What is coin collecting?

What is your definition of coin collecting?

Do you consider it a:

A. Investment. Buying coins at a young age to "retire on" later in life?

B. Display. Buying stuff to show off and to look at.

C. Janitor. Holding onto and preserving coins for future generations to enjoy.

Although I have been collecting coins for 5 years. (Seriously collecting for the past 2), I still cannot define what coin collecting is all about.

 

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Its about the connection to person, places, and events. You cannot help but let your imagination run wild when you are holding a coin that pre-dates your grandparents. Thats what it is all about for me because money is nothing but an illusion, You are going out with what you came in with.

 

If you consider it A then you can be setting yourself up for failure. Investing is investing, collecting is for fun. NEVER allow yourself to talk yourself into rationalizing a coin purchase because its an "investment". Now, buying PM can be part of a portfolio, but that does not include collectible coins.

To me, collecting is my way of forcing myself to learn more about history. Its human nature, if you own something you want to learn more about it.

 

Although I pride myself as a C, I don't really know what sparked my interest in the first place or why I will give up going to lunch for two weeks so that I have the money to spend on an old discolored scrap of common metal. But I do, so... Hello my name is Kirk and I am a coin collecting addict. Please don't cure me.

 

Coin collecting can be many different things to many different people (far beyond the scope of just A, B, and C I think). For example, some folks collect to keep their minds focused on something in order to not think about some unpleasant reality. Some may collect because they like shiney things. Etc, etc, etc.

I know that I collect for several different reasons. I basically like it because it is a hobby where I can spend my last cent & still have money left over. There are several other reasons that make up my personal definition including A, B, C and others.

 

U.S. history is a very powerful thing to me. I can take my corroded 1795 Flowing Hair Large cent, hold it in my fingers, and practically travel back in time. My Franklins are shortly post WW2. The U.S. Economy was booming. Everyone was walking around with change in their pockets. Life was good. I collect for the history. The Investment in what? For what? Only to travel...

 

D: A hobby, I don't expect anything out of my coins, except for a lifelong fun adventure, I basically just (try to) collect one of everything, I won't finish it in my lifetime, but thats fine, 99% of my coins may never be worth more than face, thats fine too. [FONT=&amp]It’s not the destination that’s rewarding, it’s the journey along the way.[/FONT]

 

I started last November for A. I found an uncirculated Morgan my dad paid 10 bucks for like 10 years ago. It was an 188-some and I was like, holy cow. I immediately decided I wanted to do that, because I just knew the old coin was worth a lot. I did not know what it was called, but I knew what it looked like and even went to my local pawn shop to try the strategy out. I went with 25 bucks and came home with 5 reasonably beat up barbs. I was told by someone there that they were called barber dimes. I looked them up(Im a history buff, how had I not heard of these things), saw a picture of an uncirculated one, and said, "I must have one!" from then to now it has been more B, and a bit of C. However, the B would be altered because it is more for me to see than anyone else.


Hello, my name is (insert name here(yours, mine, your great uncle)) and I am a coinaholic

 

I collect junk silver and older circulated coins such as buffalo nickels and indian head cents. I enjoy being able to admire and fondle my coins on a regular basis They all have a higher sentimental value to me than what they're worth so I wouldn't count them as an investment because you would have to pry them out of my hands, even though I am accumulating a respectable amount from roll hunting! Every coin I have has a story behind it !

 

I think you mean "custodian". I refuse to scrub toilets! LOLOLOL

 

...yet you'll clean coins in conservation fluid... (JK)

I personally prefer curator to either "janitor" or "custodian" as both those terms are often applied to titles of persons doing clean-up work whereas 'curator' offers a more academic tone that may imply a collector has discriminating taste for the coins they possess and that they care for the material, the coins' history, etc.

 

D. A hobby- I am fascinated by coins and paper money and collect them because I like them. The spin-off of collecting is - the more knowledge you have, the more likely you'll come across "deals" in areas that aren't your focus and this allows you to buy and then sell these items to increase the quantity (and quality) of your own collection.

 

None of the above.

 

Yes. You go out with your birthday suit. Sometimes you are given a few mementos to take with you but certainly, in our society, not coins or other money. Too likely to be stolen and people don't have the belief that you need it in the afterlife.

 

We come in with a birthday suit, so why don't we go out with a deathday suit??? And what of Charon's obol, a coin in the mouth, two coins on the eyes of the dead... I think we can take a few with us, to the grave at least. Better make our choices soon for what we want to wear when we go especially if the end is nigh, 2012 and all that. Maybe we need a thread on people's choice of coins to put on their eyes on the way out...

 

I'm taking a few with me... just in case the ferryman asks.:yes:

 

Ah, a joke about greek mythology? I bet that scene is on an ancient greek coin somewhere!

 

Click on the link in my previous post about Charon's obol...

 

Coin collecting is a pleasureable form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

 

It is a disease! Waste 3 seconds of your life to read my profile off to the left!