I’d like to get to you know you a little better…..numismatically.

Some days I literally feel like I'm going round and round with this hobby.

 

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I am an equal opportunity magpie. I would say my favorite areas are medieval and colonial. I can't say I am an expert in any particular area as I dabble in just about everything with the exception of errors (sacrilege I know) as they have never interested me. I tend to read ALOT so I am constantly learning more and more, but with so many options out there I will never run out of new learning opportunities.

 

I specialize in picker tokens and tickets. I might be an expert only because not many others have ventured into this area. Like if I ran a race with two other people and was proud I finished in one of the top three positions.

When I first started collecting I wasn't a "true collector". What I mean by that is, I made sure any coin I bought was worth more than I paid (this was a fast way of learning to spot fake & details coins...).

One day while I was digging through a coin shop's bargain bin, I overheard the dealer telling about "strawberry tokens", specifically about those used in the Ozarks which was home to a town called "The Strawberry Capital of the World". The story I remembered most was how these tokens turned into local currency during the 1890's-1920's which anyone could redeem at the issuing bank for U.S. coinage. However, having private money in denominations under $1 was illegal since 1909. A visiting government agent reported to Washington after they saw someone using these tokens to buy goods from a store. All the banks in the area were told to stop using them, and thus, the thousands of strawberry farmers would have to find alternative methods of paying their pickers for the season of 1923 and beyond.

A lot of looking, buying and researching later, here I am trying to write books on the subject, feeling unqualified and having many more questions than answers. But, I want a guide book and I don't see anyone else making one anytime soon, so here I am.

 

Like others have said, I don't consider myself an expert on anything but I do specialize in German States (pre 1871 Germany) coinage. Any more just about any new acquisition is thaler (silver dollar) sized.



A sub category is coinage depicting a Wildman or two. It's probably the closest thing I will ever be an expert on. I have spoken on them and done competitive displays at large shows. More on the topic here:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/my-wildman-addiction.318099/

This is the newest one to the pack:



In addition, recently I have really been interested in medals, but world and US, especially anything we a good historical context. No where near an expert, the category is way to broad for me to ever learn more than a small portion.

 

I’m just your average retired guy that has been collecting coins and paper money since I was old enough to know what money was. That's about 5 years old. I mainly collect US coins and paper but I do have a little foreign money and I have a small share of ancient coins.
About 10 years or so I started collecting CSA Notes. That’s Confederate States of America. They only made 72 notes and I have about 1/3 of them. I have some very special ones, a few error notes and even a counterfeit note.
I also collect antiques, rocks and fossils and a few other things. Look at the words under my avatar as that will explain it and those words have been there since the day I joined.
Here’s one of my favorite coins that are in my collection. It’s a Fugio dated 1787. I just love the sun wearing a pair of sunglasses.

 

Cool idea for a thread.... I have always said I am not a numismatist. I am a rabid hobbyist. @lordmarcovan scolds me when I say that. I been hoarding coins since the 1960's. I couldn't care less about VAM's, die pairings or rarities. I love to hold a coin in my hand and transport my mind into the history of the time. Works better than a good book for me. I always fed my passion with average circulated pieces until the last ten years when I have been better able to afford some better quality coins that I dreamed of my whole life. I can grade decently. I am not an expert at anything except knowing when I see a nice coin that needs a loving home.

 

Transporting my imagination to that time in history is one of my favorite parts of coin collecting as well. A lot of times my collecting pairs with whatever historical fiction I am reading, or sometimes even non-fiction

 

My niche, and it's a small one, is Canadian Victoria large cent varieties for the last 40 or so years and I've seen 10's of thousands of them

 

What an interesting topic. I've been focused on the hobby as an adult for about 17 years now. What's the definition of an expert? This is a broad range. Most here including myself would not claim to be experts on anything but lets face it, most here are much closer to being experts than any random Joe off the street. So I'd implore everyone to give themselves a little credit here! lol

