Is there an aspect of coin collecting that you prefer to avoid?

[cpm9ball]

"Hot Shoppes on Rockville Pike in front of Congressional Plaza"

 

No, the Hot Shoppes on Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda. We didn't go to the inferior "branches" when we drove that far.

 

Going "out of town" was also good for checking Buffalo nickels since I was exposed to an entirely new local circulation of coins. The Damascus Firemen's Carnival was another good nickel hunting time. Lots of "out of town" visitors and lots of new coins. Found a 1916/16 and all the others except the 1918/17 there in change when I helped at the food stand waiting on customers.

 

The Firemen's Carnival? You blew it, Roger! Yep, we also had the Rockville Volunteer Firemen's Carnival in July (I think), but we went you one better. We used to go onto the carnival grounds from 4-6am and search under all of the rides with a flashlight. We'd find anywhere from $20-30 in change.........SLQ's, Buff's & Merc's were common in those days.

 

By the way, the Rockville Hot Shoppes had better service and more muscle cars. The hippies in Bethesda were driving VW's and the family station wagon. The best food in Bethesda was 2 blocks away at the Little Tavern near the theater.

 

Chris

[RWB]

The Rockville VFD carnival was too "commercial" for us country folk. The DVFD rides were small and oriented toward kids and drunks. The night watchman was paid by being allowed to bring his metal detector to comb the site each night. It ran for a week including July 4, from 7-11 each night except the 4th which was until 1am. No Sunday operation.

 

I could barely afford to keep the nicer Buffalos -- SLQs and others had to be skipped. Never saw a 1916 quarter.

 

As for aspects of coin collecting I avoid: the main ones are "register sets" and pompous wealth.

 

[James_OldeTowne]

Is there are part of the hobby that you intentionally stay away from or deal with only very reluctantly?

Gold! I don't like gold, it bores me to tears, and the hype that goes along with it is for the birds. I've just never liked the metal and do not even own a single gold coin (except for counterfeit reference pieces). Of course, we do what the customer wants, and if he wants gold, I sell him gold. But it just holds zero interest for me.

[Hurricane4911-migration]

The US Mint is out of control.

 

I was away from the hobby for 35+ years. Back then it was only Proof & Unc sets. I thought the "State" quarters were a coll idea and for the most part, make a nice collection, especially for kids.

 

But this is freaking nuts. A coin for everything, in every possible composition, uncirculated, proof or reverse proof. I stay away from anything post 1964, whether its bullion or not.

 

[123cents]

Heated discussions about plastic and stickers.

[RWB]

"Heated discussions about plastic and stickers."

Yep. Some of those get so hot the stuff melts - then all that is left is a gob of goo.

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

"Hot Shoppes on Rockville Pike in front of Congressional Plaza"

 

No, the Hot Shoppes on Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda. We didn't go to the inferior "branches" when we drove that far.

 

Going "out of town" was also good for checking Buffalo nickels since I was exposed to an entirely new local circulation of coins. The Damascus Firemen's Carnival was another good nickel hunting time. Lots of "out of town" visitors and lots of new coins. Found a 1916/16 and all the others except the 1918/17 there in change when I helped at the food stand waiting on customers.

 

The Firemen's Carnival? You blew it, Roger! Yep, we also had the Rockville Volunteer Firemen's Carnival in July (I think), but we went you one better. We used to go onto the carnival grounds from 4-6am and search under all of the rides with a flashlight. We'd find anywhere from $20-30 in change.........SLQ's, Buff's & Merc's were common in those days.

 

By the way, the Rockville Hot Shoppes had better service and more muscle cars. The hippies in Bethesda were driving VW's and the family station wagon. The best food in Bethesda was 2 blocks away at the Little Tavern near the theater.

 

Chris

 

But the best teen twists were made at the Wheaton Hot Shoppe.

It was always enjoyable to go to the Pike with the Bell Brothers and Mike Curtis and Jerry Dunn and Winnie Pyle. They had a certain talent for mischief.

Goldie's next door neighbor Kathy Golden wasn't bad. She ended up marrying the older Dunn- Dave. I had the pleasure of enjoying Minnesota Fats shoot at the Glenmont Pool Room across from the old MCPD station, a few times. He and the Owner were old circuit buddys.

