Psychology of Coin Collecting

Post what you love to collect and why? (if you know why)

I have become curious if most people know why they like to collect what they do.

I wonder if our collecting habits might shed light on our psychological make-up. Might date and mintmark collectors border on obsessive/compulive? Are bullion collectors more fearful than average? Are cherrypickers narsissistic?

I remember reading many years ago that coin collecting was a blend of acquisitiveness, intellectual curiosity, a desire to possess and organize tangible objects, a perhaps an attempt at immortality, and a certain amount of showing off.

Let's hear your thoughts!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

My Story ...

When I was a kid in the late 1960's, I was very excited by a few easily collectible series (Lincoln Cents, Jefferson Nickels, and Kennedy Halfs) prompted by finding the old blue Whitman Folders in a drug store and tried to get every date and mintmark through roll searching. I also accumulated about $80 face in silver coins pulled from bank rolls. Finally, I bought a few low grade (low denomination) types (Indian Cent, Shield Nickel, Liberty Nickel) of things I could afford from a local coin dealer that I had access to. As to why I started collecting coins, I think it might have been curiosity about money, and I liked the challenge of finding stuff (like a treasure hunt) and a feeling of accomplishment as the folder's slots were filled in.

When I was in college in the 1980's, I bought coins with investment on my mind, so I bought some rolls of Uncirculated Franklins and Morgans; and a few Commemorative Halfs that I thought were attractive -- but always with the thought of making money in the future.

Fast forward to the 2000's, and I have accumulated a lot of bullion (ASE & AGE) coins to protect my savings from dollar devaluation (probably more fear based) -- acquired an interest in old U.S. Currency (i love the story/history) -- and have also gotten into a sort of selective Type Collecting (cherrypicking coins that I think are beautiful or unusual), so more of an aesthetic appeal angle.

 

well first off i was always intrigued by coins since an early age. then i got into collecting and after that i found out my father also collected coins. so collecting is in my genes, my mother collects Mccoy pottery and my father collects coins. and i also collect because i love seeing old things and i love the way coins look
i have many reasons but those are the "pysological" reasons

 

oh gawd... don't get me started. lol! my momma told me if you don't have anything nice to say....

I will say this though. There is (at least amongst message board users) a couple distinct stereotypical behaviors I run into all the time. While I don't have enough face to face interactions to confirm it. The couple of shows I have been to, have in fact, verified my suspicions regarding those stereotypes.

I have only interacted with the coin collecting community for about a year. This is one of many hobbies that I have gotten deeply involved with. This one is also the only one that has had me shaking my head in disbelief on a regular basis.

Casual coin collectors in general seem to be very caring lot. Sympathetic to some degree. Polite, overly so to the point, they seem to keep to themselves. I can't answer if casual collectors morph into the other group. So I will leave it at that.

OH! and please pardon me for grouping everyone together. That is wrong and inaccurate by itself.

Cool thread. BTW

If you want more info, read my VDB Study thread. I have already instigated enough.

 

Second thought, more about me than others... I should add this out of respect for the OP and his post. The topic. Psychology of coin collecting is something I think a lot about.

I have OCD but not in a manner like repetitive hand washing. Fortunately, I have been able to channel that energy into productive things like work and my hobbies where the ADHD kicks in. Throw a good dose of narcissism in... The whole idea of posting on message boards is interaction and attention getting.. fer sure..

I have been surrounded by coins all my life but since I was raised with them I never thought much about them. I wanted to learn about stuff I didn't have. Coins seemed boring. But so did fishing and I tournament fished for years.

I recently found myself between hobbies and had extra time to look into the coins I had. Coins spun me into something else that I am immensely enjoying and that is, imaging them. That took me back around to the computer studying and soaking what I can by stimulating and gauging replies.

I probably don't fit the psychological makeup/mold of a typical coin collector. I think I am extremely different.... other than there is that touch of what ever that leads to hoarding.

SO there! How is that for brutal honesty?

 

I just like collecting in general. Started like some other members, in my childhood in the 60's. As puberty hit, switched to DC and Marvel Comics (I kept all my coins and Whitman folders) and continued to keep any wheaties, or silver coins I ran across in circulation. Got Married in the early 90's had two daughters, and 1996 discovered the internet (just like Al Gore! ) and been collecting a second time since. Also have dabbled in Sports Memorabilia, and unfortunately Beanie Babies when my daughters were toddlers.
Steve

 

I'm a history buff, and coins have been a part of history since we've had written history, so it goes along with the territory. Too many people see history as just that..the past. But it's right here and now and all around us, but most never see it. A coin, like an old manuscript, a fossil, a Clovis spear head, are all tangible pieces of history we can hold and feel and interact with, and that tell a story beyond anything a book may convey. That is why I collect coins, among many other things.
Guy

 

I had to lol when I read this description. I hadn't thought about it that in-depth, but every one of those adjectives probably applies to everybody here. At least a little. Which I don't think there is anything wrong with.

