Not sure where to go from here in this hobby

If you get into writing about coins, you should be able to increase your budget for coins you want. Also, as a retired academic psychologist, I would suggest that perhaps you're just depressed about the pandemic and "sheltering in place" and all that entails. Also, as a writer of more than 900 coin articles I can tell you that you don't have to "dig deep" to write about coins. We can't all be Bob Julians, after all.

 

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If you truly enjoy making sets and are starting a family begin with a birth year set for your child. Also begin working on the child's family tree. For each identified ancestor of the child get a birth year coin. Identify the coin as what it is and name the ancestor it honors and how they are related to your child on the holder. Second and subsequent children double and triple your possible acquisitions. As you go through your current holdings for sale put aside all of the cheaper animal coins for the little ones so that they can have something that appeals to them that they can play with. Enjoy

 

Bonus points if the coin comes from the same country as the ancestor was born in.

 

Sounds like you should change or create a collecting criteria that reflects your interest. For example only coins of your birth year, coins of both sides of a war. Coins of aluminum, coins with portraits of people wearing eye glasses, coins of over thrown rulers, tokens medals etc

 

You got a best answer. We'd have to sit down for you to fix me. You made sense

 

Interesting. First time i heard that.

 

Of course

 

Nah

 

Thanks, Cheech, but I noted that I was an academic psychologist. I taught, did rat research for a couple of decades, and then got into textbook writing, which I really enjoyed. It was also somewhat lucrative. I've had trouble fixing myself, but that's another story.

 

that is where you got into trouble. It is for enjoyment. If you don't enjoy it, just go onto something different, like fishing.

 

I agree it is for enjoyment, but I think you need to think once in awhile about if you are still enjoying what you are doing or if you are just doing it because you've always done it. It doesn't mean you need to stop collecting coins, but you don't have to keep buying the same ones.

 

I agree with this. This is how I learned to cllect anyway. We learned it like we learned to tour museums and such, or collect art. I have a collection of JUdiaca, menorahs, estrog boxes, candlestix and such. I buy what I find pleasing and aesthetic. Then when I get to much, I repackage it as wedding presents.

 

This is similar to how I do things now. I'm not into that Marie Kondo stuff about getting rid of all your possessions if they don't bring you joy, but I do often think of it like, do I enjoy this coin or am I just buying it to fill a hole? Why spend time and money on it if I don't really want it. It is fulfilling to complete a set but most of them just aren't really manageable, at least not within reason. I'm holding on to the complete sets that I have but I'm unlikely to start any more. Instead I focus on getting new things that are different and interesting. There's a lot of coins out there that kind of stand out as special and I'd like more of those. Like something from German New Guinea or things like that which you don't see every day.

This thread is something I originally started years ago, and once in awhile it somehow gets dragged up again. As you can see I'm still collecting, but differently.

 

Because there is a lot of good descriptions of healthy self-examination throughout it that can really help people who need it to show that healthy growth is possible.

 

I wish I could get my wife to adopt your philosophy, particularly the part where you said, "Then when I get to[o] much, I repackage it as wedding presents." You wouldn't believe how many potential wedding presents she's accumulated over the years.

 

I second your endorsement. And the key word is "liberating".

Edit: I started collecting coins when I was 8 years old, and my interest predated that, thanks to a box of world coins my dad and my uncle brought back from WW2. But I got to a point where filling holes in date/mint sets became totally boring, and I almost gave up on the hobby. It was only the fortunate realization that I didn't have to be a slave to those album holes that kept me going. I get way more satisfaction from "freestyle" collecting than I ever did before.

 

I exactly like Lordmarcovan, I collect just for the fun of it. I have no goal in mind, just collect all time periods/ from every part of the World....
John