Greetings everyone, it's been a while since I made a post. I got back in to collecting about 4 years ago and was very serious up and till about 4 months ago. I just seemed to have been stuck in neutral. I still have the passion, but just not back in my old routine of a nice monthly purchase and the occasional coin show. Anyone else go through this?
It comes and goes. I collect a couple other things and right now they are on low priority. Silver gets up over $40 and I'll slow down on coins and move back to another of my collections.
Yes -- for me, I got back into Lego (collecting & exhibiting) recently, so haven't done much on the coin front lately.
Yeah, I have taken a few very long breaks. I collected when I was a kid, probably 8-12 years old. Then again when I was early twenties for a short period, but then I bought a house and had to stop spending on non-essentials. Finally getting out of debt and now I am early thirties, I am hot and heavy again. I assume at some point I will take a break again. I also switch hobbies every now and again, stamp collection, rock collecting, tropical fish, non-sports cards, photography, etc. Some I would never go back to (stamps, rock collecting), but others teach info and skills that I will always use, even if I am less intense with them (photography comes to mind).
I think we all do Texmech. How I alleviate it is by switching between collections. If I get bored with Byzantine, I switch to Sassanid, or late Roman, or Punic, or Sogdian, or Chinese, etc. If you get bored with something, switch it up and learn about something new. I tried that with US coins, but "ran out of space", so I moved to ancient and world coins. Go to a show some day, and just wander. Look at parts of the cases you never looked at before, see if something catches your eye. Its a hobby and should be fun, I am just suggesting you may like Mexican coins, or Byzantine, or colonial paper, or something else. Not much is more fun than acquiring a new passion. If none of that works for you, take the summer off, go fishing, and see if the passion comes back next fall. Chris
Right, summer is time for fishing, golfing and BBQ. Plus I'm getting married in the fall, so the coin budget is pretty small. But come winter the fish aren't biting, the golf course is under a foot of snow. - so the coin collection gets dusted off and the aquarium starts to sparkle again.
Man, don't tell that whole fish isn't biting thing to all of the guys sitting on my lake in January. Seriously, Minnesotan's are nuts.
I've been sort of on a semi-break too. Haven't been around the forum much until today. A lot of other stuff to think about. Been paying several large bills off. In the mean time I purchased one of these stainless Springfield .45 xdm compacts last week: Like coins, the good stuff is locked up. This one's available if necessary. Got a great deal on it. Could have added to the coin collection but I had a security concern I needed to tie up that was more important to me. Been reading about a lot of break ins and violent crime so i guess it got me worked up again and had to buy another. It's summer. Working hours outside are longer. Life goes on. I've been keeping an eye on teletrade lately. It looks like everyone else is too. I haven't seen many deals. This is supposed to be the slow season. Kind of watching and waiting to see if gold and silver keep falling or rebound. That's basically the side show.
Tell me about it Vess. What the devil is happening over there? Lately everything I like or want is in a 'details' slab. I refuse to buy that kind of product.
I agree with the consensus that we all do that from time to time, its just part of any hobby. I just bought my first "serious" coin of the year a week or so ago. Just been picking up uber cheap odds and ends the past 6 months or so but now I'm in a buying "mode" again (also in a broke mode).
Yeah and you can be looking at the most obscure thing and its like when bidding opens the bids start flying in. I think the secret is out about teletrade. Looks like you're usually going to have to pay FMV if you want to bring something home over there.
I think everyone goes through phases from time to time. Right now because of coins I'm taking a break on the comic books. And sometimes taking a break is good for you. It takes your mind off constantly thinking about the same thing.
Tex, been there, done that more than once. It's always fun getting started again though. The longest drought I've had was for almost two years. I always wonder what coins I could have bought with the money I spent on her....@#$%^&*....
Even though I am in a paused mode right now when I look at my coin sets/albums, they are not going anywhere and like wine will get better with age. In fact my excess mad money is going in the safe deposit box for one of the two "keys" I need to complete the Lincolns (09 S VDB & 14D). So my hiatus does have an indirect purpose. Thanks for all the comments. Did not realize lots of people go through the same thing.
I have paused active coin shopping several times but still wanted to read forums, numismatic articles etc. I got rid of my other collections as I wanted to focus on coins. As mentioned earlier, it is important that you have something else to think about too.
You are an esteemed member of our little coin club Hello Texmech, I couldn't immediately think of what to post & then I reviewed several of your past threads. CT would be a lesser place without hearing from you at least once in a while! You yourself have pointed out that this place has some great people who share their knowledge and you are one of them. You yourself have noted that it's hard to talk about our love of this hobby with family and friends, but not here. Just like your dad still likes talking about coins with you, we like it when you cointalk. Please keep in touch with CT and keep subscribing to some fun threads. BTW, Let me know if you are still looking for a 1914-D. Also, do you want it graded or would you prefer a nice raw coin?
I will never leave this hobby. I will just be in and out. I have invested (right word?) too much money in my collection and I really enjoy this community. I am amazed at what I have learned. I really don't have any other hobbies, nor do I want to. Oh wait, I do have a cabinet in my home office that I call my museum..it drives my wife nuts. I put old stuff like Walkmans, early model cell phones, various storage media like the old floppy disk... stuff like that.