If you really want to know.....

Acquisitiveness/intellectual curiosity: Check. That's the way I am. I'm interested in many things. Sometimes I feel like a kid that never stops learning. I feel that most people stop using their minds and it's a waste. They just want to go to work, come home, watch sitcoms and go to sleep for the rest of their lives. There are some people who have absolutely no interests in life and are content with that. It's a shame but you can't change how people are. I view it as their loss and I can't worry about it. Some only fixate on one area of interest which is better than none but still a loss IMO.

Desire to possess and organize tangible objects: Check. When I was a kid, I collected hundreds of matchbox cars and organized them on shelves. I liked building stuff out of Legos and setting stuff up. It kept me occupied. Now I've moved on to other things. The US dollar is in peril and decline. There is no light at the end of the tunnel for it. No reward for storing it. Not even a neutral reason. You're actually penalized. So, I don't get excited over a $100 bill or having one stashed away somewhere. I only think about what it can be exchanged for before it buys less. Yeah, we keep money in the bank but I get no satisfaction from it. To me, it's just a necessary evil to get through life.

Perhaps a feeble attempt at immortality: Check. Yeah, I like to think that at least some of my descendants will hang on to the collection and think of great great grandpa. I've got some of my grandpa's stuff. Not much stands the test of time anymore. Not much retains value or can be easily moved and stored. What Chinese products from the store today will come close to fulfilling this role?

A certain amount of showing off: Ok. Check. I think everybody here likes showing off something cool they have. I can't possibly afford everything I've seen on these boards but the whole group here showing stuff together has given me the chance to appreciate many coins I may have never seen. It's fun to join in now and then.

I'd like to add that I also really enjoy owning a piece of the past and the art aspect of it. Which is what old coins and currency is. They're from a simpler time that almost everybody has forgotten. People tend to have extremely short term memories with no interest in the past. No appreciation for where we've been and how far we've come. Or, where we're going!!
Some *educated* people today think they know it all. They think the US dollar we use today has "just always been. " They have no, and I mean ZERO, perspective. No reference of time. I do and I enjoy that. I enjoy knowing things that are extremely unique that most other people have no clue about. I also like learning from other people. If somebody has a unique hobby that they are highly knowledgeable about, I would gladly listen to them about it and try to learn something from it.

It's good to know a little about everything and a lot about a few things IMO. It helps your people skills. As I said, there's some people who have no interests and many who are unhappy that only live for money. I know some millionaires that have no kids, no hobbies (because you wouldn't want to spend a nickel!!) that only live to grow that money pile! Well guess what? They've got the personality of a stone! They're dull, they're boring, closed minded individuals. They've wasted their entire lives unhappily living for more money so some other undeserving relative can blow their fortune on whatever. Or they can fully fund their stay at the nursing home and eventually let the state confiscate it all when they're gone. They missed out. It's too bad, but they have the right to do so and I have the right to not worry about them.

Does Warren Buffet get as many (if only fleeting) moments of enjoyment out of life as I do? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, probably not.

My collection is a nostalgic piece of the puzzle for me, with mini, yet unending goals to achieve. It can be a liquid asset and one of few things that gives you a true pride of ownership without regret. With a side benefit of maybe being able to be passed on. It may seem like a nerdy hobby for hermits, but I bet there's a lot of deep thinkers on this forum that would be very interesting to talk with. To me anyway. Knowledge is valuable. If somebody asks me about something, I want to be able to give an answer. I don't want to have to say, "I don't know". Everybody can do that.

 

Started collecting with my father in the eighties with the Whiman books. Never anything serious. This year I bought $1000 face of 90% silver coins and marveled at the coins, like I used to as a kid. Just started with collecting Morgan's because I love that time period in American History. (Worried with all the Chinese fakes). This experience has made me re-realize what a great hobby this is and how much it had advanced from the early 80's.

 

Heck of it is, I don't know why.

It's truly a mystery

You left out anal.

Acquisitiveness? Never. Intellectual curiosity? Perhaps. But I'm in no way, manner or form an intellectual. Nor do I harbour a desire to possess and organize tangible objects............. OK, maybe I do,
Feeble attempt at immortality? Not me. I could care less what people think of me once I depart this third rock from the sun.

The reason of why one would choose to collect coins is truly profound. Why on earth would somebody pay $200 for a fifty cent piece? Why would somebody pay $100 for a nickel? Why would anyone pay $1000 for a cent?

