In What Stage Are You As A Collector?

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I skipped a few of the listed stages and at least two have overlapped. Over the past two years, I have slowed down considerably, nearly to a halt. Perhaps some five years ago I qualified as a voracious stage 1, "hoarding at the start, anything and everything." That became overwhelming pretty quickly as everything and anything appealed to me. My boxes filled up. I had no standards. It felt like numismatic drowning. I also didn't know a lot about problem coins, especially cleaned ones.

Once I realized that I had wasted more money than I cared to admit on problem coins due to my gross lack of education on the subject, I quickly jumped to stage 3, "becoming much more selective, new additions slow down to a crawl." At this point I stopped attending local coin shows and local coin clubs and I no longer read "The Numismatist" cover to cover each month. My coin book collection also came to a halt and I sold the vast majority of my numismatic library, which was never extensive.

So far, I have not purchased a single coin in 2020, though I did buy some current Japanese paper currency. I may never reach stage 4 because I think stage 5, "selling, slowly eliminating or all at once," has overlapped with stage 3 for me. I sold maybe a few dozen coins over the past year, not to make room for more, but to reduce the overall collection, hopefully permanently. Now when I think of coins my mind focuses on selling and not on buying. I really don't want to lose any more money on this hobby. I've lost enough. The prospect of buying something now that I'll probably regret later has pretty much squashed my desire to purchase anything new. My "dream coins" no longer inspire me. I had always wanted a nice 1917 Type-1 SLQ. Now I can't imagine shelling out $200 or more for a really nice one.

We'll see if this is just another phase or if it persists. Coins became kind of an impulsive obsession for me, something I don't look back at with much pleasure or gratification. My attitude towards them seemed almost pathological at times. Plus, I could never find anyone in my real (i.e., non-internet) life that didn't find the practice a little strange and incomprehensible. So we'll see.

 

There should be a 3.5 where having a coin is not a stimulus to buy more, but instead to study the coins and the minting processes themselves. Some skip this point and continue on asking all the time " Is this something?"as they have not learned, and acquiring more coins and asking about these, and wonder why they can't find anything. A person has to know ( at least somewhat) what they are looking for. Same for being able to grade somewhat so they do not lose in early days that discourages them in the hobby. IMO, Jim

 

I started at 3 and will end there when I am no more.

 

Me TOO!!

 

I'm at 2.5 right now. I'll hit 5 and 6 when I die.

 

Firmly in #3. What I collect is already a challenge to readily locate. Finding something in a condition range that fits my collection with the requisite eye-appeal and thus purchase-worthy takes the availability factor to new levels in trying my patience.

 

I'm between 2 and 3, completing series and sets. I'm at the point where I have most of the US 20th century series complete and the type coins are a higher premium so I have been focusing on them and also foreign coins.

 

Im on 2

 

Stuck in 1, but leaning towards 2!

 

I would probably have to go with #2 and #3. I have been collecting for the last several years and my purchases have become much more narrow, but I am still roll searching and actively keeping up with new developments in the hobby, as well as buying a coin from time to time. I enjoy finding a coin myself that I'd want rather than buying it, and much of what I collect are error coins, so that is very possible.

 

Most collectors probably fluctuate between 2-5 at any given time with maybe a stop or two at 6 before returning later.

 

I'd say that I'm a 3-4.

 

Wow! Insert "mind blown" gif here.

I've pared my collection down to fewer than 500 coins, and still frequently feel overwhelmed by that quantity (the paring will continue).

So I quess I'm somewhere in the general vicinity of "3" or maybe "3+" on the OP's scale. I still buy, but incoming is far less than outgoing.

 

I have arrived at a comfortable cruising altitude.

 

Yup, same here

@Joe2007 , you should have made a poll on this

 

My level comes and goes with the money.

 

I think I am 2 and 5 lose interest in group and selling

 

It all depends on the coin.

 

Hello my name is WhiteGermanShepherdLover and I'm a 3. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when my coin collecting started. But I do know that it began oh so innocently. I believe I started at around 8 years of age. Going through penny rolls looking for wheats and IHC's. Checking my change. Asking mom or dad to take me down to the local coin shop to gawk at all of those pretty coins, in which a few just may some day find their way into my blossoming collection. And before I knew it, there I was, shoveling walks in brutally cold weather and mowing lawns on scalding hot summer days, for the sole purpose of getting money to support my coin collecting habit.......enough with that. Yeah, I'm a solid 3. Like many of us, I cringe when I reflect back at my days as a 1. I was a buying fool! At this point I'm too embarrassed to reveal the morbid details, but trust me when I say that I was quite the ignorramus! So to all of you new collectors, do yourself a tremendous favor and do your homework first, before pulling the trigger on any acquisitions.