What percentage of active coin collectors read hobby books.... 0

[GoldFinger1969]

On 8/4/2022 at 12:49 PM, VKurtB said:

The Numismatist is absolutely wonderful. With it, and its digital archives, one can study numismatic history without getting all dusty reading letters in a NARA. 

I wonder if it is possible -- or will be, in the future -- to just get printouts or articles from The Numismatist on certain coins or events.  That way you can trace history for a narrowly defined interest. 

[VKurtB]

On 8/4/2022 at 12:42 PM, GoldFinger1969 said:

I wonder if it is possible -- or will be, in the future -- to just get printouts or articles from The Numismatist on certain coins or events.  That way you can trace history for a narrowly defined interest. 

It’s already possible. The entire digital archive is fully word-searchable, right down to the advertisements. 

[DWLange]

Quote

excellent article in the august 2022 issue on Lone Wolf Coins Part 2 by one, David W. Lange....

Thanks, zadoc. Sadly, this is the last of my columns for The Numismatist. It's all addressed in the editor's message at the beginning of the August issue.

As Kurt noted, The Numismatist has an online archive for use by ANA members, so the entire 35 years worth of my columns are found there. The last 20 years are also available at the NGC website under the header "News." Just click on that and then the "All News" pull-down to find USA Coin Album.

[leeg]

The NNP is also a wonderful resource!

[zadok]

On 8/4/2022 at 3:48 PM, DWLange said:

Thanks, zadoc. Sadly, this is the last of my columns for The Numismatist. It's all addressed in the editor's message at the beginning of the August issue.

As Kurt noted, The Numismatist has an online archive for use by ANA members, so the entire 35 years worth of my columns are found there. The last 20 years are also available at the NGC website under the header "News." Just click on that and then the "All News" pull-down to find USA Coin Album.

...sadly it is...i read the editors notes n ur parting farewell...truly a loss for future readers of the Numismatist, but i guess its like the military axiom goes..."next man/woman up"...ur professionalism n numismatic knowledge will be missed...thank u for ur contributions there n hopefully they will continue here n at NGC....

[Zebo]

On 8/4/2022 at 3:48 PM, DWLange said:

Thanks, zadoc. Sadly, this is the last of my columns for The Numismatist. It's all addressed in the editor's message at the beginning of the August issue.

As Kurt noted, The Numismatist has an online archive for use by ANA members, so the entire 35 years worth of my columns are found there. The last 20 years are also available at the NGC website under the header "News." Just click on that and then the "All News" pull-down to find USA Coin Album.

Sad to see the end of your columns. I’ve enjoyed them very much. Good luck in your future endeavors.

[CIII]

I read anything that gathers my interest.  I collect about every early American coin denomination, and I'm fascinated by most everything.  I wish I had access to attend more shows or numismatic activities, they are scarce in this neck of the woods.  Ha.

[VKurtB]

On 8/4/2022 at 8:31 PM, tigerbait said:

I read anything that gathers my interest.  I collect about every early American coin denomination, and I'm fascinated by most everything.  I wish I had access to attend more shows or numismatic activities, they are scarce in this neck of the woods.  Ha.

What woods are those?

[Frank]

On 8/19/2021 at 9:40 PM, VKurtB said:

If the above responses are correct, it goes a LONNNNNNNNG way toward explaining my dismay about this hobby’s trajectory. Read. Books. Dammit. Attend events. Join a club. In short, get a clue. 

Agreed, I always say: Read, read and then re-read what you've read.

 

People ask me how I get some of my cherry picks.

 

I tell them to buy a book, then read it

[VKurtB]

On 8/5/2022 at 3:10 PM, Frank said:

Agreed, I always say: Read, read and then re-read what you've read.

 

People ask me how I get some of my cherry picks.

 

I tell them to buy a book, then read it

Sound advice. But it’s really hard to remember ‘picks in a bunch of series. Specializing helps a lot. 

