What makes a coin...collectible?

[MikeKing]

In your opinion AS A NUMISMATIST

WHAT do you consider (this coin is just a coin, no particular year, type, etc..)

NECESSARY, for this coin to be worthy of your collection?

 

and in that sense

 

What makes this coin, collectible...to YOU?

 

 

[me0505]

Not sure I have an exact answer. I know, sounds wishy washy, but there are always "factors" involved.

 

I would like to think that it has to fit what I am collecting at the time, but as with a lot of people here, I have OCD/ADD/etc... and seem to buy a lot of diff stuff sometimes. BUT......

 

I like the highest grade I can afford, but eye appeal can win out (stars are nice). I also like buying from people I "know" (i.e. I have a few coins in my collection from board members). Good deals (for non-junk), etc...

[Jeffrey Cardona]

I collect the modern commemoratives and what makes them collectable for me is that they are like a small history lesson about our Country. It is a fun and different way of looking back on events and people that shaped America and the world.

[physics-fan3.14]

Of course, this might sound entirely too general, but whatever I want when I want it is what goes into my collection. Right now, I am not looking outside of the French colonial series or Franklin and Bust half dollars. Of course, many people collect what I don't, and many people don't collect what I do. Whatever you want is good!

[WoodenJefferson]

Hard question to answer without a huge dissertation, but in a series, like say Franklin half dollars, all the coins must be in MS condition, the value was there in the mid 90’s I bought at the right time and the right places. An extra value was to have a MS Franklin with Full Bell Lines. It was not imperative for the coin to have FBL, it was considered an extra value. Some of those common dates coins I bought for $15-$30 each in the early 90’s are now worth $90- $150 each…never expected that, but that’s how collecting has advanced. FBL’s do not fall out of the sky and now you pay a premium for those same coins.

 

The Walking Liberties I started way back in the 70’s and danged if they didn’t raise so much in value by 1979 it was just crazy! Seems like everyone wanted Morgan Dollars and Walking Liberties, the prices rose so fast I quit collecting them altogether until about 1985. Getting back into the Walkers, there were plenty of examples that fit my fancy, I did not collect toned specimens, wagon wheel luster meant more to me than color and it still does. Early examples are circulated while the later's are MS, affordable MS condition, no super coins. It’s a matte of taste, collect what you like, collect what you can afford.

 

Take your time, don’t hurry…at times it seems like the coins seek out and find you, not the other way around.

 

[cpm9ball]

That's an easy question..............

 

Any person who likes that particular coin for whatever reason.

 

As for me, a coin becomes collectible if I like it for whatever reason.

 

Chris

[rrantique]

No. 1, I think is eye appeal. Then maybe uniqueness. (thumbs u

[James_OldeTowne]

I'll give a somewhat nebulous example, since you emphasize "as a numismatist". A coin is collectable if it fulfills a goal in my collection, and by that, it means contributing to completion of a set. (My numismatic goals involve completing sets.)

 

Of course, different numismatists have different goals, but it just so happens mine is generally he challenge of collecting sets.

 

It follows that I would deem a VF 1978 Lincoln memorial cent UNcollectable, since it does nothing for my collection.

[BillJones]

What makes a coin collectable?

 

The simple answer is if it stirs some interest in you, it's collectable so far as you are concerned.

 

What makes a coin have a collector value in the market place?

 

-General collector interest in the piece as a numismatic item, not a hunk of silver or gold that is prized for its bullion content not its collector interest.

 

-Rarity – this applies to overall rarity AND in the case of most modern pieces condition rarity. For example a modern cent is only worth a cent in less than say MS-66, but in PCGS MS-70 someone was willing to pay $15,000 for one.

 

-Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but generally attractive items are more likely to be collectable.

 

-Historic interest – this is one of the prime collector things – a coin with a story is usually more popular that a coin that does not have one.

 

-Part of a series. Generally a coin needs to be part of a run of dates or an ongoing set to be of collector interest. Coins, tokens or medals that are “one time issues” are often collector “orphans.”

 

[rexcat]

"What makes this coin, collectible...to YOU?"

 

Desire to own it...

 

(thumbs u (thumbs u (thumbs u

[TJ'S Coins]

Whatever is produced by an authorized mint that has established legal value. This covers many bullion "coins" as well as specially minted commemorative coins that are assigned a nominal value by the issuing government authorized mint. Beyond that, anything that circulates as coinage.