Does anyone here collect "virtual coins"? I was thinking recently about how cool it would be to collect images of coins. It's much cheaper, it involves no security, and you can steal coins from people and they won't even care!!! You find a neat new coin on a website, you hover over it woth your mouse, and right click, "save picture as" and BOOM it's on your own computer and you can learn to appreciate coins that you could never dream of owning, and all in fantastic conditions!!! Just think, I could finally start that "turban head" gold collection that I could only dream of, I could actually have an 1804 Dollar Class 1, 2 and 3!!!! EBay would become a place to search images to get new coins for free, and auction catalogs would have a whole new cachet!!! Maybe some of you have done this or might now think about doing it too. Any opinions???
I've downloaded many images from the US Mint website. Not all of their images but many commemoratives, and several gold issues. It's a good idea and much less expensive than outright ownership. However, it will not diversify your portfolio or recognize any financial appreciation over time.
I keep literally thousands of pictures of coins on my computer. I use them for comparison purposes and research. And I use them a lot. Of course you do it the old fashioned way and collect coin catalogs - I do that too
like Doug, i have thousands of coins and currency pics i keep that i obtained from a varierty of sources. But i dont keep them on my pc. I have a Dell Axmin x51v Pocket PC that i keep in a nifty Rhino carrying case. This case allows for the storage of 2 extra SD cards. One of those 2gig sd cards is strictly all the images i gave of all the coins and currency i collected over the years. They do come in handy at times too But for me... i prefer the real thing. I like the pics, but they dont bringme the same joy.
Interesting ~ never did it but you're right.. I could have a great registry set, huh. What I think is even more challenging is there are some world coins I would like to collect for real and have never seen, even in photo. Hunting real coins, hunting coin photos. And the hobby continues
People do it on ebay all of the time. Save picture as and BOOM! you have a high grade coin to sell! Seriously, I like your idea but the ugly truth rears it's head at the same time. clembo
What Will They Think of Next! A virtual collection. What novel idea!! I like this concept. I have stored many pictures for use as backgrounds for posters, coin club work and other related stuff. I have actually saved some pictures of coins that I find quite beautifully toned, and I truly love a toned coin. Good post. I know this will be on my mind all through this weekend. In fact I'll most likely wake at 4:30 AM tomorrow and have to get started on my "virtual collection file". Like you said the price IS affordable. Keep on Collecting!!! Allen
you know my thought is this... you could indeed make quite a registry set and this is a registry competition worth jumping into!!! No downside! You look at the population reports, and whatever the top grade is, you can actually pursue! Upgrading is no longer expensive, and you can have enough to own toned as well as white examples. In fact, you could become good enough at grading coins, that you could have your own unslabbed set to compare against the slabbed sets!!! Money is no object this way!!! OMG, I think I just found a way to combine my hobbies of computers and coins in yet another way!!!!
You know - selling a coin that you don't actually have. Has happened a few times on ebay now hasn't it. Not by me though. I'm into the "infoauction" scene. Scammers don't like me but I'll get over it.
It's interesting that this subject came up. Since so many great coin images are readily available on the internet, I feel less need to actually buy high grade/high cost coins. It's easier to view them online. So I confine my buying to hunting for a few coin "bargains" which saves an enormous amount of money.
excellent point. The more I learn about coins, the more some of the rarer stuff intrigues me. The problem is, that not only is it hard to find anywhere, but it is cost-prohibitive to start to collect. Images are proving to be quite a hunt as well, but from a standpoint of budget, I can afford to collect images of anything. I can also afford to make mistakes with images. If my coin turns out to be harshly cleaned, I just delete the image and ty to find a better one. Call me a geek, but I don't have to worry about my kids mistakenly spending them, damaging them from mishandling, and I can let the world know that I have them without fear of robbery. Not for everyone, mind you, but I think that a virtual coin collection offers us all the opportunity to own a grading set of every series, and we can learn more simply by exposing ourselves to more coins, rarer coins, and series that are simply for "other people" who are of more means.
