Coin Stories by Electric Peak Collection

[CSJournals-migration]

Which coins tell better stories?

 

Last Saturday I went to a small coin show near Alexandria, VA. It seemed pretty crowded to me, but one of the dealers told me that it had been a lot busier earlier in the day. He was familiar - a guy who had been a regular at meetings of the Early American Coppers club at the Baltimore shows. He asked me what I collect, and I told him: high grade, mostly certified, large cents and half dimes.

 

He responded that such coins do not interest him because they do not have stories to tell. They were simply tucked away and moved on from one rich guy to another. (And I would add that they never served their intended purpose.) He went on to give examples of the kind of stories that used coins might tell us.

 

I do appreciate the connections our beloved coins have to history. For example, the addition of arrows next to the date of minor silver denominations mid-1853 through 1855 happened for a reason. Namely, the weight was changed, and the mint wanted to indicate that on the coins. But why? That's where we get into the history: of the California gold rush and its effect of the relative values of gold and silver; of the fact that our coins had intrinsic value approximately equal to their stated denominations; of the reality of widespread removal from circulation and melting of coins that were worth more than their face value, leading to relative scarcity even of high-mintage issues. But any 1853 with arrows coin has that connection to history, no matter what its grade.

 

And there are the coins that have specific, personal meaning to someone. Gary's (gherrmann44) recent journal about a Brazil 2008 1 real coin is a good example. Such a coin itself has no story to tell, but it becomes part of the story of someone's life. In that way, an unremarkable coin can become special. But again, the grade of such a coin is irrelevant.

 

There have been real coins with real stories to tell. The thirty silver coins paid to Judas for betraying Jesus come to mind. Were they lustrous AUs, or crappy AGs? Who cares? The story is not in the condition of the coin, unless you want to get into speculation about damage that may have occurred when Judas threw them back into the Temple. My point here is that coins that have real stories to tell can be in any condition. Aside from that, how many coins do we have that have known, documented, true stories of significance? Not many.

 

That brings us back to the coins we actually collect. I have a nice little set of circulated large cents. They are the kind that dealer likes. Whose pockets were they in? What were they used to purchase? How widely did they travel in circulation? And so on. But all of this is fanciful speculation. Sure, they were in pockets and cash boxes, lost outside the corner store, stepped on by horses, found, and eventually tucked away in whatever state they happen to be. But we cannot know the actual stories of most individual coins.

 

I also have a pretty nice set of mint state large cents here in the registry. Their specific stories are not the tales of everyday life in early America. But many of them do have true stories of prior ownership. Such provenance information may not be of interest to some people, but others will pay a premium for a piece with a pedigree.

 

Why did I buy the registry coins? I bought them because I enjoy having nice coins, and because I think they will prove to be good investments. Why did I buy the circulated coins? Well, some were obtained when I was young and had little money. But I recently finished the set (1816-1857) because I enjoy having those coins as well, good investment or not. Both sets together tell something about my life.

 

I hope you enjoy your coins and the stories they tell...

 

Alan

 

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[wdrob]

 

I enjoyed that.

 

One of the reasons I like this hobby is because of the link to a time long ago and the associated history The majority of my favorite coins are the circulated ones I own. I have also found that many times a person will automatically assume that the highest MS coin they can afford will be the better investment and never once take advantage of the Price & Charts and Trends which is freely available simply by clicking on the listed value of a certain coins grade and comparing the different levels of performance.

 

I have found many times that an AU coin will trend over the period of 4 to 7 years (sometimes shorter lengths of time) at a much higher rate of return than a mint state example. Why I am not entirely sure but I would encourage anyone to do some comparing on any particular coin and see what you come up with.

 

Now if someone has a goal of collecting the highest grade example that they can budget comfortably then I understand that completely. I believe there is plenty of room in any collection for both Mint State and Circulated examples, of which I think was your intent.

 

 

[fmtransmitter]

Great post! May I add a more recent coin story related to ones death, Ted Binion. Another man murdered for coins! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Binion To add to that I recently got the ok to send in a Frank Gasparro Proof that was made by the Medalic Art Company when the Queen from over the pond visited the United States for the FIRST time in History! 1976, 200 hundred years since a General Washington fought the good fight to create a nation for the people and by the people. This coin was placed in a plastic holder that has given this coin some of the most amazing blue hues around the edges. i almost want it slabbed within it's slab! Maybe NGC and I can work something out. on top of that I obtained a copy of the order form for the coins to be struck, very bland, and a full packet of news clips from a Librarian who took the time to research the Queens's visit and send me all she could for free! To this day I cannot obtain the mintage numbers for these coins and I am sure I never will, but it tells a story, a very historic story and if I ever do sell this coin I will sell all the provenance I obtained with it as I feel it is worthy of such attention. Have a great week and thank you for sharing.

[coinsbygary]

Well stated Alan!

 

Discovering and telling a coin's "story" is one of my favorite aspects to this hobby. Additionally, if I can learn the pedigree of the exact coin in my hand, it's icing on the cake.

 

For instance, I own a shipwreck coin from the S.S. Republic. Knowing the purpose my 1860-O half dollar had for being on board that ship plus the fact that it sat frozen in time on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for over a hundred years fascinates me. Or take the GSA Morgan Dollars, forgotten and lost inside a government vault until they were found and sold. Other coins tell a story within their final mintage numbers like the 1893-S and 1894 Morgan Dollars. Finally, as long as I'm on the subject of Morgan Dollars there is the controversy as to the identity of Miss Liberty's model.

 

Yes, a lot can be learned from the stories our coins tell. And yes a number of coins in my collection have a "personal" connection also. Indeed, can there be any better hobby?

Gary