Changing Face Of Coin Collecting

My fault forgot some people arent actually interested in conversations and just want their opinion validated

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I think a person should get a partial recognition, but, it seems that is beyond your practice. I have given you credit when due but you have your position and nothing else matters. Just recently I suggested that we may be thinking of different groups. No, I am flat wrong.

 

So I should just lie when were both thinking the under 40 crowd and particularly somewhere around 25 and under? I'm not going to lie and pretend I was talking about something different

 

And that's why I'm glad I'm a 'collector' and not an investor..........I sleep like a babe most nites..........

 

I don’t think collecting is sitting at home and ordering everything from the mint. Think how boring that would be. Unless your chasing those (first day of issue). I think it would be more fun getting a cherry pick of a pretty coin you wanted at your price. You get a 2001 coin and a 2002 coin from the mint and they all look the same. I like when I get a coin that’s different and remember the hoops I had to jump though to get it. It’s a friendship think buying selling and trading.

 

What do you call it then. Doubling the price for proof sets. Becausssssse?

 

I don't understand your point. I already told you that any money that the mint makes is pulled out of circulation and put in the treasury, because it is a government agency. And you already know the government prints money at will. If the government want to make a "profit", which is an absurd concept for any government agency, then it just prints money.

If the mint wants to make money, it can just ... ta dah... mint it.

 

I think what intrigues me the most (or disappoints me) is that too many so-called collectors are deluding themselves that their purchases of high-end coins are for "investment" purposes. If you follow the coin market in the past 50 years or so, value of most coins has not kept up with inflation. Only the truly rare or truly unique coins (I'm not talking about ancients) have outpaced inflation. And the scam perpetuated by MS70 and PR70 grades that drive up the price of any coin, rare or not is disgraceful to the art of collecting.

 

I don't see it that way. I think the kids starting out as collectors today are doing it the same way and for the same reasons we did. They're searching rolls for the magic error coin that's going to make them rich or the older coins. What they call older coins is a lot different than what we called older coins, though. When I started out I searched penny rolls for wheat cents. But I also remember that wheat cents had been out of production for less than 20 years at the time. So today the kids are looking for the memorial cents that have been out of production for 13 years. It's the same thing, isn't it?

I believe the modern collectibles sold by the mint appeal more to grandparents looking for Christmas gifts than to the actual collectors, although I do pick up a silver proof set for myself every year and I buy silver quarters for all my nieces and nephews. I did buy a 2016 gold Mercury dime and hope to pick up a 2021 Peace Dollar, though. Mercury's have been my favorite for many years and I'd like the Dollar to add to my set.

 

The real difference today is the relationship that individual coin collectors have with dealers and coin clubs. Not that long ago, one ran into coin collecting because of the influence of the local coin shop. You depended on them for your initiation into the hobby, and for making contacts and friends. More information was diseminated with books nad magazines, but in the end, your connection to the hobby was largely through your shop, and then extended to coin clubs, and eventually to trade show events.

In addition to that, often there was a family connection. The older generation believed in the power of coinage, and precious metals. Silver collectors were common in our families, especially for depression babies, and people held onto Morgans and gave them to children and even used them as doweries et al. Collecting was handed down from one generation to the next, Grandparents to Grandchildren.

Today, as with much of the world, then entire information infrastructure has been overhaulled, and the market is on steroids, always on 24/7. This has transformed collecting in several ways, including how we learn about coins and the our relationship to the coin market. People are much more focused on the turning over of quick profits, and hair splitting on grades, and the search for specific dates and conditions have become mundane. A complete beginner with financial wear with all can assemble a Bust Half collection of the ages in a few months. This is a market that was really only traded for and understood be a select few elite bust nuts. Now, it is an open door and collectors never get the deep dive in O varieties. So that is pretty much the way it is now. It is much less about the human element, and much more about the data.

 

In my case, the hobby has changed three different times. The first came with TPG's and the second was when ebay started up. I quit buying much on ebay many years ago and started just buying at shows and from dealers I knew well.
The third has been the last year or so and not going to shows. I won't be buying much until things get better.

 

The coin collection I have came to me thru my parents. Dad owned a gas station and would pull silver coins from the daily receipts. I can recall my parents sitting at the kitchen table discussing the coins. They are mostly circulated but its from a time when simple things meant a lot.

 

Getting back to the topic of this post, the face of coin collecting is a matter of perspective. Times change and so do the faces. I believe that many younger hobbyists start out collecting things they are exposed to. Being born in 1955, my collecting started in the 1960's. Of course my limited resources forced me to collect common coins I could find in daily change. When I found my first Indian Head Cent in a roll of pennies (cents) it excited me enough to find out more about them. The same for Buffalo nickels. In time, I began to read more about the history of US coinage and at that time I got the bug to expand my collecting. Of course, none of what I was interested could be found in change. I had to go to my LCS or a coin show. These were the places to go to if you wanted to see older coinage.

Turn the clock to today and you have the new kid on the block; the internet. You can pretty much find what you want from the convenience of your smartphone or computer. That can be overwhelming at times. At least I find it that way. I find my collecting habits more dyslexic.

I truly believe that as the younger generations age and have more monetary resources available, many will be drawn to older coinage. We old farts seem to underestimate the younger generation, just as our elders underestimated ours.

 

I'm good.

 

Well...I'm starting to agree with this more and more. Internally I'm torn between continuing with Silver Eagles or ending this year with the new design. Having to sit by a computer and try to get one of the "manufactured rarities" kinda sucks. I do enjoy the Morgans much better - I may just be a "morgan man". Dunno yet; but thanks for the 70+ years of insights

 

Thanks for the feedback. I hope your collecting continues to satisfy your vision.

 

I don't get "all should wash their hands" or whatever it was.

 

That is wishful thinking on both counts. You obviously have missed how this younger generation parallel parks and can't find themselves on a map. Not all generations are the same and this coming one is less the same than many previous generations. There is also a ***REAL*** breakdown in the intergeneration transmission of knowledge.

 

Just like every preceding generation. By the way, how are you at adjusting your car's choke and spark advance as it warms up?