I Think I'm An Unsophisticated Numismatist

The first time I read that...I didn't see the "H" in "CBHD." I had to re-read it...it makes sense now. lol.

 

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I'm more of a Proof Coronet Penny and Liberty Seated Dime man myself.

 

Not sophisticated but trying to be. I collect Morgans and am interested in varieties. Not hard core but I do look for them to break up the boredom as I can only look at the same series for so long and they begin to look the same. Currently I have examples of nearly all the circulation strike Morgans. Missing only 8 examples like the 89-CC, 93-S, 95-S, etc. Since, in a decent grade, these are all out of my price range, unless I stumble on the right 6 numbers for Power Ball, I've resorted to examining my set for the Top 50 or 100 VAM's. Hoping to find a treasure in my safe that I didn't realize I had only to adjust my estimate of value when it comes time to liquidate.

That said, I guess I have one foot in and one foot out of the boat. I like them if they can be seen without magnification, or at least nothing higher then 5x. This allowed me to discover that I have several examples of 7/8 TF's. Both weak and strong. 78 Rev 79, 88-O Hot Lips, etc. Several of the varieties command a significant premium so I guess I look closer for fear of "leaving money on the table" in the future. Plus I think some of them are pretty cool to own. The other driver is how uncommon are they. Like the DDO 55 Lincoln, or several of the "No S" proof Lincoln's. I mentioned in an earlier post, different subject, that I started in the late 60's through mid 70', quit for a while then started up again. What started me on varieties happened in 1973 when my boss, also a collector, opened a new bank roll of dimes. He always did a quick scan for 90%ers. This time, two coins stood out. One looked "normal" on the obverse but the reverse was half silver (copper-nickel) and half copper core, fully struck. The second was only the copper core, missing both copper-nickel plates. You could partially see the devices but the coin appeared to be a full de-lamination of outer layers. Not sure what he ended up doing with it or what it was valued at or if it had any value above 10 cents.

To each his own. If you like them collect them, if you don't or simply don't care, that's fine too. As long as you enjoy the hobby and try to perpetuate it. In the not to distant future I wonder if anyone will be trying to collect cryptocurrency for varieties or mint errors. Now wouldn't that be something rare. I guess you'd have to be searching for computer coding errors....right? (weak attempt at humor)

 

Well done. LOL

 

I collected mindlessly over the years. When I was a kid I tried collecting and was stupid and cleaned my coins since I didn't know any better. Then later in life I started buying from the mint and bought a few things on eBay too. I've decided this will be my last year from buying from the mint. I'm going to spend the rest of my time going thru what I got and hopefully find that I have something of real value. I did one thing right back in the Nixon era, I bought 2 GSA CC Morgans and back then, I tried to see if my 1880 was 80/79 with a magnifying glass but couldn't see any error. I can't seem to take good pictures of anything let alone a coin, but many years ago I bought a high resolution scanner and I thought, why not do a scan. To my surprise, it is 80/79. Now I'm interested in checking what I got over the years to see if I blindly collected some other errors. I'm hoping to learn what I can from you guys & gals about errors, VAM's and other things I don't know about.

 

Oops, missed attachment.

 

Each to his/her own.

That's what I've always liked about the hobby.

Forget the Style Freaks and do yer own thing.

That's what I say.

 

I've been interested but never motivated until I started reading "Strike it Rich with Pocket Change" and reading post on this site. Now I want to learn more.

 

We still love ya

 

Strawberry hater

 

Damn. Your so spot on. I'm a Closet coin collector. Cointalk is my coin family. Almost NEVER buy coins. Roll hunt. The ones i give away. The people don't ask how or were i got them. They know the drill. I think your doing your collecting right. You don't have to chase stuff like the W QUARTER s. 82d cent. 3 1/2 legged nickels 1974 haves. So much easier. Yeah but if you roll hunt. Errors are all we got.

 

So you met Kurt

 

If you're a fraud for that, then I guess I am, too, because I'm right there with ya.