Why do you collect coins?

I suppose the vast majority of people here are "wheeler dealers" who
make a living at trading/exchanging or selling coins either from a shop
or internet. I'm sure that in and of itself is reason enough though I'm
sure these people have a love for the hobby.

But what about those of you who collect just for the sake of
collecting? Why do you collect coins? I imagine at a basic level it's
going to boil down to some feeling you get from looking at the coins,
am I correct? Describe those feelings, the feelings why you're a coin
collector.

Thanks.

On 8 May 2006 02:37:56 -0700, "The Space Boss"
wrote:

I suppose the vast majority of people here are "wheeler dealers" who
make a living at trading/exchanging or selling coins either from a shop
or internet. I'm sure that in and of itself is reason enough though I'm
sure these people have a love for the hobby.

But what about those of you who collect just for the sake of
collecting? Why do you collect coins? I imagine at a basic level it's
going to boil down to some feeling you get from looking at the coins,
am I correct? Describe those feelings, the feelings why you're a coin
collector.

Thanks.

This topic is an evergreen ... here you go:

http://tinyurl.com/hm2sl

This takes you to a thread on RCC started by Reid Goldsborough about
1-1/2 years ago.

You raise some interesting questions. I suppose for some people, the
fact that they collect coins is merely coincidental. They might
collect anything, but for some reason they have latched onto coins;
and, somewhat like a pitbull, have trouble letting go.

For others, there is an element of thrill in the hunt for rare and
otherwise interesting coins (and getting them at a bargain). Whether
it is the hunt itself, or the actual coin pursued which provides the
satisfaction, is somewhat of a gray area.

And then there are those who are what I would call "occasional
collectors". Maybe someone gave them a nice coin sometime ago, and
then they pick up a similar coin once in a while that reminds them of
the person who gave them their first coin(s).

Then there are people who look at coins as an interesting and somewhat
unconventional way of investing money with the aim of turning a profit
later by selling them at some point. Real investors are able to do
this objectively, but if there is even a tiny little spark of a
collector in an otherwise cold-hearted investor, look out -- because
it can become extremely difficult to sell a coin once you have fallen
in love with it -- and that happens a lot!

As for myself, I'm still trying to figure out exactly to which of
these categories I belong ... probably to all!

--
Bob Hairgrove

[Default] On 8 May 2006 02:37:56 -0700, "The Space Boss"
climbed to the top of the minaret and sang out:

I suppose the vast majority of people here are "wheeler dealers" who
make a living at trading/exchanging or selling coins either from a shop
or internet. I'm sure that in and of itself is reason enough though I'm
sure these people have a love for the hobby.

But what about those of you who collect just for the sake of
collecting? Why do you collect coins? I imagine at a basic level it's
going to boil down to some feeling you get from looking at the coins,
am I correct? Describe those feelings, the feelings why you're a coin
collector.

Thanks.


back in 1975 I ordered a set of 10 foreign coins for 10 cents from
Littleton coin co, and I remember thinking, "I think I'll try
collection coins". I was instantly hooked.
I collect because I like coins. I don't really care about the value
(although I do have about 6 coins in the over-$100 range, and one in
the over-$1000 range)

In a recent message "The Space Boss" wrote:

I suppose the vast majority of people here are "wheeler dealers" who
make a living at trading/exchanging or selling coins either from a shop
or internet. I'm sure that in and of itself is reason enough though I'm
sure these people have a love for the hobby.

Not necessarily.

But what about those of you who collect just for the sake of
collecting? Why do you collect coins? I imagine at a basic level it's
going to boil down to some feeling you get from looking at the coins,
am I correct? Describe those feelings, the feelings why you're a coin
collector.

In fact I rarely buy coins - I just love the history of them
thus the work put into my web site. I have been very lucky to be allowed
to use images of coins that I would never have any hope of buying,
unless I won the Lottery (and I doubt my wife would let me if I did!).

--
Tony Clayton
Coins of the UK : http://www.coinsoftheuk.info
Sent using RISCOS on an Acorn Strong Arm RiscPC
.... One person's grin is another's groan.

NO serious collector here, just a dabbler. I enjoy the beauty and style
of older coins as opposed to newer stuff (mostly). I like the "clink",
weight & patina of old silver. To hold a coin in your hand and wonder
where it's been, who used it and for what, what the country/world was
like when it was new, those kind of non-$$ value things.

"Brian and Cristina Dennison" wrote in message
...

