Do any of you like junk?

[jtryka]

Sounds kinda wierd, but I was just thinking that sometimes I just like junk coins! Not the special obscure varieties, of huge condition rarities, or rare dates, but just plain old obsolete coins! I just started thinking of this when I agreed to buy a lot of common coins from a guy on the BST board, nothing fancy, a couple ikes, some old silver halves and quarters, couple wheaties, junk by most standards. But I am really looking forward to seeing them! I just love to see the coins and look at them and ponder their history, and just enjoy them the way I enjoyed this hobby when I was a kid. Do any of you get an itch like this every so often?

[jeh46544]

I like junk! Every now and then I go to the local coin store and buy some junk coins. I real good deal is that they have V-nickels for 95 cents and if you search through them you can usually find some shield nickels. I also like to buy rolls of wheats for $1.99, every now and then they will have some indian pennies. Right now I'm filling up a roll of low-grade Morgans.

[Klectorkid]

I love junk I have a ton of scrap silver and I like to hold it and feel how heavy the silver is. I like coins that have weight, or lack of it but not in between. Doesnt get much better than having 4 pounds of silver halfs in your hands

[swhuck]

Junk is cool. It's kind of fun to just rummage through groups of just coins and see if there is actually anything interesting there. And if you buy the right (wrong?) kind of junk you might just pick up a new collecting interest...

[GP_]

I am all about the junk!! Half of my collection is junk! Circ stuff now in albums and such. Its just fun to think about what happened the year that coin was made and stuff like that.

[jtryka]

Well it's good to know that I am not alone! I was at a coin show about a year ago just rummaging through a bin of silver washintons just to fill up my whitman folders! I have a little wooden box on my desk where I place all my random junk. Got a few indian heads, a V-nickel, bicentennial quarters, old silver pesos, some wheaties and old jeffs from circulation, just junk, but I enjoy looking through it every so often. I have probably $500 in face in junk silver at my folks house (actually in a safe deposit box in their town) which I collected years ago, and the junk I collected then isn't junk anymore! I would routinely find old SLQs, mercs, walkers, and lots of Barbers, and even some seated stuff in the junk silver bin! I was lucky in that my friendly coin dealer actually let me go through their junk silver bins, while most people just got the luck of the draw in buying junk silver. Next time I'm home I'll have to look through all that stuff.

[Hoot]

Junk can be fun! I also think that circulated coins are underrated. I like filling albums with circulated Lincolns, Mercs, Jeffs, buffs, whatever. I hope some day to get a budding numistmatist interested in collecting based on such collections. They are also fun to collect in vintage albums, which are pretty available at coin shops. I like to match the condition of the album to the coins, and vice-versa. By the way, a person can pretty easily put together a full set of higher-grade circulated Kennedies just by getting rolls from the bank. You'll also end up with a few silver pieces in the process!

 

Hoot

[hammer-migration]

Words of wisdom! Other than women, comics, and benching 550 lbs., EVERYTHING else is junk!!! Confuscious said that about 2000 years ago. One of the few things he actually WASN'T confused about!!!

[michael]

anyone interesting in coins and making money in coins loves junque!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

in general from my limited experience in the coin game the last 35 years

 

either low end junque dreck or super hi end "rare" coins with excpetional qualities

 

make money for people

 

middle of the road stuff you usually lose your on or at best case seenerio you break even after years of holding it and headaches and aches of trying to move it!

 

sincerely michael

[EVillageProwler]

Wow! A rare thread from people who actually seem to enjoy simply having coins to rummage through, to look at, to examine, and to ... enjoy!

 

Man, you guys give investors a bad name!

 

 

EVP

 

[New_Horizons]

That's why I enjoy my large cent collection!!! they are all mostly in FINE, some scratched, cleaned, etc., but-- nonetheless-- a delicious part of our history!!! Who's to say Washington, of Jefferson, or Lincoln, etc., might have actually held one of these pieces, or spent it for a paper, supper, etc. In FINE, they aren't expensive, they are still clearly detailed, and-- should they ever be sold-- most all of what was spent will be returned...!!!

[EVillageProwler]

NH,

 

Let me tell you about my early copper collection... My large cents and half cents are all raw. They are mostly of the early types -- the coronet design just don't click with me.

 

The reason they are all raw, and in avg circ condition, is because I like to hold them and smell them. Seriously... I like to smell them. The coppers used then for coinage were very different than what we got from the Mint in our lifetime. There's a different look and a different smell.

 

Smell them, but be careful not to let your nose touch them by accident. (Your nose may impart oils onto the coin.)

 

EVP

 

[Coinosaurus]

There is some guy putting together "the world's worst US type set" - anybody remember who this is? Should make for an amusing catalog listing if it ever goes to auction.

[EVillageProwler]

Pat Braddick... but they all have to be slabbed.

 

EVP

 

[New_Horizons]

EVP--

I know what you mean...!!! I enjoy! holding a large cent in my hands-- their bulk, and weight, is fascinating to me...!!! Like yours, mine, too, is raw-- not a holder in the bunch!!! Never smelled them, though...

Also, I enjoy the era they were made in!!! The trials and tribulations folks back then had to go through-- had to be tough...!!! Not to mention, the yellow fever that took lotsa folks during those atrocious summers...!!! I'd stop the mint, too!!!

Then, there are all the varieties one can find!!! Compared to today, where they stamp them out faster than one can count, those days were far more deliberate, and an 'error' was-- for the most part-- just another coin completed...!!! It's fun to follow any particular year, and view the die wear, followed by 'new' dies...!!!

[hammer-migration]

Speaking of JUNK, Look at this rare Barber Quarter I found in my pocket change yesterday!!!!

[hammer-migration]

Sorry, I was so excited to be attaching a really nice coin for the first time that I made a boo-boo!!!! Here she is:

[jtryka]

Wow! It's so great to see that many folks still enjoy the purest sense of enjoyment from the hobby! What strikes me as well is the price we pay for junk today, is so much less than what they were worth to the folks that originally spent them! Think of a common seated half, all worn out, you might be able to find one for $5 or $10, which is maybe 1 or 2 hours of work, but when that coin circulated it was a day's wage!

[dlshaw]

If you have a child, thats the best way to get them involved,

Let them search for the common coins to fill a album that they can do.

I have a friend who has been buying new moderns for his grandkid and plans on giving them to him. (ok for investing) But for grandkid's to really get interested they need to be involved in the process of finding their own coins. That is what collecting is all about.

I have quite a few of comman coins, in fact I bought a couple at a show last week, Low grade IHC. but had real nice toning.

[jeh46544]

Wow! that is a rare barber quarter! It's dated 1710!

[hammer-migration]

I was as surprised as you!!! I thought the "Barber of Seville" was the first official Barber!!! I was unaware that the profession was fluorishing in 1710!!!!