Damascus was nice, back then. It was the place to go to for the Friday night milk party. I remember the night the Poole brothers got into it with Jerry Dunn and Mike Catron at the Damascus pool hall, all because of Jackie Lewis and Bonnie Soper. The Sopers still live in Damascus. I ran around with Nina Dwyer then, and for a few years after that. And yes, RWB, I remember you, and your Dad and Doc Quaze and Bill Lee. I wrestled the orangutan at the Rockville VFD Carnival. Got my butt kicked in, along with everybody else. and it was August. July was the MC Carnival.

 

The Wheaton Rec Center is where I saw the Four Seasons, The Four Tops, The Cherry People, The Impressions, and so many others...all for 75 cents on Fri/Sat. night. I worked the penny toss at St. Catherine Labore' on Viers Mill one year. I made GREAT money.

[RWB]

Unfortunately, the names do not ring a bell....maybe before or after my time there? We rarely got to such sophisticated places as Wheaton or Bethesda. Plus, we needed a gate pass to get north of Gaithersburg and return home.

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

[The "Great Falls Mint" ceased production when the Potomac gold mines failed nearly a century ago. The largest gold mine was opened in 1867 and was called the "Maryland Mine." It was located in Montgomery County, MD near the intersection of MacArthur Boulevard and Falls Road. The remains are in a fenced area just off the highway but hidden shafts and collapsed mine workings make the area dangerous to enter. Gold was transported across the Potomac on a rope ferry from Seneca Mill in Maryland to Seneca Ford in Virginia. Grain and flour also went across the river before the Civil War, but most commerce ended in the 1860s.

 

The "Great Falls Mint," like "The Dalles Mint" never struck any coins or melted an ounce of gold. It was largely fictitious, with great expectations of wealth and prosperity. Proprietors of the “Great Falls Mint” were so poor that they were known for wearing old clothes, hand-me-down sox, and dumpster diving for dinner.]

 

As a kid, I remember hearing the stories about the gold mines rumored to be in the area. My father's boss had his huge (!) estate very close to the Falls Rd./MacArthur Blvd. intersection, and we used to spend a lot of time hunting through the surrounding woods and hills looking for caves which were scattered all around the southern and western parts of Montgomery Co. One of the largest caves we found was on a hillside overlooking the C&O Canal on the MD side of Great Falls, but we never found any gold.

 

Thanks for expanding on this, Roger.

 

Chris

 

I think the main entry was behind the Corps of Engineers Delcarlia Maintenance Station on MacArthur, near the old swimming quarry. We got kicked out of the swimming hole every time we went there. A lot of the guys from St. Johns hung out there, Mike Reedy (ended up being an MCPD Officer), Mike Ritter (ended up marrying Tommy Longs' daughter and now owns Longs Fence), and Himmelberg hung out with them. Never heard what happened to him.

 

Played pickup Football every Sunday at Richard Montgomery field, and sometimes Wheaton HS field, until Doug Davis broke my arm at the Richard Montgomery "Turkey Bowl" game on Thanksgiving day. The following day was the robbery at the Marriott Plaza Bank on Democracy Blvd., that took down 7 MCPD Officers, including Charley Lake, the father of the motorcycle squad. A very bad day for Montgomery County.

[michael]

unknowledgeable/unreasonable purveyors of overpriced, poor quality numismatic items that are convinced they have more demand/value than in reality

 

 

 

 

[Kurtdog]

I hate AT coins. I like NT coins. I'll buy QT coins, but only if they're MA coins. If they're not MA coins, I hate them as much as AT coins.

[coinman_23885]

I stay away from almost anything modern, all paper, and tokens. I know plenty of people love them, but they bore me.

 

I agree and will add problem coins. I also tend to stay away from common date Morgan Dollars, Peace Dollars, Mercury Dimes, Franklin Half Dollars, and Liberty Walking Half Dollars in grades below MS65 (or MS66) unless the coins have some phenomenal attribute such as monster or other attractive toning, PL surfaces, or otherwise have excellent eye appeal that is unusual for the issue. Long ago, I use to be quite liberal in buying them, even with minor toning, but realized that I could use the funds to buy better pieces and my safe deposit box would be a lot less cluttered.