NO serious collector here, just a dabbler. I enjoy the beauty and style
of older coins as opposed to newer stuff (mostly). I like the "clink",
weight & patina of old silver. To hold a coin in your hand and wonder
where it's been, who used it and for what, what the country/world was
like when it was new, those kind of non-$$ value things.


I collect different coins for different reason.
I collect the modern US commemoratives because they make a nice, big,
challenging set to put together.
I like the variety of designs and consider some of them to be real works of
Art, other designs are pieces of crap
but that is fodder for a different thread :-)

I collect Austrian coins because they have a buttload of types and for many
of the same above reasons.
I collect Austrian tokens and medals because reference material is
practically non-existent.
That allows me to write my own book and spend hours and hours researching
and that is something I like.

Why coins and not other object? I do collect other objects and have
collected many different things in the past.
Weather it is coins, tokens, medals, comics, postcards, matchbooks, metal
figures, paintings, or rocks gems and minerals
I am and have always been a die-hard collector. I even have a stamp album
around here somewhere but don't
tell anyone!

Dale
likes round shiny things

Brian and Cristina Dennison wrote:
NO serious collector here, just a dabbler. I enjoy the beauty and style
of older coins as opposed to newer stuff (mostly). I like the "clink",
weight & patina of old silver. To hold a coin in your hand and wonder
where it's been, who used it and for what, what the country/world was
like when it was new, those kind of non-$$ value things.

Exactly... when I hold a coin in my hands from 1899, I wonder if it was
used in old saloons in the old west and I think that it probably passed
through Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson's hands...

Or perhaps if it was REAL worn, and still in circulation in the 20's
and 30's (which I'm sure some coins from 1899 probably were), I think
that perhaps the Bowery Boys used it to buy a soda with that nickel
down at Louie's Sweet shop.

That's why I like to collect coins; to know that it passed through all
these - and MANY MORE people's famous hands of history...

On 8 May 2006 02:37:56 -0700, "The Space Boss"
wrote:

Why do you collect coins?

My first awareness of coins was in 1964. I was in Elementary School
then, and in the Weekly Reader there were several stories about the
switch to sandwich coins. I managed to save up a couple dollars worth
of silver coins ... not bad for a 5th grader in 1965 ... but my older
brother liberated them from me. Juvenile delinquent!

Can't say much though, my father had some triple panel Whitman folders
back then, which I liberated some coins from myself. So sorry to
admit that fact.

But, as a young adult in the mid 1970s, I started my own interest in
collecting. Buying rolls of Cents at the bank and searching through
them. Five years later I was doing the same thing with rolls of Half
Dollars, looking for 40% Silver.

I guess a fair share of my interest has been in the hope of earning a
profit. Although, in retrospect, the time spent v.s. money earned
hasn't been worth it (as opposed to time spent on the time clock).
So, there has to be a bigger draw. And, there is.

I've got an 1828 Half Cent in EF-AU. It is one of my favorite coins,
not worth a fortune. But, I really enjoy the dayum thing, so
marvelous to view and consider the history it has seen. An ancient
Roman from 330 AD ... think of it. Not worth much money, but ...
yeah, I think that's what keeps me interested.

And, it has something to do with metal too. Why I didn't go into
stamps perhaps. Metal is soooo, enduring yet fragile. Metal is a
beast in many ways, but in these objects we collect a microscopic
gouge or barely perceptible bit of wear can mean the difference in
megabucks value on a rare specimen.

In my lifetime I've collected other things, from insects to Frisbeesto
relic computers.
Over the past 30 years my interest in coins has had a number of
lapses, but I keep coming back. I think it is because they are a
real, tangible bit of history you can hold in your hand. And, it's a
metal thing for me too. Heck, even a 100 Oz bar of silver makes me
happy even though it has no numismatic value. Oh boy! I guess as a
metal fetisher stamps didn't have a chance with me, LOL

After 1964, how long did it take silver coins to disappear out of
circulation, I mean to where it became uncommon to see silver anymore?
Was it fairly quick? I remember by the mid-70's they were pretty much
gone from general circulation, that I noticed anyway.

On 9 May 2006 22:22:01 -0700, "The Space Boss"
wrote:

After 1964, how long did it take silver coins to disappear out of
circulation, I mean to where it became uncommon to see silver anymore?
Was it fairly quick? I remember by the mid-70's they were pretty much
gone from general circulation, that I noticed anyway.


This topic has been discussed previously in this group, and others
have seen it differently from me, stating that 90% coins were common
into the early 70s. As my memory serves me, they pretty much vanished
from circulation before 1970.