Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kevin McGonigal, post: 2809981, member: 72790&quot;]I started collecting coins and stamps in the 1950&#039;s when I was still in my young teens. It seemed every other kid collected one or the other. When I became a high school history teacher in the 1960&#039;s I sponsored the school&#039;s Coin and Stamp Clubs. The clubs were always well attended and a lot of trading went on at the meetings. I would say that collecting took a hit when investors moved in and turned a hobby into an investment. Older collectors may recall when coin books carried two grades of a coin, VG and ExF. All of a sudden we had numerous grading differences with values doubling going from MS 65 to MS 67. What had once been a fun hobby was now a serious investment strategy. Prices were driven not by collector interest but by a frenzy to make a quick profit. Kids could not operate in a climate like this and interest in collecting as a hobby fell off. By the late 1970&#039;s coin and stamp clubs were becoming less well attended and soon disappeared. I have to admit that I was turned off by this as well and really toned down my own collecting. I continued to use my own collection as teaching tools and right up until my retirement a few years ago my students showed considerable interest in both coins and stamps as they related to the period of history we were studying. Some of this lack of interest today may be from a media that requires interaction to keep an interest alive but some of this lack of interest may have been caused by a hobby being morphed into a business that saw investors loose their shirts, something that is likely to warn off others from getting much involved. Where to from here? A more scholarly interest&nbsp; by those who relish the ability to touch the past through a tangible medium of exchange. A movie about Roman gladiators or one about the American Civil War is one thing, but a denarius that could have been spent by Spartacus or a piece of fractional currency used to buy a copy of the New York Herald is a literal touch of reality no digital media can replicate.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in