No better way to spend a saturday evening

Now I'm beginning to understand the reason why you would go through the trouble of making tags. Everyone has their own motivations and things that make them happy. So I get it.

I'm generally reluctant to show my coins to guests or visitors, or to even let anyone but very close family members know about my collection; if that knowledge makes its way to the wrong person then I'm opening myself up to become the potential target of theft. This is why on forums like this I don't use my real name! And I actually wish I could; it's a shame that collecting has to be such a secretive endeavor.

This is a forum, which means it's an exchange of ideas. I read through the entire thread and formed my impression based on that. I just happen to have different ideas about it.

And I did say that your ambition and devotion are admirable. Certainly now I understand that some people simply enjoy the process of making informational tags, and with such strong emotion that they're going to let you know it! I did not mean to offend; but I did take the particular approach to organizing that stood out in my mind as most different from how I might approach it to be illustrative as such.

Enjoyment of a particular organizing approach is reason enough to do it. If that involves tags or flips or slabs or rolling the coins across a concrete floor, that's the collector's prerogative no matter what anyone else says about it. But I do think it's valuable to offer an alternate view if you have one. If everyone agrees with a particular method or technique put forward on a thread (and there's a great tendency to do this), then it may indeed have value to someone reading the thread for advice about the subject. Yet they may come away with the impression that "this is the way it must be done."

However, I should clarify that my ideas were meant primarily for the consideration of other collectors. It seems to me that dealers — or anyone who sells and displays coins regularly, such as at shows — have more of a practical imperative to maintain a system of clear and informative tags. But if as a collector you ENJOY something, then it's a necessity to you. After all, enjoyment is one of the most important aspects of collecting. So I wish you continued enjoyment.

 

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I understand and agree with your perspective. To qualify myself, I am an end-user Hobbiest. I am not a scholar, historian, nor a professional Numismatist. My career and background is very different from these. No offense taken and well stated comments in your response. Thank you for your comments.

 

[QUOTE="benhur767, post: 2538315, member: 36818"

 

I can definitely appreciate your security concerns! There is absolutely nothing wrong with exercising caution. I too use a partial alias in this forum. I am a Deacon of Family Ministry and my first name is Ray but I choose not to use my last name mainly for online security safety.

The folks to whom I show my coins and often give them are trusted members of my church. I realize that is no safeguard against the news of my collection reaching predatory ears. I guess the fun and joy of sharing these coins far outweighs the fear of losing them.

 

I tell people my coins are worthless, only interesting to a select few.

I don't make labels...maybe one day. I did learn to make a crude database though. When I have time I want to work on it some more but for now I just a slip of paper with my catalog number with it.