coin luv part two

[michael]

what is coin luv for you?

 

for me it is enjoying/having fun with the hobby in that it makes me feel good

 

 

now how about you??

 

 

sincerely michael

[clw54]

I'll give this a try.

 

Yesterday during my lunch break, I took a cruise to a local coin shop just for the heck of it, you know how it is. Well, there was an 1875-S 20 cent piece in Good that caught my eye. Nothing that would be of interest to an advanced collector, but it had no scratches, no dings, and it was a nice even gray color. I looked it over and just kinda liked it, and bought it. It's my first 20 cent piece.

 

When I got back to work I showed it to a couple of people and neither knew there was any such thing as a 20 cent piece. I told them there used to be half cents, two cent pices, three cent pieces, and twenty cent pieces. They were surprised at that. As an aside, I'm a software engineer and being a coin collector doesn't raise any eyebrows; we're expected to be geeky.

 

The rest of the day I kept pulling it out of my shirt pocket and looking at it, just thinking that 20 cent piece was pretty cool. It had done its job, circulated without being damaged, then it was retired when somebody decided to save it. Maybe that person thought it was cool also. I hope so. One thing neat about this hobby is just thinking a coin is cool, whether it be an inexpensive old circulated coin or a high grade coin worth six figures.

 

So maybe my post isn't so much coin luv as coin coolness, but I do think they're related.

[TomB]

Even though you preface your post, clw54, with a statement that your 20 cent piece would not be of interest to an advanced collector, I can't help but believe that your experience is the experience of an advanced collector. I don't know if I got my point across so feel free to let me know if I didn't.

 

What I like to do is take out a good quality 10x loupe and look at minute portions of each coin. It might sound odd, however, I have found that the toning patterns of coins burst out through a good loupe and really allow one to appreciate what the colors one sees from a distance look like up close. Sort of like a Seurat painting. Even coins that are highly circulated reveal intimate details through a good loupe if one is willing to give them the respect and time they deserve.

[DonHeath]

Yeah, it's fun to think about another collector from another time putting a coin away while it was contemporary, thinking it was worth saving.

 

For me, sometimes the coins call to me, kind of like the Sirens did the sailors. Sometimes the results are just as disasterous. I'm with Michael about the fun part. For me, it's a hobby, a pastime, an escape. I buy coins I like, and I study the coins, their history, and the hobby. I indulge myself, and at the end of the day I have someting to look at that makes me smile. I sell the ones that don't.

 

 

TomB - what a great post!

[fantasiize-migration]

I actually like to look at coins with different approaches (i.e. look at it with the naked eye, look at it with 3x or 5x glass, look at it with a 10x loop or even 30x lighted microscope). Not all coins (would take forever) just ones that I am looking at the time of my impulse (or if I am interested in reviewing something).

 

Since I enjoy the Ike series, I often look for doubling or anything out of the ordinary (though doubling is ordinary with the Ike series i.e. you show me an Ike, I'll show you some doubling).

 

For me, a fun perspective of coin collecting is actually having a curiosity, at an individual coin level at any given time (they are your coins, enjoy them).

[Peace_Fan]

Some say that the thrill is in the chase, and while I agree that there is definitely fun in looking high, low and in between for a rarity, the ultimate satisfaction for me is when the coin is actually in my possession.

 

I buy from shows as well as online both through auctions and also from dealer inventory. In the sight-unseen cases, I have to make my decisions based on photographs and sometimes the owner's verbal description of the coin. I'm never exactly sure what the coin is REALLY going to look like until I've paid for it (never without a return policy, BTW) and it's shipped to me. The anticipation of the arrival of a new coin, especially the last two I've bought which have been monsters, is almost overwhelming. I will usually carry a newly acquired coin around with me for days so that I can pull it out of my pocket at will to admire it.

 

Sometimes, a coworker will catch me looking at a coin and inquire about it. Then I get to expose someone else to the joys of collecting and maybe plant a seed that will take root later. They'll invariably ask about the value of the coin, and I'll usually dodge the answer by telling them what the particular coin is worth in circulated condition and also what the finest known example is worth. When they hear the high number they'll usually have a look of "shock and awe", to borrow a phrase.

 

The bottom line is that I enjoy almost all aspects of collecting, except for the selling part. I'm faced now with the prospect of having to sell some of my coins that are lower on the totem pole to do some more upgrading, but I can't seem to convince myself that I really need to sell...

[Hoot]

Coins are many things for me - enjoyment of art, enjoyment of somethings manufactured but with a twist of conditional irregularities, enjoyment of history and the trappings of nations in flux, and much more.

 

Perhaps the most fun I have with coins is searching for what still can be found in the raw. Searching out conditional rarities among raw coins can be quite challenging and, funny enough, can be an eye opening experience for many dealers! Others have talked of co-workers and their responses to coins, but I find that to be true with many (most) of the dealers I visit! If they see that I'm intensely interested in a particular series, then they often turn on the interest and questions. It leads to great discussions, including the many pearles that they can pass on. Contemporary dealers and collectors are great to learn from.

 

When looking for raw coins, I look for many circulated pieces too. The story of the 20 cent piece (clw54) is superb. I also think that the motivations involved were that of an advanced collector - someone who looked for a nice, cirulated, problem-free example of an uncommon coin. I recently found a circulated 1950-D Jefferson nickel in a coin shop. I pushed the uncirculated coins aside and exclaimed how thrilled I was! It took the dealer totally off guard, but he said "I was also incredibly surprised to find that coin!" (What's rare about that coin in the series is finding great circ. examples - uncs. are a dime a dozen!)

 

I'm rambling, but it's fun to know what underlies various peoples' "coin luv"

 

Hoot