What area(s) of numismatics bore you the most?

Post 1933 US Gold and state quarters series....

 

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The obsession with detecting cleaned coins, and the consequent rejection of them. If a coin has the design details present and is overall attractive to me, I could not care less. Sure, I like mint state surfaces, but I don't get the apoplectic reaction to cleaned coins, as if they have been gouged with a nail and had a hole drilled through the center.

 

Thats me with some moderns. Sure if I plan to sell it that I doubt I will get my $ back, or at best, break even, but if I can get a nicely designed u.s. or world modern that has, for me, cleaning that isnt abrasive, I will get it, and hopefully cheap.

I can add thats another, complaining of cleaned coins bore me.

 

I'm not really surprised the consensus is "moderns" but I've never really understood this perspective. I was as unhappy about the switch to base metal junk as anyone probably because it removed the great old silver coins from circulation and soon even my favorites were gone as well; buffalo nickels. What I didn't anticipate was that people would ignore the new coins and leave whole series of US coins almost to me alone. This had practical benefits beyond just the ability to find great coins for face value. I could get to a coin show late becvause what I wanted wouldn't all be picked over by the early birds. I'd even go on Saturday or Sunday sometimes!!!

But it goes way beyond this because I could watch the coins in circulation to learn about the economy since almost every single coin circulated freely. The very first ones that didn't were the bicentennial quarters. Even these have been instructive watching them come back in circulation when the states coins began and then flood in when the great recession hit. Most of the modern series are simply massive now and include many dozens of coins some of which have circulated for decades.

I can hardly imagine any coin more exciting than most moderns. Ya' just never know what you're gonna get next. You can't go out and buy an XF 1969 quarter and you'll have a lot of difficulty finding a Gem without chicken scratching. No one seems to know such things because everyone finds them "boring" and they don't look.

 

I'm ok with moderns it's just something I'm not into at the moment. For example, I want to put a complete set of P,D, and S State Quarters together.

 

In no particular order:
1) Self righteousness in the hobby
2) Most VAM's
3) Moderns
4) Small cents
5) Barber designs

 

There's too much junk on eBay. I don't need to see 1000 1957D circulated wheat cents sold one by one.

I liked it when ebay had wheats broken into decade. At least then I didn't have to look through 3 decades of coins I didn't need.

If only they let real users help them.

 

Ok for starters
All presidential coins
All moderns
The petty bs of the tpgs grade the coin accurately and be done with it. If it's a details grade and damaged call it so but don't under grade or details grade perfectly ok coins just to ensure future resubmissions!!
Anything blast white especially Morgans (sorry Amanda)
Trade dollars that have been dipped blast white. Love the series and am very seriously collecting them but 50% or more are damaged and so few of those undamaged / details have their original color
Modern so called rarities and first releases etc make me wanna puke!
And last of all self righteous jerks pompous jackasses. And knowitalls that think what they have or are selling is wonderful and everyone else's stuff is crap

 

And on the flip side what I really love
Trade dollars!!
Any draped bust coins
Early copper
19th c proofs
Coins that have their original skin
And most of all toners especially any and all of the above

 

One other thing I have no interest is the mechanics of coin making. I know some people like to geek out about how a certain coin was made and how dies work and stuff. I respect that but it doesn't interest me. Coins appeal to me as historical objects and works of art, but how they were made doesn't interest me.

 

Normally I would agree with you. My question to you though is this. Does how this specific coin was made hold any interest at all.

 

That's weird but I have only a mild curiosity at best. I'm as interested in it as I am in knowing how anything else weird came to be in the world, but as far as what drives my passion in the hobby, mintage techniques do not qualify.

 

Most annoying thing....GTG threads.

 

ASE'zzzzzzzzz.... are played out

 

That's for sure I rarely bother looking
another thing are photos of slabs sideways

 

Those are the kinds of errors I think are cool - errors that are obvious.

 

I think the biggest issue with moderns is how little effort it takes to find a nice one. I think most collectors (at least the ones I've talked to) really enjoy the building of a collection as much if not more than the finished product. With modern coins you can easily go and buy an PF69 or MS69 and basically have a perfect example of the coin without very much effort at all. There can be some really neat designs on modern coins that are ascetically pleasing, but the problem is the coins will all look exactly the same. With older coins there is a lot more that goes into the selection and the search.

 

Non circulating legal tender (i.e., bullion disguised as a coin for 200-400% [or more] mark-up). Though, I have to admit, I will occasionally purchase one of these if the design is cool enough (by my standards).

Die pairings -- these have always seemed to be a marketing and hype ploy to over-exaggerate the "rarity" of certain coins. A common coin, readily available suddenly gets advertised as R-5, rare die pairing...yaddie yaddie...doesn't float my boat. To each his/her own. For me to get excited about a "rarity" it actually needs to be a different design, not just a slightly misplaced date or a certain die crack/die state. Zzzzzzzzz.....

"Rare" coins that aren't rare at all -- If a coin was minted in a quantity larger (or survives in a quantity larger) than 100 or 200, then it isn't rare. It's potentially scarce, or conditionally (grade-based) rare -- but please, stop using the word "rare" for coins minted in quantities of 10,000 (or 50,000) and all survivors are in proof 69/70 or MS69/70 state of preservation. It's okay to collect these types of coins, and to even pay a premium, but they simply are not rare.

The list could go on, but these are a good start...

 

If you are referring to "intended for circulation" regular issue coins, you can NOT easily find one in MS69. People who repeat this mantra obviously don't collect or even look in these realms of collecting. YES, you can find an MS69 of a Silver Eagle or a Commemorative, but you will not find an MS69 business strike intended for circulation Lincoln cent...or Jeff nickel, or Washie quarter, etc., etc. They are exceedingly scarce in these ultra high grades, and when one is graded at such a lofty grade the prices are sky high (due to registry set players).