[Poll] Why do you collect the coins you collect?

Griv · March 21, 2010 3:39AM

Everyone pretty much collects for different reasons and like myself, I would suspect that your collecting habits might change over the years. At this point in your collecting, what drives you to seek the coins you collect?

BillJones · March 21, 2010 3:56AM

History is the primary reason why I buy most of the coins I own. Once I've selected which issues I want, the beauty part kicks in.

Rarity is down the list for me. There are some common pieces that give me more pleasure than some rare pieces. The thing about "rare" is that it quite often drives up the prices, which is not a good thing.

crypto79 · March 21, 2010 3:57AM

I would say a little bit of every reason you listed. I am working on a complete Carson City short set for Trade dollars. The set is not easy in an original state but when you add that both Redbook varieties are off shoots of the CC mintmark and the transitional Hubs affect 1875 and 1876 years it adds up to a 10coin sub-set that provides quite a challenge. The draw of this set to me can be comprised by the tangible connection to the Wild West and the Orient. I have chosen to add two choicely chopped coins and one heavily to further mix up the set. This series is one of the last widely used silver dollars with a fascinating political and commercial history that represents a true value vs availability ratio in the high end circulated conditions. The fact that you add different hubs and chopmarks and the fact that and that the two mine errors that tie in are some of the strongest for their type in all of American coins.

AU58WALKERS · March 21, 2010 3:58AM

O.C.D.

ocon4008 · March 21, 2010 4:03AM

I am hoarding not collecting; as a hedge against inflation. That is why I can say give me your p.o.s., your dreck, your culls; I will melt them all when the spot is right.

MidLifeCrisis · March 21, 2010 4:05AM

History is by far the number one reason for me.

smokincoin · March 21, 2010 4:07AM

Several of the supplied choices interests me.

PerryHall · March 21, 2010 4:10AM

History with investment as a distant second. When I say investment, I consider quality rare coins to be an inflation hedge and a way to preserve wealth over the long haul.

ctf_error_coins · March 21, 2010 4:12AM

I collect for 5 of those reasons, but chose errors

the 5 reasons are Rarity, Beauty, Errors, Investment, Intrugue

Griv · March 21, 2010 4:17AM

I was hoping I would be able to have multiple choices but did not see an option. Sorry.

anablep · March 21, 2010 4:56AM

History of Morgans primarily, but there are secondary reasons as well such as availability in mint state and cheap prices on common dates in MS64-65...

yellowkid · March 21, 2010 6:02AM

<< <i>O.C.D. >>

:

ram1946 · March 21, 2010 6:10AM

For me, it's the great Americana portrayed in the early twentieth century coinage (Buffalos, SLQs, WLHs). These are the coins that were still readily available in circulation when I started collecting. The "modern" issues with the presidential themes really can't compare to these classic designs, espeically when they went clad.

FilthyBroke · March 21, 2010 6:17AM

Beauty and history, in whatever order I see fit at the moment.

LindeDad · March 21, 2010 6:50AM

Somebody has to love all that dreck that is out there.

Rollerman · March 21, 2010 7:13AM

I answered "no reason in particular", but would have preferred "no ONE reason in particular". I collect because of a compose of reasons such as you have listed. If I buy a particularly rare coin, I might enjoy it for that reason (rarity). If I pick up a common coin, but in superb condition, I might enjoy it primarily for that reason etc.
I might like a coin for it's toning, or that it's unusual, or that I needed an update to one of my sets. There are many reasons and sometimes they are blurred.
Best wishes,
Pete

DennisH · March 21, 2010 7:26AM

2, 5, 6, 7, 8 at least.

Unknown · March 21, 2010 7:41AM

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cladking · March 21, 2010 8:09AM

I'm pretty close to being a "natural" coin collector; I was born this way.

As a babe in arms I found the concept of money intriguing. And to me money was the
nice clean coins much moreso than the tattered pieces of paper that came and went.
The concept of coins that move randomly about while being exchanged for just what
a person needs astounds me still. The ends of this equation have always been of ex-
crutiating interest to me. What does a person need and what have people needed in
the past? How do the movements of these coins affect or reflect such needs? How do
people learn to value the ends of this equation? How do changes affect them and how
do these effect changes?

Back in 1957 it finally occurred to me that it was possible to actually collect coins. I had
used them limitedly but the concept of studying specific examples and then saving them
just hadn't crossed my mind. The idea that saving an example of the various types and
dates came pretty suddenly when my father offerred to let me have the coins from his
change jar that were new to me. I started a buffalo nickel collection immediately.

I have a deep fascination for all coins in all conditions and the strory they individually tell
but my favorite insights have always come from actively circulating coinage so you can
imagine my chagrin when it was announced that the dates would be frozen and the
coinage debased. It was about the end of the world as I knew it but fortunately the
blow was softened by the fact that it happened in slow motion. The buffalos with full
dates were pretty much gone by 1964 anyway and these was no real change to the
cents and nickels except the loss of mint marks. This was no change at all to the Philly
issues.

Unsurprisingly coins took a back seat to other more pressing interests when in puberty
but I did still pay a lot of attention to circulating coinage. It was still pretty boring in
the early '70's because almost all the coins were Unc or AU and it seemed most were
dated 1965 anyway. But by 1972 I was back looking at coins again and knew that no-
body was saving the clads. It was obvious they were being nearly completely overlooked.
RS Yeoman made statements to the effect that this was at the detriment of collectors
and there were a handfull of collectors of whom I was unaware in those days. There
were people like Pittman and Herb Hicks as well as a few others.

But I saw no good point in actually collecting them because you could always find an
example of everything in pocket change with little effort. The FED in those days "lost"
coins in storage and brand new coins all the way back to 1965 would get released. I
hadn't paid enough attention to the coins to notice that the reverses varied on them
and didn't spot this until the late-'70's. There was a story in the Chicago Tribune in
1972 that the mint was going to start rotating their coin stocks and I was suddenly in-
terested in putting together not only a set but extras as an investment. It was obvious
that if the coins diodn't sit in storage then all the coins would become worn.

Initially my interest was primarily as a sort of get rich quick scheme. Yeah, that worked
real good. But as the years went by the stories told by the coins got more interesting
and more detailed. The coins became more diverse. They became addictive.

In the late'70's I figured if US moderns were tough then perhaps the moderns of oth-
er countries were tough as well so I started investigating them and found they could
even be far tougher in some cases.

Tokens and medals were last. The tokens are another form of money used in a limited
time and space and from a larger perspective medals are the same. Coins had become
rather a known entity to me and I knew I could never learn everything about tokens and
medals so started collections of them as well. This is one area that I've given in to prac-
ticalities and have limited my intetrests to specialties rather than trying to collect every-
thing.

So that's it. I collect primarily modern US and world coins as well as tokens and medals.