What trait do you consider to be your single greatest strength as a collector?
MFeld
Posts: 15,939 ✭✭✭✭✭
And to balance things out a bit, what trait do you consider to be your single greatest weakness?
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
3
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Strength: Wanting to learn as much as I can.
Weakness: Wanting everything in the coin store.
My strength is having strong hands. I have kept practically every error coin purchased since 1979.
My weakness is having strong hands as I miss out on shopping opportunities due to limited budget that can only get spent once.
Strength: With my advanced age (90+) I have had the wonderful experience of handling, viewing, purchasing and selling many coins both pre slabbing and post.
Weakness: Perhaps ignoring labels, stickers, etc. and concentrating on the coin.
Weakness: I treat this purely as a hobby and often over spend on individual coins just because "I have to have them" even though I know if I sell, I'll lose quite a bit.
Strength: sitting and learning and watching and not buying a lot.
Weakness: it's hard to find a series I truly like
My greatest strength is researching the heck out of a given series of coins or paper money that I plan to collect. In addition, I am grateful to those that mentored me when I was a beginner and now I am willing to help and teach those people that I know in their current endeavor.
My weakness is trying to keep my hands in my pockets so I don’t buy something I don’t particularly need during a dry spell.
Thought about this one for a moment. I have over 50 years of collecting experience to look back on. I will just make a few statements i feel are true about me and coin collecting.
I think my single greatest strength is that I put in over 30 years studying, collecting, analyzing, spending on, learning grading skills etc. about Seated coins. I don't do much with uncirculated coins but I am extremely confident when it comes to any circulated Seated material. (It is an obvious flip side that I am at a disadvantage with many other coins; some skills transfer but I am often ignorant about pertinent coin information).
I think my single greatest weakness is I just never seem to finish anything. Ever. I once traded a 30/30 Winchester rifle and a sum of money (don't remember amount) for a complete MS set of Lincoln cents 1909 to 1958. The only coin missing was the 1909-S VDB. Seriously, I only needed 1 coin but ended up selling the set 5 or 6 years later; 1 coin short of complete. It may be a character weakness or something. not just coins. james
Relentless
Impatient
Strength would be 70+ years as a collector.
Weakness would be impatience.
Strength: Acknowledging that my knowledge is limited and my grading skills are just okay.
Weakness: Impulsive buying.
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.
I am a decent grader and can apply that to the multiple standards employed by different services and aggregate that to the total package of value, opportunity and liquidity. I know what I am looking at for most every us coin.
My biggest weakness is the more I analyze the mechanics of the fiscal realities, it impedes my greatest sense of joy ascertained from the Hobby which is the stoking of the fire in my imagination when it becomes immersed with tangible artifacts of begone times. They are like mini time travel capsules. But the more I play the value game, it makes the item more a piece of the present than one of the past.
Even the stupid run up in metals is stealing the charm out of an old roll of halves spent near slick during the Great Depression
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
1) a willingness to learn
2) not taking the cotton outta my ears and putting it in my mouth (at times)
I thought about this a little before I read the responses.
Strength: My ability to evolve. This has helped me adapt to the changing landscape of the hobby and my collections over what is now going on a 40 year on-and-off again love affair.
Weakness: My ability to evolve. Sometimes I am not the fastest to catch on to the truths in front of me. All through my collecting experiences, even today.
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
Strength: Attention to details. It's served me well in my career as a scientist too...
Weakness: Not keeping focus and getting divert.... SQUIRREL!
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
Strength….listening to the knowledge and experience here…..
Weakness….I’m a sucker for nice coins…and bought way too much ‘garbage’ stuff that I now finding myself having to get rid of to buy nicer coins…
Took me years to finally achieve my strongest trait and that is to listen, evaluate and act accordingly.
My weakest trait has always been jumping before truly studying the terrain. Hopefully, thst has been subdued by the stronger trait.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Strengths - willing to spend more time than I should on this hobby, pretty solid at identifying and getting my hands on raw coins that do well with TPGs.
Weaknesses - I spend way too much time on this hobby, and I buy too many raw coins for $50 that are worth $100 after I spend $45-$50 all in after grading and shipping both ways
Knowing what I don't know.
What I don't know.
If we were all the same, the world would be an incredibly boring place.
Tommy
Being broke and looking for deals
Strength, I love to thoroughly study and research. Weakness, I have trouble focusing on one area of numismatics, I jump around too much.
Strength, 40+ years of study have given me a decent eye, especially for early copper. Weakness, having less than the 200 or 300 million I NEED to buy all the coins I want.
My strength is all the friends I have made in the hobby.
My weakness is not doing the research before reaching for my wallet.
S: I think I have a good eye for eye appealing coins
W: impatience, easily diverted with shiny objects, could be a better grader, and........ I don't want to continue since I'll just embarrass myself.
"She comes out of the sun in a silk dress,
running like a water color in the rain...."
Strengths: Focus on my collecting niche and developing my grading skill within my collecting area. Also, a great dealer relationship that provides access to a high volume of unsearched sets in my niche.
