Old days coin hobby is better than now

during 50's and 60's, coin hobbyist can do what they want to the coin they liked. they can throw to the air and drop to the floor and play and hear the coin twisting sound. they can hold it, touch it and feel it. they don't have to worry about price increase, grading, condition, capsule it, store it, and so forth. time has changed. you buy a coin that you like and you have to take good care of it. you have to keep it safe and store it right away. you can even see them forever. just like a coffen. and waiting and waiting if that coin will increase its value. let's hear what other old days about coins.

 

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I think the 'old days' you are talking about is just the memory of what some folks did before they knew better... Care has been a subject in numismatics for a long time. Perhaps that has evolved, as we learn more and we have materials to better care for our collections. At one time, cleaning a coin may have been no big deal because the market really didn't react much to evidence of cleaning - those times have long since changed - but I don't think folks have even been given the free range to abuse their coins and expect the value not to drop in response to damages resulting.

 

No reason you can't still do that, other than you might be decreasing the resale value.

 

Wrong...you have not read the right things...collectors back inthe 50's and before always took care of their coins...that is if they were real collectors...the ones you talk about were "collector" but more than lilkey today we wouldn't call them collectors...more like hoarders.

How do you still get a MS63 1853 Large Cent if someone didn't care for it and collect it and make sure nothing happened to it like you said...if what you said happened all of the coins from years back would be in bad shape...today we can still get a MS grade of almost any coin.

Back in the 50's they still graded...but it wasn't what it is now...they only had about 5 grades...

Speedy

 

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I take care of my coins the same way I take care of anything else of value, I want it to last to ensure its worth as well as to ensure that it continues to give me pleasure.

Now why would I want to look at or keep a bend up rim of a coin with a face all scatched up?

But if you have fun doing what you do, then do it.

 

The days before the TPGs were certainly better. This was (and for the most part still is) a hobby of honorable people. When I was a young collector, there were at least half a dozen dealers in my local area that I could call on the telephone and ask for a particular coin in a particular grade. I'd send payment and they would send me a coin, sight unseen. You could have bet everything you owned that the coin would have solidly graded what they said it would. I don't know any dealers these days that I would trust to do that. I also have no faith in the TPGs due to my experience with them but they are somehow necessary to the whole idea of trust.

Grantedl, the vast majority of dealers are probably honest but the TPGs have completetly changed the economics of collecting. A good solid MS-65 raw coin would, I estimate, sell for about half to two-thirds what it would if it were in a TPG slab.

It's much more pleasurable, for me anyway, to collect raw coins. They somehow seem more like coins to me. Yes, they must be carefully handled and stored, but it sure beats having a boatload of coins that have about half their value in the plastic that encases them.

 

You know, it IS actually possible to care for coins and store them properly without the use of a TPG. The TPG's main goals, at least the way I see it, are for 1) conservation and protection of a coin by knowledgable people, and 2) for authentication of rarer key date coins that are substantially counterfeited.

A person can conserve and protect their own coins, of course, but many people find it easier and somewhat safer to submit the coins for slabbing, thus providing a certain level of professional protection. As for authentication, I think we can all agree that TPG's are essential to that process - especially in this day and age when so many raw coins are counterfeited and sold without anyone ever catching on.

That being said, I also enjoy my raw coins, that I house in Dansco albums, and I wouldn't trade them for slabbed coins because I like the look of Danscos more than slabs, but I can certainly see where slab-advocates views are, and I do agree with them.

~AJ

 

I was born in the 90s, so I'm not an old timer

 

You can still do that--But not as a true coin collector--I have this jar plum full of quarters, dimes nickels and pennies from change of everyday living--You are more than welcome to toss them into the air all you want--But my proof sets?? don't you dare--

 

Well said, although I did buy my first slabbed coin today

I much prefer raw coins over slabs although I am sure I will buy more slabbed coins down the road.

FB

 

My Silver

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie. I mostly buy silver bullion on eBay for spot price including shipping. I keep most of the coins in a box and I handle them quite a bit. I don't 'cherrypick' them or anything and don't plan to sell any for more than bullion value in the future, so I don't have to worry about storage or mishandling them. I do set aside the uncirculated coins and try to protect them from damage. It's fun to play with my pile of silver and not have to have ruining good coins on my conscience all the time. I've gotten some surprisingly good and interesting deals along the way too. I'm having fun so far. Hope to talk with you all some more soon.

 

I'd like to throw my 2 cents in by observing that there is far more information available today than several decades ago. The market is more efficient in that sense. The internet is the great equalizer. When I was a kid, I didn't have much choice other than to buy something from the local coin dealer, at his listed prices. Now I can choose from many internet and mail order dealers, or go back to the coin shop -- my choice -- armed with recent auction prices for the coins I want to buy. It's still pretty easy to get burned, but also easier to protect yourself if you do the homework before you buy.

 

Everything about the old days was better,but then i probably only say that because i'm pushing 50

 

The biggest difference from when I started collecting in the early 60's to now is the availability of coins that were found in general circulation that now have to be purchased either from a dealer or on Ebay.
My dad would go to the local police station every Friday and buy the coins that they had emptied from the parking meters the night before. We would spend Friday night going thru the coins and spend Saturday morning counting and rolling the ones we didn't want. I can't list everything we found but it was amazing that even in the early 60's, Indian Head pennies and V Nickels were that common. We would keep all Mercury dimes and Standing Liberty quarters but alot of later date silver ( 1955 and later ) Roosevelt's and Washington quarters were turned back into the bank.
Even general store change included a lot of turn of the century coins.
If I could only invent a time machine.
Tom

 

Silver surfer I used to have a glow in the dark poster of the silver surfer in my room as a kid in Brooklyn. Didn't know how to swim then but dreamed of surfering the universe.

With all the talk about the coin stores, it sounds to me the biggest loss to coin collectors is the ability to walk into mom and pop stores and just talk coins and take ones time with the whole thing. E-bay may be a good way to buy without leaving the house but sometimes it is good to leave the house. When I lived in Manhattan that store thing still kinda existed but with less stores. I used to go into the large and very proper, everyone had white gloves on, coin stores but I didn't feel as comfortable as I did in the small rent controled upper east side shop with the coins in the window and the overweight guy with a big mouth filled with a sandwich and words that one actually wanted to listen to. Now I know that stores are still out there but not like it used to be.

 

old days remembered

i still preferred the old days coin collecting. you don't have to worry a lot regarding your collections.

 

I could not agree more, as I sure have mixed emotions related to the past and how things have changed. Usually for the better, I will grudgingly admit this time.
As new people come into the collectiong arena we must allow them to make their own beds (so to speak), as they are the ones who must sleep in them.