the coins have flown in a thousand directions. Practically, that is a highly diminished option today, although a few specialists can do this if they wish.
Your comments are admirable to a point. And inasmuch as I would like to finish my thoughts on this, I will not mainly because it is simply next to impossible to make it happen. A collector has a better chance of being struck by lightning than gaining an audience with the right people that would be receptive to something new... Whether it be a discovery coin or something that would benefit numismatics that did not originate from the chosen source.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
One thing is what do you want to be known for. Sheldon is known for creating a grading scale but not having great coins. Judd, Pollock, Hibler and Kappen are known as reference creators but not for having great coins. Eliasberg, Pittman, Green, Norweb, Garrett, etc. may not be known for creating a grading system or a reference numbering system, but they are known for great coins.
I thought being "thisistheshow" was enough to create my legacy
In all seriousness, I will have to think about the OP, I am not sure how I see it.
@RogerB interesting thread.
I’ve noticed that lots of collectors put together and sell great exonumia sets without a lot of fanfare. I notice them when I see entire collections of like items going up for sale without a pedigree.
I’ve been thinking the easiest way for these collectors to create an impact is to have all their items slabbed by ATS with their pedigree, ideally with PhotoVision, and then sell someplace with a permanent archive, like Heritage. This might not net the greatest funds but it seems like a low level way to create a dent in the universe, or at least in the Internet. Of course, it would be great for PCGS to support pedigrees in the same way.
You left out those who acquire coins because they enjoy them.
I imagine that lots of folks here are leaving a pretty decent legacy, but in areas outside of numismatics.
Yep. That's equally valid and important to many.
I believe the average coin collector is somewhat private and secretive by nature.
Even our family members know very little about this side of us.
The challenge to learn, study and disperse some knowledge to the community is something to seriously consider.
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
Large institutional and national collectors suffer the same fate as private collections. Unless they are opened to careful examination and research by outside experts, they are no more useful than the world's finest seated dollar collection that no one ever can see.
It’s more important to be recognized in my career then my hobby after I get hit by that bus.
m
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......
Perhaps they're concerned about something like this...
"It's about advertising information collection. Everyone with a "smart phone" has been contributing to massive private data stores of personal information about you, your family, your friends -- everything. Further, they will grind, polish and sell anything - true or false - to make money off you. Experian and its unholy spawn are only the top. The heap gets much deeper."
What a cheerful thread for a Saturday night
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
For Roger, numismatics is his career.
Yes. I can realize and understand that. I’m sure its important to him.
m
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......
Zoins, I really appreciate your contributions to these boards, you encourage respectful and insightful reflection. And so upon reflection on your comment here, I have to completely disagree. This sounds like a social media barrage: slab your coins and splash your name on the insert, take great internet photos, sell them in a way all can search and find. What an internet sensation!
That's fine, but so what. What impact does that have on others, other than to create a venue for admiring a collection? What knowledge are you sharing? What else you got?
You mean the one that was on display multiple times with great pictures and write ups on the Registry?
Try as you might, no one is going to pay for your research...do it out of love and get over it.
I’m going with this is when the fight started
m
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......
Truer words were never spoken.
It's not a social media barrage (I didn't mention Twitter or Facebook!) and it's really no different than what is done for great coin collections. There are great token and medal collections out there that are unrecognized and difficult to trace from a pedigree perspective. I love tracking the history of significant coins and find that it's difficult to do for tokens and medals. This approach would be going a little way to making tokens and medals more equal to coins.
The knowledge that is being shared is great photos of tokens and medals, which don't exist for many, and a history of ownership for significant pieces, which is also hard to find except for a very few collectors.
Do you think what is done for coins is a bad thing? If not, why not do the same for tokens and medals?
At least both Sheldon and Eliasberg have Wikipedia pages:
I've seen some fantastic collections of tokens and medals. There are things in these that one can hardly imagine ever even existed and contain many thousands of items. Most of these were begun being put together in the 1940's and '50's. The irony is that frequently most of specimens were acquired for far far less than it would now cost to slab them.
The same thing is going on today and collectors have the internet and eBay to assist them. There are some tokens that get no respect so there's rarely going to be a bidding war even on the rarities. I do find it interesting that there are $100 Chuck-e-cheese tokens and $200 Mardi Gras doubloons.
Highly specialized token and medal collections might be more appropriate for slabbing. Obviously valuable collections like HK medals would be appropriate as well. Perhaps, the services could provide a discount for large submissions of this nature though the expertise required to grade and authenticate them is much more extensive. Perhaps the only way it can work is to tightly control the slabbing but include no the guarantee of authenticity.
To be honest, I missed your main point being about exonumia, so I now disagree less.
Sharing information such as photos and collections may be the easiest way for exonumia collectors to create an impact and fill a void. My point is that the most impact can be made taking it steps further- research, analysis, knowledge sharing.
Coins? I look upon them as secondary to the true long-term collectible out there . . . . . . HOLDERS !!!!
Drunner
(In this age of internet keyboard jockeys who live in mom's basement waiting to pounce without a shred of humor in their bones . . . . . . . this is intended in sarcasm.)
Drunner
I’m still waiting for the slab in a slab!
Leave the world in a better place than when you came into it through work. Coins are for enjoyment while we are here.
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Just spent a couple hours at the Albertina Museum in Vienna.
There were Austrian artist that I had never knew existed.
Some of the art was 400+ years old. A matter of taste, but much of it made Picasso and Monet look ordinary.
Coin collections dont display like paintings and I don't see the benefactors passing them onto museums.
If Hansen donated his collection how would the coin industry take it?
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The only thing that matters to me when I am gone is how my children remember me,,,,,,,,
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Interesting discussion with varied viewpoints.
It is up to the collection owner to decide what whether the collection is a forgotten name on a pile of other forgotten names, or a resource - however temporary - beyond themselves. Either is valid.
Most silver stackers and casual collectors have no idea who Eliasberg, Bass, Breen, or Newman are, nor do they care who they are. Recently, Rob Gronkowski's home was burglarized. It was revealed that Gronk is a coin collector because a pair of proof Morgans were among the stolen items. I've also read that Kareem Adul Jabbar collects Liberty Head double eagles. Maybe these athletes will make collecting popular to the masses?
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Kareem completed a stint as a member of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC), Jan 2017 - Apr 2018.
“Besides the OSS medal and 2019 America the Beautiful quarters, Mr. Abdul-Jabbar has influenced the ultimate designs of the 2018 World War I Armed Forces silver medals, the Filipino Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal, the 2019 and 2020 Native American $1 coins, and the 2019 Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coin program.”
https://coinweek.com/us-mint-news/kareem-abdul-jabbar-leaving-ccac/