In Frank Robinson's book CONFESSIONS OF A NUMISMATIC FANATIC, he makes the point that any collector who makes a special study of some area can acquire rare, perhaps unique, even museum-quality examples. This came up in his story by way of the Brasher Doubloons. They had just been in a newspaper story when he was a kid and his coin buddies were all drooling over the dream of having one. Frank said that he had several coins rarer than that. He collected Chinese cash at that time. Over in the general Coins discussion, there is a thread about the Full Bands designation for Mercury Dimes. The "rarest" Mercury, the 1916-D runs over a quarter million struck. Also, it is very common for people in general to save the first year of issue, even if they are not "collectors." These coins are not rare. Even more common are the tens of millions and hundreds of millions, totalling billions of Buffalo Nickels, Indianhead Cents, Walking Liberty Halfs, and so on, and on, and on. I have a little bronze coin from Cyrene (Kyrene, a Greek town in North Africa, near where Bengazi in Libya is today). It shows Ptolemy and Arsinoe. I found coins "like" it in the SNG Copenhagen and other catalogs, but I never found one really close, even at a glance. I sent it to the ANA for authentication and they found it in the SNG Milano. I have a stater from the town of Sinope with DIO under the wing of the Eagle. I believe that it was struck by Diogenes the Cynic. Coins with DIO do show up on occasion. I doubt that there are 264,000 of them floating around. (Neither of these coins costs more than a ubiquitous MS 63 Morgan in a top tier slab.) Anyone else?
Very interesting subject, sir. And, it is so true what Mr. Robinson says about specializing in one area. People who do, are most likely to find, and more importantly, recognize, "rare" pieces. I have tried to find out all the info, I could, on the Merchant tokens that have been issued from my local area. Now, I don't consider myself an expert, by any means, but I think I have a pretty good idea of which ones are common, which are scarse, and which are almost never to be found. I have been fortunate enough to be able to put together a fairly impressive collection of these tokens. I have some that are unlisted in any publication, and are likely to be some of the handful of surviving specimens. They cost me less than the price of a steak dinner. And no, I wouldn't trade any one of them for an MS-63 Morgan dollar.
Market value is a factor of both supply (rarity) and demand (popularity). Both are overrated, in my view. Go for what interests you, not what interests others. If it's a common type, you'll have an easier time finding it, which is good. If it's a rarer type, you'll have a more challenging time finding it, which is also good.
Wow! Hello Reid, i didn't know you hung around these parts! It's good advice there, what's also nice about collecting under appreciated areas is that you can really get more deeply involved in them because you can study more coins (because of the less demand).
As has been said - study can indeed lead to ownership of certain rarities. I have several coins with less than 100 known and one - with less than a handful, perhaps 5 known. But study and research can do much more than lead to ownership of rarities - it can help you greatly in learning about the common coins as well. It teaches you what to look for in the coins you collect and how to tell the truly nice examples from the ordinary. It also teaches you a great deal about history, how the coins were used, what their purchasing power was at the time they were struck and how the coins came to be. And in some cases - it can also teach you how certain coins greatly changed the world and made it what it is today. So yeah - I'm all for studying coins
I'm virtually everywhere, despite my best intentions. <g> I've actually been here since Coin Talk first started, though not so much lately. To me the Golden Mean is acquiring coins and knowledge in equal measure. Collect the former without the latter and you're just a hoarder. Collect the latter without the former and you're just an egghead. I don't always get it right, though.
David Schenkman wrote two books about Virginia Tokens. Other than that, I find a lot of localized works in the ANS online catalog. Have you thought of publishing? You might not find the demand for a hard cover book, but you could at least start with some webpages. Putting them on a CD is another way to publish inexpensively. If they had nice scans and good attributions, your work would be an addition to our general store of knowledge. Michael
Hi Michael, Yes, I have Mr. Schenkman's publications. I also converse with him, on occasion, and have made several purchases from him. He is truly one of the greatest assets to the hobby of Exonumia collecting alive today. No sir, I cannot publish manuscripts, nor can I create webpages. I can barely operate this computer, with the few tips my wife gave me. I am a high school dropout, and fast aproaching old age. I work as a lobourer and, along with my wife's income, struggle to make ends meet. I am always happy to share what I know about coins and tokens, but creating CD's, using a digital camera, and other computer stuff, is a little over my head. For now, I just consider myself very fortunate to be able to post on forums, such as this, and learn from others, such as yourself.
You are not alone! Although I am the webmaster for the Michigan State Numismatic Society, that website is the only one I have been able to have any facility with. Like you, I have someone here to ask. You seem to have done a lot of hard work collecting tokens from your hometown. It is a shame not to be able to catalog what you have discovered about the tokens and their issuers. A local coin club might be an option for finding someone with a similar interest as well as the ability to help with the electronics. Other collector clubs would include TAMS, etc. Again, I hate to see your hard work lie fallow. Michael