There are a lot of people that see a shiny Morgan, real or fake and automatically think it's extremely valuable. Guessing most here would instantly know the difference between an average Morgan in MS-64 and something worth getting excited about, like a raw, worn 93-S. Some could do this across many denominations. That's sort of an expert level I suppose. Depends on how much studying you've done.
Like I know the 42/1 Mercury dime from Philadelphia is a lot more dramatic and obvious than the "D" version without looking it up as an example. But I don't specialize in mercury dimes. Just have that knowledge. I have a buffalo nickel set so I know the 26-S is the lowest mintage, the 18/7-D and 37-D three legged are the most coveted, while the 13-S type II is the toughest key date of the normal set to get. (Have two). There's a 14/3 and a 38 D/S. The set goes from 1913-1938 and then the Jeffersons begin in 38. All in my head.

I dabble in a lot of different stuff. I know the inception and cutoff dates as well as overlap dates for most US coinage in the history of the US as I've worked on a US type for a long time. Not all but most, without a Redbook. Know a lot of key dates and errors to be aware of.

Have collected some currency and ancients.
Know enough to be dangerous there and that's about it. My goal was to at least be able to recognize what I'm looking at when I see ancients because some are so cool. I've mostly achieved that though they're so broad, I would still get stumped on many. If I see a stack of "Wood choppers" or a Black Eagle, I know what they are and dates.
I'm at a point where I know enough that it takes a lot to impress me if walking around a show or watching auctions. The vast majority of what I see in cases is not that rare but looks nice. If you're looking for something scarce there's a good chance there isn't one example at the show. My last show I noticed a nice gold dollar type II in the corner of a case. It wasn't large or flashy but knowing it's a somewhat scarce, 3 year type I needed in an NGC slab and was the only one I saw there, I bought it.

 

I'm the resident Jefferson Nickel expert and have a top 10 NGC Registry set, and I spend most of my days buying and selling Jeffersons on Facebook looking for possible upgrades for my set, which has gotten more and more difficult.

In the beginning, I collected everything silver with rainbow toning and that was my key area of interest. Once I purchased my first Appalachian Jefferson, my love of Jeffersons was born.

In the world coin arena, I love the polar bear coinage of Greenland, and expanded my reach into all 25 Ore produced by Denmark. I would brag that I have the highest ranked Danish 25 Ore Registry Sets, but since I am the only one who collects them, it doesn't really count.

 

Just Keep @ it. It doesn't take an expert. I know because I am no expert.

 

I collect US and Ancient. I have about 200 ancients that I have cleaned, cataloged and photographed.

For the Twentieth Century Circulation Grade, I have:
All the Silver Dollars including commemoratives;
All the Half Dollars including Modern commemoratives;
All but a few of the Quarters;
All the Dimes;
All the Nickels;
All but a few 1 Cent pieces
All but the 1995 special Silver Eagles:


Additionally, I have about 90% of the US Postage Stamp issues:

 

I have collected everything from U.S. to ancients to world and exonumia. A few years back I decided I needed to narrow my hoard. I eventually chose the German States as my niche because of its long history and thousands of types. My collection is almost entirely small denominations. While I do own some large 2/3 Thalers and Thalers, 95% of my collection are denominations a half thaler or less. I especially like coinage from the Kipper und Wipper period during the early 17th century, though my German states collection ranges from the 1400s to the 1800s. I'm absolutely no expert, but I feel I know quite a bit. Here's a few Kipper period coins I own.

I do have a few other world coins. I don't produce videos or anything, but I post all of my coins on Instagram @joshualemons

 

You bring up good points. We're all a little bit of an expert, in our own way. Friends and family who know I'm a coin collector might think I'm an "expert" at all things coins. While I have some knowledge, and can certainly research things much more easily than they can, I would not consider myself to be an expert. But, they would certainly come to me with questions.

I was thinking more of "are you an expert of an area within our community of numismatists"? Would people within this community come to you specifically for advice about certain coins, tokens, paper currency, etc.? Have you, or can you, written articles/books about your specialty? If someone here on CoinTalk thought of, say, early US Copper, would they think, "I need to send pics of this coin to Vess1 - he'll know more about this"? That's the kind of thing I was shooting for.

I do like your positivity, though! We ALL are "experts" in our own way.