Featured Why I Switched From Collecting U.S. Coins To Ancient Coins

Thanks. I would love to, but I am not tech saavy

 

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I agree that this is what killed collecting from circulation but that has changed. I collected from circulation starting in the mid 1950's when we found mostly Lincoln cents and Jefferson nickels. If I wanted to tie up big money, I could take Walking Liberty halves. In 1959, none of those common circulation coins were over 50 years old. Today in 2019, fifty years is 1969 or after the final end of silver. It is nothing to find a 1938 nickel. There are a massive number of quarter issues now so what there is to collect is massive compared to what I had fifty years ago.

The difference is that no one told me that my coins from circulation were worthless because they were not perfect. I still have a few coins I pulled from circulation that were prizes even if the dates were hard to read with certainty. We collectors ruined the hobby for kids by telling them the only way to get a collectible quarter is to pay someone a dollar for it. If a kid in 1959 put coins in a folder, we called it savings but now we tell them they need to put it in a bank account paying 0.1% or to invest it in bullion rounds. I suppose I could have put those 500 coins in my collection to work for me back then, but I enjoyed them and the fact that at any time I could take one out and get the cent(s) I paid (face value) with no loss of principle.

I do not regret converting to ancients all those years ago and I have learned a lot about the coins and the cultures that produced them that outvalues the coins themselves. What I regret is the way we killed the concept of collecting from circulation that might have provided a new crop of kid collectors to discover ancients in 2030 and beyond.

 

It is quite a desolate waste land now days in circualtion. I guess being a collector in the 50s was like being a penguine born in summer with a good start. But alas, I am the penguin who was somehow born in winter and must now try to get what ever I can. It may be hard to find cool stuff but I have mainly gone for world coins and banknotes as those are super cheap. US stuff while nice and while I still buy some of it is way more expensive than say Mexican or British stuff.

 

I know I will, at some point, get into ancients, but for now I'm finding my history in U.S. coins from the 1800s on up to the 1980s. More in the early years, though, than the later ones.

But I have also seen that some collectors here still find good coins while CRH or in rejects of coin machines. Which is why I think it's still interesting to check coins in circulation.

 

Our timelines are exactly the same. I made the move to ancients/non US in 1982 after completing a US type set. Did cents through dollars and asked my self
"what's next" ?

The transformation is still ongoing. Just a lot more coins to appreciate and study.

 

I think this is an excellent thread @Al Kowsky. Unfortunately I cannot participate because I have never collected US coins (just spent them as money). But now I wish I had collected some early US large or half cents.

 

I don’t make predictions about my generation getting into coins. I’m sure many individuals collecting today would have been pegged as never collectiong coins when they are kids. People change as they grow up, get money, settle down, and get wiser. People have been touting for decades that the current generation of kids would spell the doom of coin collecting, but the market is stronger than it has ever been. Many collectors of US coins who jump in at 40 years old or so do it because of nationalism and wanting a (easy-to-store) physical tie to American history. That will never go away. I’m sure this exists in many different cultures. Plus the art market will never go away, and Greek coins are small works of art. I got into medieval coins because I was affected by the visible medieval history when I toured Europe.

There is no telling what will affect people or attract their interest as they grow up. All we need is 1-10 out of every 1000 kids from this generation to gain a serious interest in coins as they get older, and the market will remain stable. Put into that perspective, the future of the hobby is probably not as grim as you think.

 

The one thing that changed most, from when I initially got started into collecting coins as a kid is my attention to quality. When I was ten, I was happy to get an "EF" Sovereign of Edward VII for Christmas, nowadays I would only go after a MS-64 or better....so I am definately more fussy. Also, I like classic coin designs, the modern ones do not appeal to my taste. I would not give up collecting any of the coins I currently collect for ancients, I just collect everything, ancients included. Typecoin said it best, there will always be more demand then supply. In 1500-1850 only the aristocracy dabbled in coins, then by 1900, with the advent of the middle class, coin collecting became more prominent. Today, I am living proof that ordinary working class folks can enjoy and build beautifull coin collections
John

 

in my younger years i brought some dollars to