So, what influences what you all decide to collect? Design, composition, denomination? My main influence I think is art/design. My favorite coins are the Walking Liberty Half, I love the eagle design on the reverse. Also Indian Head cents, Buffalo nickels and Morgan dollars. I was thinking about what I should focus on, which got me thinking about what attracts me to coins in the first place. Part of it my my collector's mentality, and that I love to organize and catalog things. But beyond that, I started thinking about what coins I like the most, and realized that my favorite thing about those coins is the art. Now that I finally realize that, I think deciding on what to focus on has become a lot easier So what about you?
Anything really. I might buy a coin, then buy more and more of them. Then just slowly drift onto another series, etc. Really just depends on the mood. I do like the later 1800s and early 1900s stuff, those are always on my radar to pick up.
I love pennys and silver dollars.I will buy something that stikes my fancy.I will also buy silver coins if I can see down the road I can make some money on it.
For me, at first collecting US coins it was the design and then the history. Now with ancients, its more the history then the design. I force myself to buy a coin from an era of history that intriques me to force myself to study the era closer. Having said that, sometimes a pretty coin just calls my name....
I'd say the design. It doesn't have to be anything ultra-special, even something representative of the period would be something I would buy.
Usually its the history, thats why my roman coins are pretty much everywhere cause some emperors are more interesting then some of the more boring ones. Also design, many ancients as well as moderns I will buy because I just like the art featured on them, history isnt important.
I go with the Walkers myself. fell in love with them as a kid when my grandfather showed some he had saved in MS. he had several coins in all denominations from 1840-1940 all AU or BU but the Walker was the best design. IMO. plus in higher grades they have good upside.
Must say the history and the country I come from (Ireland) and its past ruler (Britain), when I get a bit more money I`m going to try and get into American coins and maybe get a set together of all the major events in the past like one coin from each event like Revolutions, Wars and plantation etc
I don't like to collect high grade coins, I'd rather have junk silver or older worn coins I like anything that I can hold in my hands without worrying about lowering the value. Although I really don't care for barber coins... they all look too similar and boring IMO. Buffalo, and shield nickels Indian head, wheat, and flying eagle cents Peace dollars, war nickels, franklin and walker halves, and all the other silver coins.
I started off with Morgans because of the design and I have to admit, the size of a silver dollar. When I held one in hand it just felt right but I have grown to like and collect many different series. Recently I have started to really like Lincoln Cents.
One thing and one thing only--the history that the coin or medal represents. An example: This medal is not very pretty or shiney. The history behind it, however, is fascinating: Now the history: This medal was made by Jacobites in honor of the "Old Pretender." He was the son of the deposed Catholic monarch James II. He and his son, Bonnie Prince Charlie, were the source of inspiration for the Jacobite rebels. Who were the Jacobites: "Jacobitism (Irish: Seacaibíteachas, Scottish Gaelic: Seumasach) was (and, to a very limited extent, remains) the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland. The movement took its name from Jacobus, the Latin for James." (from Wikipedia) Anyone who loves Scotland and Scottish history (whether or not they supported the Jacobites) would appreciate this medal. For most others, however, this is just an old piece of copper. guy
Like others, the history and the art. Both are equally interesting to me. Stuff from the old west is intriguing. 1800s coin designs are really something special to me. Stuff from around the wars, Civil, world wars, start of the country etc., is all very interesting to me. I suppose thinking about what it would have been like to live during the different time periods is a neat thing for most collectors and the coins give people a way to connect to that past. (Although I wouldn't want to trade lives with them. Charging up hill at cannons wouldn't exactly be considered nostalgic if you actually had to do it!!) Even though we have our own issues today, people in the US and around the world over the last 250 years have faced unbelievable challenges and hardship. (Really not that long ago.) Like nothing we 20 or 30 somethings have ever had to deal with. I can say I'm fatter, happier with less to worry about and more luxuries than my parents, grandparents or great-grandparents ever had. It may not always be this way. But fortunately, we live in a time period where we can go to work, collect coins and only study and reminisce about their harder yet interesting times. We can only wonder about the worries and the hardships of those that came before us. What it might have been like to live during the different time periods with no electricity, no technology, crude medicine, and untamed country side. Or living through WWII not knowing when it would end or what the outcome may be. It's almost like a part of the people live on through the coinage they used. It surprises me that more people aren't serious collectors. It could be people simply never think of it or go through their lives never being introduced to it.
I'm into history I like anything that has age (no old women though). I tend to stay in the early to late 1800's. Right now my big thing is to hunt for good deals. The seated series is an easy one for me. Anyone with some cash can go buy a coin in nice shape. I like to look for a coin in nice shape cheap. I hunt for weeks one coin. Just the other day I got a seated dime in VG+ condition for 2.75 and 1.25 ship thats just a little over spot for something thats 170 years old.
This history, the blue hue tone to a seated liberty half. The feeling of the rim and the reflection of the sunlight off the patina.