[zadok]

On 8/5/2022 at 4:10 PM, Frank said:

Agreed, I always say: Read, read and then re-read what you've read.

 

People ask me how I get some of my cherry picks.

 

I tell them to buy a book, then read it

...the well informed collector is an astute collector...but reading books n buying coins online is akin to buying stocks, u r not involved on a personal level, what i believe vkurt was getting to is "attend events" in person...realize the hands on aspect of the interaction between seller n buyer n collector to collector...thats real coin collecting n the atmosphere n electricity of participating in a live coin auction that gets u involved on a personal level....

[VKurtB]

I can’t stress enough how poor a substitute doing numismatics by the Internet is. I find it completely ridiculous. Books, not websites. Shows with educational talks, not websites. Dinner with fellow collectors, not cheese curls while on the Internet. 

[Oldhoopster]

On 8/5/2022 at 6:00 PM, VKurtB said:

I can’t stress enough how poor a substitute doing numismatics by the Internet is. I find it completely ridiculous. Books, not websites. Shows with educational talks, not websites. Dinner with fellow collectors, not cheese curls while on the Internet. 

The internet has a tremendous amount if useful information.  I can search the ANA library at my leisure instead of making a phone call or digging out my 30 year old outdated catalog (remember those).  There are a number of excellent web sites with search functions for ancients (They are my first stop before ever cracking open an RIC or Sear volume). And what about error sites Wexler's or errors-ref or variety vista.  Why not utilize those instead of waiting for the next convention to talk to an expert.

You would be remiss not to use EVERY source of information. You said "Books, not websites".  I feel you should have said " Books AND Websites."  Why not take advantage of today's ease of access to information.  

I've been searching and adding reference volumes to my library since the 70s when I was still a YN and believe me, until the late 80s, references were either hard to find, expensive, or unavailable.  Now we're in a golden age of information (maybe too much info ).  To say that people shouldn't use that information makes as much sense as the Luddites destroying machinery 200 years ago because they feared it.  Use ALL the info available to you.

Just my opinion  

 

 

 

[VKurtB]

On 8/5/2022 at 6:14 PM, Oldhoopster said:

The internet has a tremendous amount if useful information.  I can search the ANA library at my leisure instead of making a phone call or digging out my 30 year old outdated catalog (remember those).  There are a number of excellent web sites with search functions for ancients (They are my first stop before ever cracking open an RIC or Sear volume). And what about error sites Wexler's or errors-ref or variety vista.  Why not utilize those instead of waiting for the next convention to talk to an expert.

You would be remiss not to use EVERY source of information. You said "Books, not websites".  I feel you should have said " Books AND Websites."  Why not take advantage of today's ease of access to information.  

I've been searching and adding reference volumes to my library since the 70s when I was still a YN and believe me, until the late 80s, references were either hard to find, expensive, or unavailable.  Now we're in a golden age of information (maybe too much info ).  To say that people shouldn't use that information makes as much sense as the Luddites destroying machinery 200 years ago because they feared it.  Use ALL the info available to you.

Just my opinion  

 

 

 

You can’t do real-time two-way interaction with a website, like you can with presenters at a major show. And believe me, I do! In 2010 at Boston, Richard Nachbar refused to take ANY questions. I have given SIX Money Talks presentations, and not ONLY do I encourage questions, I ENCOURAGE INTERRUPTING QUESTIONS FROM THE CROWD. I treat my talks as if I were giving professorial lectures. Interaction in real time is the whole bloody point! I don’t do 50 minute advertisements like Nachbar did in Boston. 

[VKurtB]

On 8/5/2022 at 6:14 PM, Oldhoopster said:

Why not take advantage of today's ease of access to information.  

Because way too much of it is garbage. And there’s a reason. There’s no downside to spreading male bovine feces online. There is no editing function, unlike in traditional publishing. I also never use Wikipedia for anything important. 