Weaknesses: Deteriorating vision with age is making it increasingly difficult to make accurate grade assessments prior to purchase. I'm also too willing to submit marginal coins that are on the border of CAM/DCAM designations.
S: Being really OCD -- helps me finish sets.
W: always hitting that damn cut button too soon instead of bid.
Strength—I’m a dreck magnet, my neighbors and friends give me their hoards when they learn that I collect—I’m one of the lizards around here that can still work, and my bride and I run a lot of errands.
Weakness—I give too much away. I detest negotiations.
Strength: curiosity
Weakness: impatience
I'm willing to do alot of research which includes reading books, auction results, commentaries, forum posts
, etc.
Since I'm not in the market all the time (prohibitive cost), this gives me plenty of downtime to do research and be a careful, disciplined buyer. It came in handy at FUN 2026 when a bunch of my #1 targets disappeared (or the dealers did
).
I apply the same methodology in my investment career: thorough analysis, probably overkill by reading 5 or 10 or even 15 research pieces which are 99% duplicative. But you look for the 1% that is new that might make the difference down the line...the 1 thing that 1 person notes that the market isn't aware of.
I try and do the same thing with finalizing a coin choice.
Good question Mark
@safari_dude I couldn't have put it any better myself.
Im with you on this. I have made some good grades but I have also been burned a few times due to impatience.
Getting better though.
Student of numismatics and collector of Morgan dollars
Successful BST transactions with: Namvet Justindan Mattniss RWW olah_in_MA
Dantheman984 Toyz4geo SurfinxHI greencopper RWW bigjpst bretsan MWallace logger7 JWP
Strength: focus
Weakness: budget and my habit of making bad decisions
Llamas and alpacas are camels. They aren't like camels, or related. They are camels. When was anyone going to tell me this?! How long had Bill Nye been holding out on us?
Strength : Not sure if I have one. Maybe, MAYBE dedication to upgrading my sets to be the best I can afford.
Weakness : Lack of patience. Which leads to my not very smart way of collecting. I've always heard " _buy the __best you can afford_ " Due to my weakness, I didn't do that. My particular series I focus on, I wanted a complete set in ms65. Completed it, then realized several dates were available in ms66 for not alot more money. So, completed a set in ms66. Well, take a guess...............I now have a complete set in ms65, ms66 AND ms67 with quite a few ms67+ coins. Still have them all. Not the smartest way to collect, and quite expensive.
strength- a good measure of common sense.
"Great spirits have always been met with violent opposition by mediocre minds."
Albert Einstein
Strength- my humility
Weakness- my incredible intellect and good looks intimidates people making them nervous to approach which robs them of the pleasure of my company
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
Wrong forum😉
Thank you for the LOL that provided - very well done!
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Strength - lots of money
Weakness - lots of money.
Greatest Strength: My access to @MFeld advice
Greatest Weakness: Not using the above more often
Tim
Strength: It’s close between my winning personality and analytical, thoughtful writing style as seen over the years on the forums over a multitude of topics. 🤣 (I can’t even type that with a straight face).
Weakness: My blunt prose is sometimes misunderstood in terms of my intent.
strength...Stubbornness. When I see "that coin" I gotta get it regardless of cost.
weakness...See above.
I gots me plenty of weaknesses but I am very fast. If there's a Gem on the bourse floor or the coin shop the only question is whether I'll sniff it out or find it by scanning every coin but I won't leave without it. The more underpriced it is the stronger and more pleasant the odor.
Strength: I have a pretty kind budget.
Weakness: There still is a budget.
First to trade my weaknesses for yours!
"She comes out of the sun in a silk dress,
running like a water color in the rain...."
The forum could always help you out with that. 🤣
Time for a gem bust half giveaway. 😈
strength: encouraging new and existing collectors further into the hobby
weakness: time management
Custom album maker and numismatic photographer.
Need a personalized album made? Design it on the website below and I'll build it for you.
https://www.donahuenumismatics.com/.
Strength -- I've gotten pretty good at only buying coins I'm dead-on certain are excellent choices for my lifetime collection, at prices that feel prudent and responsible. I've averaged just three a year since 2014.
Weakness -- It's become a little more like any other part of financial planning and a little less like a fun, goofy hobby, and sometimes I'm not sure why I do it.
Attention to detail would be my strength.
Attention to toning would be my weakness.
BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore, Nickpatton, Namvet69,...
Strength: relentless in achieving goals
Weakness: over stretching the budget for quality coins
USAF (Ret.) 1985 - 2005. E-4B Aircraft Maint. Crew Chief and Contracting Officer.
✓ Everyman Mint State Carson City Morgan Dollars (1878 – 1893)
✓ Morgan Dollar GSA Hoard (1878 – 1891)
✓ Everyman Mint State Lincoln Cents (1909 – 1958)
✓ Matte Proof Toned Lincoln Cents (1909 – 1916)
Greatest strength ? Discipline. Wouldn't pay up very much.
Greatest weakness Discipline. I should have bought more.
That I enjoy it... my greatest weakness is I trust coin dealers
Greatest strength - Discovering coins that are truly rare beyond key dates and finding well struck versions.
Greatest weakness - Not having a long term horizon because of my age.