Begining Coin Collecting

I concur. I do not recall meeting any coin collectors with no interest in history. Collecting anything is a quiet hobby and generally attracts people who enjoy reading. This seems especially true of numismatics. For myself, my interest in U.S. coins was always for the tie in the heyday of capitalism, the so-called "robber barons" and so on.

When I discovered ancients, the coins themselves were important only on the basis of their history. The town of Aspendos in Cilicia, for instance, issued a series of Wrestlers. The coins are popular, no doubt about that, but lacking any history of Aspendos, I could not get a handle on the cultural context for the coins.

When I collected actively, I worked on a set of small silvers (drachms and fractions), worth a days wages, from the towns and times of philosophers. By defnition philosophers are remembered for their ideas and those ideas come from books, from histories.

For me, the history of the coin is the coin. Artistry, strike, and other factors are just that: factors. I would rather have a nice coin than an ugly one, but I would rather have a meaningful artifact than a pretty one with no history.

 

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Hi Jimmy, yes I'm from Ottawa as well and getting ready for the cold winter ahead of us!

If you don't mind me asking, how old were you when your Aunt gave you those coins. My theory is that most coin collectors were given a gift as a young child and the interest just continued to grow.

Rob

 

Hi Mike

Thanks for sharing that with us. I think that is an interesting observation. I feel that just because someone was given a coin when they were young, doesn't mean they will continue to collect. My question is what is it that really attracts a new collector and inspires them to continue collecting?

Rob

 

Hey Pennycase,

Congratulations on kicking the habit! Thanks for sharing that with us. Is your wife also a collector or is it just your hobby?

Rob

 

Hello Art

Funny you should mentional that you collected Canadian coins as that is where I am from. What got you interested in those coins as a starting point?

Rob

 

Hi again Ed

That's an interesting spin on collecting. Also kind of makes you wonder who may have actually held these coins.

I have another question for you. Why do you think your grandfather thought that you'd be interested in coins when he gave you your first coins?

Rob

 

I owe my collecting interest to my Mom. She had a blue Whitman folder for Lincoln cents and every year we added the new coins as we found them, She also had a small pouch of coins, mostly foreign, that she recieved from pen pals over the years. The pouch also included some old U.S. coins, Indian cents, a V nickel, Barber dime, these coins became the prize of my collection when she gave them to me after I started my own collection at age 11. I still have them. Although interest has come and gone over the years I have always set aside new issues and watched my change and yes , It was the state quarters and forums like this that have brought me back to "active" status.

 

Thanks for sharing that Dockwalliper

So your collecting began as a child, as is the case with a lot of collectors. Would you say that today, there is something special or unique about you that keeps you interested in collecting coins?
The reason I ask about uniqueness is due to the 'state quarters' comment, which seems to have peaked many peoples interest in coins. So I guess I'm referring to something internal to you.

Thanks

Rob

 

As I said, I've always saved the new issues each year and the state quarter program gives me a new issue to look for every few months. No lulls to let the interest wane. As for "something inside of me" I guess thats true also. I'm a collector, Comic books, sports cards, depression glass and more.

 

Can't say...wish I could of asked him. I do remember him saying that these coins were before the Civil War and over a 100 years old! That caught my attention. Shortly afterwards, I remember that I got a RED BOOK as a present and started looking up the values of some of the older coins and my eyes bulged. A penny worth $10 dollars!?! That pretty much started it.

I look at coins as a point in history. Just like a World War II Vet may look at a 1941 penny differantly than most people, I look at them with curiosity and questions...who used these, where has it been, what was going on in the world, did it end up in some water fountain or a bank vault?, etc.

Guess that is where some of the passion comes from...

 

i've always wondered why grandma gave the wlh to me. she didn't have to...

i'm lucky she did, though

 

She is somewhat a collector of currency, she collects german paper notes from the early 1900's , but, only once in a great while will she get the urge to buy any, I think since I have started collecting, she has around 7 german notes and two other foreign ones... Every once and a while she might see something tha catches her eye and she wants, as far as coins go, the only thing that she has ever purchased for herself was a 2000 hologram silver eagle.