Answer? We're nuts.......

 

Hello Group
1. Intrigue. Whats it all about. 2. Challenge, finding that coin to fill that spot. 3 History, The adventure of currency.
4. Upgrading. To try and improve what you have.
Anytime there is an adventure to try and find something you will always have fun.
Big Ed

 

Answer? We're nuts.......
LOL!!! Absolutely correct Green!!
Steve

 

There's the miser syndrome, the desire to be like the cartoon character Scrooge McDuck and go swimming in a pile of coins. As for Warren Buffett, he was a coin collector. He collected from circulation when he was a kid, from the paper route money he managed. Buffett graduated to collecting companies and businesses, rather than small round discs. Imagine the coin collection Buffett could afford today.

 

I never trusted regular investments, and got into PMs and collectible coins as an alternative. There was no one in my family or in my circle of friends who collected, and Connecticut is not as active for coins as it is for items that impress through conspicuous consumption. In fact there are a lot of enemies of hard assets as not humanistic enough.

I have tried not to lose sight of coins and PMs in the larger scheme of things.

 

Hey, what's wrong with hand washing? I do it all the time, especially before handling raw coins. And afterwards! LOL.

I'm not sure why I have a fixation with coins. I probably need professional help. It started about 50 years ago so I doubt I can be cured.

Like lots of us, it began with coins from circulation. Pennies were cheap, plentiful, with lots of variety. And there were high hopes about getting lucky and finding that scarce, valuable one. My collecting interest varied over the years but I completed my mostly gem red wheaties set in later years and then put together an XF/AU raw set to play with, after I wash my hands.
Lance.

 

Maybe I'm the odd ball out of the group - Not really a collector or hoarder. I got into coin collecting (honesty right) because I saw profit in it. Take a few hours going to local shops, roll search or find a good deal online, sit on them or turn it right away - always with the intention of making a healthy profit.

I do agree with the previous statements - there is definitely a certain 'stereotype' or psychological 'tick' that fits most of the collectors/hoarders I have ran into - perhaps since I don't exhibit those same ticks that is the reason why I don't get along with many of them LOL.

None the less - fantastic thread and a great way to hear everyone's personal diagnosis.

 

I love to collect buffalo nickels!!! They always intrige me!!!!!

 

[video=youtube;mVS_CqC7H2Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVS_CqC7H2Q[/video]

 

Half of the fun for me is the organizing - creating spreadsheets to track purchases, investments, time/cost averaging, etc...as well as cataloging my collecting, stapling 2x2s...you get the point. Unfortunately, to continue doing all this I have to continue buying more coins!

Maybe I could sell my services as a coin collection organizer? hahaha

 

I have a collecting personality and I've always collected different things. When I was a kid I'd pick up cool rocks, bottlecaps, used shotgun shells, seashells and empty cans. I purchased more than 20,000 baseball cards between about age 8 and 14. I always saved any wheat pennies or other older coins that I found, and I got my dad's old coins from his army days and my grandparents' coins from when they owned a bar. I always put them aside but didn't really make an effort to buy coins until the last year. Actually what set me off into really getting serious about it was when my girlfriend bought me a Whitman folder for presidential dollars. We had only been dating a month and we didn't know that much about each other so she got me that along with a few of the dollar coins for Christmas. She was the kind of collector who saves the state quarters and dollar coins but that's it. Of course, when I had the Whitman folder, I wanted to fill it, and then I wanted to get others and fill those too. Pretty soon I started going to a local coin store to see what they had. At the beginning I was filling gaps like the empty spaces in my Jefferson nickel collection and only spending $20 a visit. Then when I finished the easy ones, I moved on to the more expensive stuff. When you start browsing at the coin store or on eBay, it's easy to start making compulsive purchases, and then it gets to be that if I haven't browsed on eBay in a day, I feel like I'm missing out. So it's partially compulsive behavior. But I really like the history behind the coins. I have a history degree and I like to get historically significant coins - ones with an important ruler on them or from an important time, or coins from former colonies or countries that don't exist anymore. That's what got me into foreign coins, which most people in the U.S. don't seem to care about. I like big coins with a lot of detail like large cents or the old British pennies. I like coins with animals on them or other nice designs. I've always liked to possess authentic things with old dates on them, so that's another factor. So those are all things that attract me to the hobby, but there are also intangibles. I guess I get a surge of endorphin anytime I buy new coins or get some in the mail, and it gets tough to balance out the desire to complete my collections right now with the knowledge that I have to be sensible and not spend too much money. I am a quieter, studious person by nature and I think this is a good hobby for someone like me.