Edited August 6, 2022 by VKurtB

[Oldhoopster]

On 8/5/2022 at 11:06 PM, VKurtB said:

Because way too much of it is garbage. And there’s a reason. There’s no downside to spreading male bovine feces online. There is no editing function, unlike in traditional publishing. I also never use Wikipedia for anything important. 

Are you suggesting that we shouldn't use any internet sites. Sounds like throwing out the baby with the bath water. 

No question that there is a lot of junk out there (" get rich from pocket change" ), but what about all the sites that members recommend to newbies.  Doubleddie.com, varietyvista, numista. Lincoln cent resources, cuds on coins, AC search for ancients, The Mint's You Tube videos, e-sylem, ebay sold listings, Fortin's seated dime varieties, just to name a very small amount.  I have a few dozen internet sites bookmarked and use them regularly even though some of that info can be found in my reference library.

I'm not saying the web is better than the old methods you mention.  I'm saying the internet is another useful tool.  Saying collectors shouldn't utilize the info on the internet is irresponsible in my opinion.

Sorry, but i need to go and look up some stuff in Breen's Encyclopedia of US Coins

 

 

 

[GoldFinger1969]

On 8/5/2022 at 6:00 PM, VKurtB said:

I can’t stress enough how poor a substitute doing numismatics by the Internet is. I find it completely ridiculous. Books, not websites. Shows with educational talks, not websites. Dinner with fellow collectors, not cheese curls while on the Internet. 

How about both ?  Do you know how much knowledge there is on forums like these, especially for niche investors in certain coins ?

How many book authors comment dozens of times in response to readers questions, comments, etc.....as Roger himseld did in the RWB Saints Book thread ?

Edited August 6, 2022 by GoldFinger1969

[GoldFinger1969]

On 8/5/2022 at 9:41 PM, VKurtB said:

You can’t do real-time two-way interaction with a website, like you can with presenters at a major show. And believe me, I do! In 2010 at Boston, Richard Nachbar refused to take ANY questions. I have given SIX Money Talks presentations, and not ONLY do I encourage questions, I ENCOURAGE INTERRUPTING QUESTIONS FROM THE CROWD. I treat my talks as if I were giving professorial lectures. Interaction in real time is the whole bloody point! I don’t do 50 minute advertisements like Nachbar did in Boston. 

And what if Nachbar took quesions on some forum somewhere or responded in posts ?  You wouldn't get that information from his book....or an appearance...but from the internet.

[CIII]

My neck of the woods is Pensacola, FL.  There is not a great deal that is close by.  NO, ATL, JAX, TMPA are all over 4.5 hr. drive.  I rely on the internet, books and libraries and WHOEVER I happen into, perusing coins at Antique Malls and such. :-)  

[GoldFinger1969]

On 8/6/2022 at 10:51 AM, tigerbait said:

My neck of the woods is Pensacola, FL.  There is not a great deal that is close by.  NO, ATL, JAX, TMPA are all over 4.5 hr. drive.  I rely on the internet, books and libraries and WHOEVER I happen into, perusing coins at Antique Malls and such. :-)  

5 hours isn't bad to go to see FUN.  I am in the NY area and it's an 18-hour drive or flight. 

[VKurtB]

On 8/6/2022 at 9:33 AM, GoldFinger1969 said:

And what if Nachbar took quesions on some forum somewhere or responded in posts ?  You wouldn't get that information from his book....or an appearance...but from the internet.

Well, he’s dead now. 

[VKurtB]

On 8/6/2022 at 9:51 AM, tigerbait said:

My neck of the woods is Pensacola, FL.  There is not a great deal that is close by.  NO, ATL, JAX, TMPA are all over 4.5 hr. drive.  I rely on the internet, books and libraries and WHOEVER I happen into, perusing coins at Antique Malls and such. :-)  

I drive past Pensacola to get to shows. I’m driving 10 hours each way for the ANA show. 

