Coin Funk

Been collecting to one degree or another since the late 1960’s. Shiny new coins in my pocket change or discovery of a random coin dropped on the ground have always made me just a wee bit giddy…. Now I have the collection of my dreams and haven’t pulled the first coin out of my safe for months now. I’m experiencing a funk unlike anything I have ever experienced before. Coins have always taken my mind off the concerns of the day. What the heck is this? Menopause???!!!

 

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Time for a new hobby..
Try plants.. Orchids are my interest now!

 

In a few short months I will "celebrate" 75 years of collecting coins. I have feelings like yours sometimes @Randy Abercrombie. I look at my accumulation and feel that there is nothing in there that I can do something new with. I made almost 30 family tree like type set for grandchildren and great grandchildren. Gave my favorite coin (1875-S Twenty Cent piece that I got in change) to our youngest child. Stopped accumulating any new coins. I think my big problem is that I am a "found in circulation" type of collector. Getting change in daily transactions is a very rare occurrence these days and I do very little roll hunting.

I may have to look to @paddyman98 for some guidance.

 

Meow has started to buy vintage comic books to relive the Kitten years.

 

That's the only way I keep my world in balance. You have to jump on any problem as fast as possible and get it behind you. When you get ahead, you fight to stay there.

 

I do several things. Coins, rocks and fossils, gardening and cooking keep me busy. But there are times I just want to stop it all. Its called middle age and it’s not nice. I used to travel a lot. I’ve been to 42 states and I could get to 6 of them without a problem. Alaska and Hawaii would be a problem, at least for me right now. Maybe one day I’ll get to them all but it’s not as important as it used to be.

 

A long time ago , I made a promise to retire from College Teaching when I reached 80 years old and the time , " it is a'coming soon" after the end of this semester. I don't want to stop in the middle of a semester, so Dec. 10th is the last day of class. I started here in 1967 , retired with full retirement and extras in 2003, Came back as a great friend there developed prostate cancer so I took his classes for 2 years, retired again and came back in 2013 to replace a teacher who was placed on 2 year suspension , retired again , Went back in 2018 to teach part-time online during the pandemic years on Zoom. And then this year due to retirements , I went back as a full-time teacher for 1 semester ( this one) as they could not find a qualified teacher for the classes. I have been offered extensions as they have trouble still finding someone in the field, but I said No! Sorry. My "To-Do " lists from the family are growing large and I have my own personal ones. Jim

 

By the way, collecting new things make ones Cat Hoard even larger.

 

Well, Randy, I'll go way out on a limb and venture it's not menopause. But, it's not uncommon for interest to wane after goal (s) have been achieved. I find for myself that the coins offer less that's interesting after I've found out just about everything about them that there is available to know. This may be heresy to some, but there is, relatively speaking, a smaller amount of information that is available to know about US coins than other coin/currency areas of collecting. It is possible to reach your personal information saturation point with US coins much sooner than with a much broader field such as Ancients.

For others, that curiosity and restlessness that marks the auto-didact leads them to astronomy, or orchids, or other fields that require acquisition of knowledge and skills in order to succeed.

When I feel that ennui that you're experiencing, I start a new collection; one that requires some research and knowledge in order to collect intelligently. If the new collecting interest also requires teaching oneself some new skills, that is an added attractant.

 

I retired at 60 to start my next life. I've had my highs and lows collecting coins. Mostly, I had to prioritize family and work. In retirement I've had the time to spend more time with my coins. However, I have thought long and hard about where to go with my coins as I get older. Do I want to keep building sets/acuiring more rare coins or do I want to explore other things to do with my time? Keeping both physicially and mentally active are important. Since my son isn't interested in numismatics I really don't want him to have to deal with my collection down the road. So, my plan is to probably sell most, if not all of my collection in the next five years or so and devote the resources in new adventures.

 

Thank you TC, but I have a lot of things to take care of that I have been ignoring or putting off for a long while. Our main house here in the desert needs some work on the patio roof and flooring, etc. etc. Also we are going to go to Flagstaff where we have some rentals and deciding if we want to convert one to a summer place in Flag which is a university town with a lot of cultural things or sell and do that somewhere else, . It's hard to figure where the weather will allow people to live anymore .My son is hooked on coins and has assembled some good collections and will happily conserve mine when I am gone. But I have to finish this semester first Jim

 

Grab a pair of binoculars and start bird watching. Start in your backyard. You'll discover that being a birder offers lot's of fodder for a coin collector's OCD tendencies. Then you'll get bored of that after awhile and you'll open the safe again. Then you'll get bored of that, again, and you can pick up the binoculars.

I alternate between coins, birds, golf and hiking. In between I enjoy martinis, wine and whiskey. Plenty of things to do when not adulting.

 

I wouldn't say I'm in a funk but I got a Runaway Camper this spring and have been enjoying it a lot and more of my coin budget has been going to the monthly payments. I've always loved camping but I love it more now I'm no longer in a tent.

 

That’s a cute little trailer. I could use one of those. I do miss my tent though. Too hard to get down and up with my knees. A small camper would work.

 

Thanks! They make bigger ones 8x8 where you can stand up in them. Mine is a 4x8.

 

Sounds like you have become bored with coins! Can't imagine that happening to me, but who knows for sure! There are other aspects in coins you could pursue if you want! Open a coin shop, rent tables at coin shows, offer to do presentations and a local school! Or maybe you just need to take some time off and come back to them in a few weeks/months/years and see if your attitude has changed! Hope I never face your problem. Best of luck to ya!!!

 

I may have to look into them.