Coin vs currency

I am mostly coin, but curious if there are many people going after both coin and paper or just focusing on one. Are there any suttle differences. The answers are probably going to be pretty biased based on what the individual collects. I am just curious if paper appreciating is better, worse , same as coin. Is it harder or easier. I know didly squat about paper, although I have some nice silver certificates from my childhood.

 

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I'm not exactly sure what your trying to say but it sounds like your attempting to compare the usage of coins versus currency. I wouldn't worry about this at all. If you just look around you would notice that the majority of people are tending to not use either any more. Our is becoming a plastic society. My Son, for example, carries almost no money except a small amount for a possible emergency. He pays for everything with a plastic card. Eventually this is the future.

 

No, sorry about the vague description. I am wondering about the pros and cons of either collecting coins, currency or both as a hobby or source of income.

 

Collecting coins and/or currency should never be considered a source of income.

It's a hobby.

Basically, you need to become an expert in what ever you decide to collect. No one is an expert in every coin or note that is issued. Pick a coin or note series and once you know all there is about the coin/note, then you can start buying.

Learn how to grade what ever you decide to buy, don't rely on what the slab says. If you buy before you have any grading knowledge, you will surely over pay (get taken) or even worse end up buying a fake.

 

Try to remember that there is this thing called liquidity. If you purchase something today for $10 and can not find a place to resell it for even $5, you are playing around with the problem of liquidity. Just to say something is worth xxx is one thing but to sell it for that is something else. That is one reason for this coin thing to be a hobby. Easy to buy coins, but not as easy to sell them. At a coin show, coin store, on the internet it is really easy to buy coins. To try selling them takes time, energy, a new knowledge of sales and on and on with a new type of a situation. As a hobby, right now it is really popular, tomorrow, you never know but if you thought of it as an investment, you might be in trouble.
Think of the Beanie Baby investers, the Hot Wheel car investers, the baseball/football card investers. Even today those were and still are a sort of nice hobby but as a source of income, not real smart.
If your interested in a possible future collectable that may well be valuable soon, collect Buggy Whips. The prices of gasoline for your cars are making the possibility of the horse and buggy a comeback.

 

Great thread. Coins are heavier and therefor I like it for that reason better. Plus, they feel valuable. Paper can just fly away in the winds...

 

That's the reason I was looking for.

 

well, i think for me its because not many people use coins. I mean when people get change from their dollar they just put it away and then take it to the bank later.

 

I like both coins and paper. Coins are somewhat easier to collect, as they are much easier to find and usually cheaper. I do buy some paper on occasion, though I don't know a lot about it. The artistry of many of the large notes, nationals, scrip and others just blows away anything I've ever seen on coinage.
Guy~

 

What it seems to more what he is really asking is "Why do people collect what they collect?"

There is no answer to that other than they collect what appeals to them. It makes no sense to collect something that doesn't appeal to you. As to WHY something appeals to you who knows? I tend to like coins more than paper, older rather than newer, copper rather than gold or silver, and small denominations rather than larger ones. So it is natural for me to collect old small denomination copper coins. For what I pay for my ugly low grade coppers I could have some really nice high grade sets of moderns, but I wouldn't be near as happy with them. Why do those old coppers make me happy? I don't know. All I know is that they do, and I am going to keep collecting them and stay happy.

 

I guess I am Bi-collectional here, I collect both with equal fervor.:kewl:

 

That's what I was going to say.

I like coins and I never thought I'd like paper. But they started getting to me the more I looked at them. About 6 months ago,I never could have imagined how many obsolete bank notes (thousands of different types with beautiful art) circulated around this country in local communities.

Also the large sized FRNs and eary FRNs are really something to see. SO many different types.
Anybody who hasn't taken the time to look back and see how many different types of paper currency have been used really have no clue. It's somewhat complex and hard to understand.
I think people are missing out on great history though. The notes we use today, the common $1 silver certificates that everybody owns, even currency going back to the 50s, DOESN"T EVEN SCRATCH THE SURFACE of what is out there. It accounts for maybe 1 percent of currency that has existed in this country.

Paper currency is like art to me. They're like the equivalent of miniature paintings in various conditions. I like coins but I can see how people could leave coins completely to switch over to currency. I hate to say it but currency is quite possibly, dare I say.... more interesting?

It has plenty of value and could be a growing market. But as what I've quoted here, you need to be aware of re-sale. If you had to re-sell something tomorrow, or next week or next year, what do you honestly believe you could re-sell it for. That's why you need to be careful what you're willing to pay, as some of the obsoletes for example are very unique and it is a very unique market. As such, not as many available buyers as compared to say Morgan dollar collectors.

I like both coins and currency now. I think you're limiting yourself if you only wish to collect one or the other. The only thing is, you will have to hit the lottery to be able to buy all the currency you will want if you start looking!! So maybe it IS best not to check it all out. BTW, a year ago, I never thought I'd be an advocate for paper!

Anybody who hasn't looked into it, doesn't know what's out there, or hasn't studied it at least a little bit, probably has no business giving an opinion.

 

Same here. Totally agree. The confederate notes hooked me. I soon realized they are nothing compared to everything else that's out there.

 

I have to say that a meddle in both coins and bank notes but for two separate reasons. I collect coins because I started out collecting hammered coins, when they made hammered coins , bank notes where not used . I tend to keep it in the 19th century so paper is quasi-nonexistent in my collection. BU examples of any silver coins is my forte, but I do enjoy picking up bank notes for some of their amazing vignettes. I will pick up a bank note simply if it appeals to me, I don't give a hoot about the value or serial numbers, for me when it comes to bank notes it strictly aesthetics .

 

The artistic quality of most bank notes is truly superb, with many different varieties that are simply not found on modern coins. But what really gets me to collect is the history. I'm just not interested in stuff that was going on in the 19th century.

Now, if I could get a Ming dynasty note from China....

Ming Dynasty 1 kuan note. Emperor Hung Wu, 1368. (Sold by Baldwin's in 2006 for $1200)

 

I collect both but heavier on the coins. Didn't get into paper at all until I worked jobs where I hanlded a lot of it. Decided if I was looking for coins in change why not start learning about paper and pulling THAT out of circulation.
It was a good move. There's still a lot out there if you know what to look for.

I enjoy the "hunt" in paper. Finding truly scarce notes that are still circulating. The variables are way different than coins as well.

At one point I basically ignored coins for a few years but I started to miss my old buddies and wandered back into the metal end of collecting. Now it's more coins but I still do paper.

Working at a shop I've begun to dabble a bit more in World stuff. Both coins and paper.

Both can really be rewarding to me.

 

Oh "Horse Poop"! That is a lame answer at best...

BNB...if you even held a rare piece of paper you would start shaking with excitement when you found out there are only 40 or 50 of them known!

Collecting is a personal preference and rarity is subject to specimens available to the market and known extant varieties.
This holds true with coin and paper....if I were to hand you the 40 plus Large size notes in my collection...you would start shaking with excitement...needless to say the other small size rarities and fractional and Obsolete notes.

Is this biased?, he** no it's not..it is simply a fact!

RickieB

 

I collect both. I do have uncut sheet of 4 1976 2 US Dollar of St. Louis District(H) * & San Francisco District(L)*, Chicago and others more..But the more I like is COIN much more longer life than paper money.

 

Do you think 100 years from now they will be collecting old Visa charge cards or equivilent? Some guy will be saying on "plastic card talk", I have an XF condition card, expiration 2010. Card number is .......

 

I like collecting coins better because you can feel the value with coins more than you can with paper money, this is especially true of silver coins