[Henri Charriere]

CANDID ADMISSION:  

I never met, saw, or spoke with anyone I bought a gold 🐓 from. I got to know the mail carrier real well, but have never known a coin collector. I do not now own a single coin folder or book. I have never attended a coin show. (The one and only phone conversation I have ever had regarding coins involved a person from FedEx who called to inform me a shipment of Roosters I had ordered from [MA-SHOPS] had been seized by Customs and if I didn't then and there disclose my full legal name, DOB, and SSN, the shipment would be sent back. I sat there thinking this was highly irregular, giving personal information to a complete stranger acting at the behest of another, CBP, but did as I was told.

There is no doubt in my mind that upon my death, my wife will try to use my Roosters in a laundromat, in lieu of quarters, and will argue, in French, with the Chinese man who doesn't speak English, that her "quarters" should be accepted because she had a vague idea that they were somehow more valuable. Sheesh!  

[zadok]

On 8/6/2022 at 6:44 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

CANDID ADMISSION:  

I never met, saw, or spoke with anyone I bought a gold 🐓 from. I got to know the mail carrier real well, but have never known a coin collector. I do not now own a single coin folder or book. I have never attended a coin show. (The one and only phone conversation I have ever had regarding coins involved a person from FedEx who called to inform me a shipment of Roosters I had ordered from [MA-SHOPS] had been seized by Customs and if I didn't then and there disclose my full legal name, DOB, and SSN, the shipment would be sent back. I sat there thinking this was highly irregular, giving personal information to a complete stranger acting at the behest of another, CBP, but did as I was told.

There is no doubt in my mind that upon my death, my wife will try to use my Roosters in a laundromat, in lieu of quarters, and will argue, in French, with the Chinese man who doesn't speak English, that her "quarters" should be accepted because she had a vague idea that they were somehow more valuable. Sheesh!  

...u mite want to consider getting out of the chicken business n just buy rolls of quarters n avoid an international incident...we dont need china invading east harlem...im thinking u have missed all of the most important parts of coin collecting....

[VKurtB]

On 8/6/2022 at 5:55 PM, zadok said:

...u mite want to consider getting out of the chicken business n just buy rolls of quarters n avoid an international incident...we dont need china invading east harlem...im thinking u have missed all of the most important parts of coin collecting....

Umm, George Carlin said Morningside Heights was “white Harlem”. 

[Henri Charriere]

On 8/6/2022 at 10:50 PM, VKurtB said:

Umm, George Carlin said Morningside Heights was “white Harlem”. 

I have never thought of it that way but Columbia University, for all intents and purposes, is Morningside Heights. The address on my birth certificate is only a block or two from that of Carlin, a former Supreme Court Justice, possibly Harlan--Eisenhower was the head of Columbia then--and the brownstone Harry Houdini once owned. Come to think of it, there is a noteworthy presence of Asians in the Columbia student body today that was noticeably absent at the time of the 1968 student strike.

[VKurtB]

On 8/6/2022 at 10:08 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

I have never thought of it that way but Columbia University, for all intents and purposes, is Morningside Heights. The address on my birth certificate is only a block or two from that of Carlin, a former Supreme Court Justice, possibly Harlan--Eisenhower was the head of Columbia then--and the brownstone Harry Houdini once owned. Come to think of it, there is a noteworthy presence of Asians in the Columbia student body today that was noticeably absent at the time of the 1968 student strike.

All Ivy League schools are high percentage of Asian students. My son and I stayed at the Sheraton Commander for the Boston ANA show in 2010. The hotel is on the Harvard campus. The overwhelming number of Asian students was obvious even then. 

[GoldFinger1969]

On 8/6/2022 at 6:07 PM, VKurtB said:

Well, he’s dead now. 

That's no excuse.  He should make an effort to post. 

[Frank]

Definitions:

 

Coin hoarder:  Does not have or read coin books.

 

Numismatist:  Has many books & Uses them & reads them

[VKurtB]

On 8/4/2022 at 3:39 PM, leeg said:

The NNP is also a wonderful resource!

I find the NNP to be really difficult to navigate.