[delta]

Am posting a note to correct an error I made in this old post quoted below. Only today did I find out the design of the so-called indian head $10 gold eagle of 1907-33 was never intended as a depiction of the head of an Amerindian, no, it was supposed to rather show a caucasian Miss Liberty adorned with a feathered indian headdress. However that's still an irksome anomaly, and I still find the facial expression idiotic. She looks like the cartoon stereotype of a dumb blonde.

 

This question brings to mind a coin image I disdain, the obverse of the gold $10 indian head eagle of 1907 to 1933. It has an unindian head.

 

The face shown on the obverse looks to me like it belonged to a clueless caucasian high school kid, feeling perplexed in the school hallway, after getting out of a boring class where he'd be lucky to get a grade of C, on his way to an even more boring class where he was flunking, and dazed after not getting enough sleep the night before.

 

However, the then more-or-less contemporary indian heads on the $2.50 quarter eagle (1908 to 1929) the $5 half eagle (1908 to 1929) and the buffalo nickel (1913 to 1938) have admirably sculpted countenances.

[cpm9ball]

I hate AT coins. I like NT coins. I'll buy QT coins, but only if they're MA coins. If they're not MA coins, I hate them as much as AT coins.

 

Is the NT on the QT or MA but not AT?

 

Chris

[RWB]

The Liberty as used on the $10 was originally intended for the cent and Liberty had a wreath of laurel on her head -- not feathers. President Roosevelt likes Native American Headdresses -- likes them a lot - and insisted on adding that to the design.

 

See "Renaissance of American Coinage 1905-1908" for details and photos.

[#]

NLI

[World Colonial]

Is there are part of the hobby that you intentionally stay away from or deal with only very reluctantly?

 

This might be a coin series or a more general part of acquiring, holding or selling.

 

I don't buy anything outside of my primary series except on very rare occasions. I don't have the coin budget for it.

[lehigh96]

CRH

[BillJones]

Of late I have come to hate auctions. I place bids that work out to higher than the PCGS guidelines and high than recent auction results, and yet I end up with nothing. People say this market is slow, but sure does not seem that way to me. Some of these bidders treat the 17.5% buyers' fee like it wasn't even there. I wish I had that much money to throw away.

 

In a recent auction an 1884 gold dollar in PCGS MS-65, Green Bean CAC has now been bid up to more than the retail MS-66 price. Yes, it is in a rattle holder, and "everyone" knows that all of those coin are under graded, which is an urban myth. I keep coming in second in many auctions, I am tired of it. I wish that dealers could offer more nice coins, but there seems to be a shortage of them.

 

Edited to add that the 1884 gold dollar in MS-65 sold for MS-67 money ... almot $5,000.

[KMAG100]

Still being new only 5 years in it's continually developing.

 

Easiest is what I like:

- Boards like this to gain information from many well established collectors

- Collecting coins has a niche for all

- The differing opinions

 

What I don't care for:

- Currency

- Copper

 

The most often paradoxical statements I hear in collecting:

 

"I don't collect modern coins because I collect history": All coins were modern at one time. Probably better said, I like to collect history that I have not physically experience and thus as familiar with.

 

The biggest oddity:

- Blast white coins 200 years old. Looks as odd to me as Kenny Rodgers and Joan Rivers face.( no disrespect to KR or JR intended)

 

Scariest thought for the future of collecting:

The role TPGs play and will continue to play in the future. Reminds me of cows taken to slaughter, much like Wall Street investment bankers.

 

 

Other than that its a lot of fun.....

 

 

[Nutmeg Coin]

My favorite areas are gold coins that appeal to the imagination; either as type coins with nice eye appeal or dates and mm that make them more desirable or historic. With silver coins, I like most of the fascinating type coins from Flowing hair up to the modern coins.

 

In currency I like classic large size type, Colonials, up to around 1928 when the currency was downsized.

 

My interest focus is generally focused on numismatics with the broadest appeal to others as opposed to overly technical items.