Does Collecting Certain Coins Create an Ethical Dilemma?

Over the years I have had discussions with several different collectors about the ethics of collecting...specially is it ethical to collect all coins? By that, I mean...are the history of some coins so vile that they should not be collected? I personally don't think so. I think that history should be preserved so we don't allow the problems of the past to pollute the future.

I recently read a thread here that sparked this thought once again. The thread concerned an advertisement selling WTC recovered ASEs. That discussion was more about the timing, and content of the ad itself...not so much about the coins. Although some discussion about the coins occurred. So, what I want to know is...do you feel that collecting certain coins is ethically off limits? In your opinion, is something wrong with someone seeking out these WTC coins and paying a premium for them? Is collecting coins from "evil empires" something we shouldn't do (ex: Nazi Germany or USSR, ect.)? What are your thoughts on this?

I would really like to hear your opinions on this topic. However, please don't allow this thread to become heated and turn into a flame war. I know topics like this can become heated. I would prefer not to lock my own thread.

 

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Camero: Your post here echos the thoughts going through my mind when I was commenting on the WTC ASE thread. I think collecting coins is more of a historical pursuit. I know that you have posted coins from Nazi Germany on CT, I have a couple in my collection as well. I don't think that one endorses or supports a regime, historical act, or a political view by collecting coins of a certain type. Collecting to me has always been more about remembering and preserving bits of history.

 

This is how I look at it as well. I don't think anyone here as ever jumped down my throat over my collection of Third Reich coins...but I know some people have expressed their personal discomfort with it. That combined with the WTC thread is why I thought it might be interesting to discuss the topic and see what others have to say.

 

I was actually given a Third Reich coin or two from people who obtained them in a bulk coin lot, because they felt they were repulsive. I too look forward to seeing what others feel about "taboo" coins.

 

It's in poor taste to seek profit from such a tragedy.

 

I didn't say anything about seeking a profit. I am asking about collecting...not seeking a profit.

 

I have thought this also but about Confederate Currency as I'm also studying the notes though. It was a tragedy that this took place especially in the UNITED STATES . But it also is a peice of history. I hope this was not off the OP.
Sandy

 

I think the only ethical dilemma is with people who are opposed to you doing so. Personally, I wouldn't buy a WTC one if I could get the same quality without that label. But it is also nice to be able to know the provenance of a coin.

I certainly wouldn't glorify Hitler or others, but if my interest in coins included a collection that could contain those to make the collection better or if the coins themselves were so gloriously beautiful in design or something, I'd buy them. I'm not buying the regime or the history of the person who is on the coin.

 

It is an obscure fact, and curious - but Abraham Lincoln is known to have carried a Confederate $5 bill in his pocket. In fact I have heard that it is now in a museum with other relics associated with him. I cannot fathom that he accorded the Confederacy any sense of recognition by having the note.

 

A bit off topic, forgive me but I have a banknote that undeniably is a piece of history and on the surface is objectionable, but when you put the whole story behind it's issue together it is remarkable.



A woman holding edelweiss, a vignette created for a 1938 dated Austrian 100 Schilling note that was not released to circulation. But like so many other things they could get their nefarious paws on, the Nazis stole her and her nation.



The basic elements of this note, save the swastikas and the legends were all swiped from the Austrian design. So not only did the perfidious fascists steal the note design, they went ahead and stole Austria too.

In 1947 with the re-introduction of the Austrian schilling currency the note design was modified with a new vignette of the young lady representing Austria, but the basic elements of the design, especially the reverse, remained:

 

If memory serves...it was in his pocket when he was assassinated.

 

As you say, I do not believe that Lincoln accorded recognition to the CSA by carrying the note. I think it was more of a reminder that the cost of the war in lives was high and that it affected everyone, including him. Lincoln had 5 brothers-in-law who fought for the Confederacy. Most notably was General Benjamin Hardin Helm who was killed in the Battle of Chickamuaga in 1863. Helm's widow in fact moved into the White House shortly after his death. Samual Todd, another of his Brothers-in-Law was killed at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862.

 

I don't find collecting any coins morally repulsive in themselves. The only way I would view it would be if by my act of collecting I helped facilitate such atrocities. If I had bought coins directly from Nazi Germany or if today I was buying coins from North Korea or some lawless groups, then I would have a problem with it because I was financing their activities.

If you buy way past the time the atrocities were committed, and do not buy from regimes you find objectionable, then I do not see a problem. The benefit of it is to remind others of the past, that places like Nazi Germany were real.

Chris

 

I think we are talking about "liberty" here; a word that is, oddly enough, found on many of our coins. This decision should be based upon what is of interest to the individual. Personally, I wouldn't own anything related to the Civil War, Nazi Germany or the events of September 11, 2001 because I don't need a reminder of how cruel human beings can be toward 1 another. However, I would not try to deny anyone the right to do so. Likewise, I would never own a large SUV, as I think it is basically saying, "I don't give a rat's ass about the future of the earth", but I would not say anybody else couldn't. It's strictly a matter of personal preference, which should be respected regardless of which side of the fence an individual stands.

 

if a person is collecting them for the history, then i don't see a problem with it. many roman emperors and english kings were not of high standing repute, but i don't see others complaining when those coins are collected. maybe hitler and the wtc are still too recent of events that people see them and are reminded of personal events that they went through. it may be another generation or two before nazi coins become just history, and not some personal reminder of horrors inflicted upon a person. just my two cents...

 

I guess I am the odd man out, but I fail to see how not collecting from an uncomfortable era will change anything except to make history more likely to repeat because fewer are aware of it. I personally think they ought to be more widely advertized and maybe there would be fewer problems in the future.

 

I actually agree with you...as I said before:

 

Just off the top of my head the only coins I would have an ethical problem collecting would be stolen coins.

Treehugger what do you collect? Because no matter what you can probably find something in any groups past where they were cruel or oppressive to another group. Can't collect US coins, see how we treated the Indians and later the Mexicans, the slaves, or our own Japanese, Italian and German citizens. British coins? Well there was how the treated their American colonies and many of their other possessions around the world. French coins? Same problem with their overseas possessions. South Africa? Apartheid. Coins from Predominantly Catholic countries? The Inquisition. The Crusades They were cruel to both Muslims and other Christians. Russia? Killed 20 million of their own people, China? The same. Japan? Once more war atrocities. If you use the excuse that they oppressed or treated some other group cruelly you can eliminate almost everything. OK so you narrow it down to eliminating just those era when they were actually behaving badly. That chops history full of holes and you have a false history that is all sweetness and light that can't explain why the changes happen and what caused them.

 

Cam,

I don't find collecting such things objectionable. As much as we would like to put certain things in the past and out of our memory, they are, regardless, still a part of history, and we are supposed to learn from the things that have happened in the past so that they won't happen again.

What I do find objectionable, is the sons-o-bucks who seek to profit from such tragedies. This does not mean just the people who sell such items, but the people who profit by association to those incidents as well. A perfect example would be the top administrators of the Red Cross who, under the guise of serving as a collection point for donations for the 9/11 survivors and families sought to pad their own bank accounts with a big chunk of the funds.

Chris

 

Collect what you want.

A coin may TELL history...but people MAKE history.