Telling a story with your collection
Boosibri
Posts: 12,421 ✭✭✭✭✭
As my collection has advanced, the notion of telling a story with the collection has become an increasing theme as I think about which coins to buy. When I miss a coin, the feeling is less about simply missing a coin that I wanted, and more the feeling of an incomplete story.
I was targeting the 1819 Chile Portales pattern for my Chile set, which has become quite advanced. The coin itself is a rare (5 known) pattern of the volcano peso. Perhaps appearing more of a medal than a coin, it is on the fringes of the mainstream for most and never central to a crown set of Chile.
For me, it felt essential to own an example, with the continuation of the story of the crown developments in Chile, from the royal issues, the Chiloe peso as an necessity issue from the last hold outs of the royalists, to the Volcano designs in Santiago and Coquimbo, to the condor designs with the patterns from Longacre as a start and the various interpretations following,.
I don't really regret not chasing the coin to $72K (the next bid), but I will miss the completeness (for a time) of the narrative. There is a coin in Chile which is from the Fernand David/Santiago collection which I hope to acquire in place of the Eternal coin.
Anyways, does anyone else approach collecting in this manner?
Here are a few:
Comments
I wrote several books about my Canada large cent collection. Each told various aspects of the coinage history, the coinage manufacturing processes at the Royal Mint and Heaton, and the matrix and punch progressions through the Victorian years. The books also included die catalogues for the dates 1858, 1859 W9/8, 1890-H, 1891, and 1892.
Telling the Victorian cent story for the circulating cents was not super expensive, primarily because I started before many of the varieties became popular and expensive. That changed when I went after the trials and specimens, which in the end I judged to be an important part of the story.
http://www.victoriancent.com
I do, not in exactly the same way though. I’ve been putting together a set over the years that I call “story coins.” That set relies on significant moments in history and the coins that are associated with them: Shipwrecks, historic figures, years where something important happened.
-It includes the first “coin” minted.
-A coin minted in the same place and time that one of the “wonders of the world” was built.
-The first coin of the US
-The first coin minted for the new world.
-The coin circulating during the reign of “Dracula.”
-A coin from a man that went down in a shipwreck (maybe the only coins directly connected to a shipwreck passenger.)
-A widows mite
-The coin of Pontius Pilate
And many more.
I'm BACK!!! Used to be Billet7 on the old forum.
Love your approach and the coins you've chosen. My approach is about representing every known variety struck at the Mexico City mint across the reigns of Charles III, Charles IV, and Ferdinand VII. And hopefully discover a few more along the way. Ideally having certain individual qualities (originality, luster, toning) where I can. Understanding that in some cases that may not be entirely possible.
8 Reales Madness Collection
Instagram: 8 Reales Numis
@Boosibri - your Chile set is amazing. I thought you might be going after that pattern, was wondering if you also considered the 1822 Valdivia issue as potentially part of the story? The auction featured the Medina plate coin, which would have been a match with your Chiloe peso.
Bosox"s books on the Provincial Canadian large cents are a MUST for any Canadian collector. Never has any work ever portrayed the 1858 and 1859 coinages the way that Bosox has.
Thank you!
I was very tempted on the Valdivia and I do want one, but there are nicer ones out there.
Latin American Collection
All collectors create a story or narrative to fit their collection. It's how they justify spending lots of money and effort on little slices of metal that most people don't care about.
I collect contemporary counterfeits of the coins that I collect. Not just because I like them, but because they are an important part of the story.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
That’s an awesome and beautiful collection that tells the story of maybe four generations. Wow!
I think we all evolve (mature?) as collectors. Are we accumulating, collecting, or building something that goes a little deeper?
In an auction, you (probably) don’t know the other bidder. You could have bid a coin up another six increments and still lost. Means matter. But unless that is “the coin”, save your powder. Collections, like careers and life experiences, are built over decades. I’d hate to stretch now only to find the coin I really want just a few months later.
@Boosibri I have a lot of appreciation for your method of collecting. Especially since we all get to follow along and learn from your write-ups as you research and flesh out the stories behind each design.
My own collection serves as more of a visual "story" than a coherent historical one. After years of collecting date sets and varieties, I wanted a set that would showcase beautiful and historical designs without much regard for chronology, rarity or size. The collection of 1,2 and 8E along with 2R coins is just fun for me to look at and appreciate how these beautiful designs came to exist under some of the most trying conditions imaginable.