This. I want the U.S. Mint to get out of the business of "manufactured collectibles." Leave that to the people who make Beanie Babies and Hummel trinkets. Edit: Just to be clear, I'm talking about circulating coinage: state quarters, presidential dollars, westward expansion nickels, etc. Not non-circulating commemoratives.
I'll give a third "nod" to this. I am 32 years old, covered in tattoos, and so is my "barbie-doll" wifey. However, I do have $$ and a great passion for coins, but the way I get blown-off or treated rudely by some of these coin dealers makes me simmer. They take one look at me or me and my wife and assume we walked into the wrong shop or show. It makes me want to drag some of these stuck-up dealers out back and commit felonies. ...I have also noticed similar condescending chatter from some of the "pros" on this forum in my short time here... You coin dealers take notes. You never know when the heavily tattooed guy is gonna want to buy a $2000 Morgan Dollar or Monster Box...rant over.
"Buy the coin, not the holder" "Sell to the customer, not the tats" Same idea. Good luck. See you in Chicago?
Unfortunately, I live in Texas and my wife is not gonna take vacation time for me to go to a coin show. I am however attending the Grapevine Texas show this weekend.
1. never judge a customer. 2.Take a shower for God's sake. 3. Don't assume if there over 55, they know more than Jesus. 4. Don't assume if there under 20 they know nothing. 5. If in a wheelchair, don't block the entire isle, esp. if #2 applies. (I'm 60) 6. Dicker, no coins price is written in stone. 7. your $ are as green as everybody else. Good God I could go on an on.
I hate it when people call numismatics "coin collecting". CoinTalk, CoinPeople, Professional Coin Grading Service, Coin World,... Coin, coins, coins; coins and coins... like a Monty Python skit. Then they restrict the word "coin" to some items that are "official" such as the Confederate Half Dollars and deny it to other coins, such as the British Provincials ("Conder" tokens). In the days of silver coins, would not a 5-cent nickel have been a token? In the days of gold and the gold standard, silver coins were tokens for gold. I think that corporate stock certificates are close to the highest form of money. The whole hobby could be called "stock collecting" with the coins of governments being fractional points toward the purchase of a Treasury Bond. Sure, that would be a funny way to look at it, but so is our insistence on "coin" collecting, if you stop to think about it.
I was going to be attending the show this weekend. My brother is semi-interested in coins. (He likes them and collects them if he sees them, but isn't as into it as myself). I wanted to bring him, but he has a competition through another organization he is involved with. We will be attending the show in September (20-21). Will you be attending that one as well?
A very interesting point. It is very true for myself as well as a lot of collectors and dealers I know personally. We do collect coins, but we all collect darn near everything else as long as it's "cool" in our eyes. I'm in the financial services industry; I have my office walls decorated with vintage, cancelled stock certificates and an old trade newspaper dated 1800 out of Boston. All of which I decided to have professionally framed after taking them from my personal collection.
I'm a COIN COLLECTOR. I see the coin, pay for the coin, and subsequently COLLECT the COIN. What are numismatics???
My biggest pet peeve / fear is of coins, especially copper coins, succumbing to corrosion. I don't mind toning, on silver coins I actually like it. ~CWS