[Poll] Collector or numismatist?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by wcoins, Nov 8, 2013.

?

Do you consider yourself to be a coin collector / numismatist ?

Poll closed Dec 8, 2013.
  1. Collector

    17.5%
  2. Numismatist

    11.1%
  3. Equally collector and numismatist

    38.1%
  4. More of a collector than a numismatist

    15.9%
  5. More of a numismatist than a collector

    17.5%
  6. None of the above

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. WLH22

    WLH22 Well-Known Member

    I am a collector and hope to stay long enough to be a numismatist.
     
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  3. kaparthy

    kaparthy Well-Known Member

    Numismatist.

    The dictionary is a help, that is all. They do not create definitions; they only report what "everyone" seems to mean by what they say.

    1. We are autodidacts. No university curriculum exists. No government licensing exists. It is like computers. Anyone can claim to be a programmer or web developer. If you want to claim to be a systems analyst, though, you better have some cred.

    2. Collectors do pursue knowledge about the objects of their passions. In a sense every collector must be a numismatist at some level. But it depends on the level or depth of that learning.

    3. Numismatists might not collect. Most of the professionals who work for museums do not. Why bother? They curate collections far superior to anything an individual could acquire in a lifetime. (Some do collect and are necessarily cognizant of the conflict of interest.) Like GDJMSP, I have not purchased a coin in years - longer than he, actually.

    4. But I do buy books. So, that makes me a collector of those. Is that in the discussion? I mean David W. Lange is now perhaps the most active collector, reseacher, and seller of vintage coin boards. (His website here.) I knew him from my earliest days as a collector of Mercury Dimes because he wrote the book by DLRC Press. Auction catalogues are another area for bibliomaniacs. (If you have a passion for the printed word, the Numismatic Bibliomania Society here has a free weekly email list called the E-Sylum, a spin on their print journal, the Asylum.

    4a. Among the bibliomaniacs, I am a mere collector. I do not know the sheet sizes (follio, quarto, octavo...) by heart. I am not conversant in the common terms of wear and grade like "foxing." I do not know the mechanics of binding. I do know some things. And I love to learn, but as a book guy, I do not qualify as a bibliomaniac. I just write articles.


    Bottom line: it depends...
     
    John Anthony, medoraman and green18 like this.
  4. bdunnse

    bdunnse Who dat?

    You tell me what I am...

    Since the 70's I have looked through change in order to fill the Dansco P&D sets for cents (Lincoln and Indian Head), nickels (Buffalo and Jefferson), dimes (Roosevelt), quarters (Washington), halves (Kennedy), dollars (Ike, SBA, Sac, Presidential). My mom and grandmother gave me their coins which included a lot of older cents, nickels, dimes, quarters, halves and dollars.

    People have gifted me various proof sets, and several older coins (say 10 or so coins like the large cents, two cent piece, etc.) to partially fill the Dansco Type Set album 7070. I personally have never bought a coin to fill a hole in my albums and have never sold a coin.

    I read a lot about the various U.S. coins included in the 7070 type set as well as most of the topics here on Coin Talk and used to subscribe to Coin World back in the 70's.
     
  5. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    I think it's an interesting question. I'd never thought about the terms but now that I do it explains the difference I feel with a lot of people who post on these boards. I have very little interest in how a mint operates, or the process of making coins, errors, die cracks, varieties, etc. I like old things with dates on them. I'm definitely a collector, not a numismatist.
     
  6. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins Supporter

    Got a nice bell curve going with that survey........:)
     
    Morgandude11 likes this.
  7. Morgandude11

    Morgandude11 As long as it's Silver, I'm listening


    Somehow, I think that the extreme right side of the bell curve won't be well represented. :)
     
  8. jlblonde

    jlblonde Señor Member

    I consider myself both. I love collecting coins, but I also enjoy the history behind them.
    For instance: Many coin designs since the 19th century were politically and or ideologically motivated. I find this fascinating because of my background in history.
     
  9. kaparthy

    kaparthy Well-Known Member

    Actually, they all were. We are not sure about why the first coins were struck, but soon thereafter, people did use them for promoting their families, their cities, or themselves.

    The earliest coins of Athens are called "Wappenmuenze" or "Shield coins" because the images on the coins are often known from the shields of Athenian hoplites: we accept them as family crests.

    Roman coins were intensely political, the Ides of March Denarius being the epitome. Not only did American colonies in revolt declare their politics on their paper money, but in the next decade British merchants issued tokens and coins with political themes.

    (In fact, money is speech. The first tokens from 5000 BCE were the origins of writing. My article "Money is Speech" here and "Money as press and Speech" also another "Accounting for Civilization" here.)

    Astronomical Symbols on Ancient and Medieval Coins by Marshall Faintich (McFarland & Co., 2008, 232 pages, $55.00) provides a thorough catalog of attributable (and putative) eclipses and conjunctions shown on coins. His thesis is that these were taken as signs of heavenly support for the local ruler. (My review here.)

    Just to say, I probably own a hundred coins, but I have written over a hundred articles. Not all numismatists are collectors.
     
  10. AWORDCREATED

    AWORDCREATED Hardly Noticeable

    <--- refuses to be labeled.
     
  11. jlblonde

    jlblonde Señor Member

    I agree, but up to a point.

    Let me through this out there.

    Would you say that coin designs can fall into several categories?

    For Example:

    Political
    Bolivia - 1 Sol - 1843 - Obv.jpg

    Ideological
    Italy - 2 Lire - 1939 R - KM #78b - Magnetic - Rev.jpg

    Symbolic
    South Africa - Half Penny - 1960 - Rev.jpg

    Necessity
    Guatemala - 2 Centavos - 1932 - Obv.jpg

    Commemorative
    Germany - 5 Mark - 1969 G - KM #125.1 - Obv.jpg

    Collector Trash
    $(KGrHqV,!rkFBCQ81N+!BQi,6YoqS!~~60_57.JPG
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2013
  12. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    I would agree with many I am both, (all three if you include accumulator). I buy just piles of stuff sometimes, other times I have a definite theme or collection I am buying a piece for, and still other times I have researched and studied a coin I do not even own. So it depends on the coin and deal I guess, like many people.
     
    silentnviolent likes this.
  13. wcoins

    wcoins GEM-ber

    Poll now closed, here are the results:
    pollrestults.jpg
     
  14. jolumoga

    jolumoga Active Member

    As a person who has done plenty of writing, I see coin collector and numismatist as interchangeable and use them both. That does not mean numismatist cannot have more than one meaning, though. I see no conflict here, and wonder why it's such a big deal. Numismatist is just a slightly pretentious way of saying coin collector.
     
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