Is It A Coin Collection Or A Hoard?

Everything in my collection I found myself in pocket change :)

So definitely more of a hoard than a specialized collection, because none of the coins really have much in common

Hi my name is goldenchest and I'm a coin and currency hoarder.
Ive been collecting for 15 yrs on and off and simply cant stop. Any coin I fimd interesting or potential interesting goes into a sort pile. Even coins I buy in flips have a jar they sit in until I find a spot for them in my album. I have a copper jar, a wheatie jar, sm/lg date jar, a ddo/ DDR jar, a foriegn jar, a damaged jar, a idk what this is jar, a variety jar, a to be search pocket change jar, a pre1960 nickel jar, an AU/BU jar, a bicentenial jar, and a jar for those that didnt make any of above, which is in turn rolled and used to buy more coins.
Oh I almost forgot my namesake, jars of golden dollar which will be used to fill a pirate style chest when I find one I like at a good price. Then ill have a.chest of gold coins. Ish.

Yep I'm definetly a hoarder and its going to stay that way. Lol

HOARD. I was born in the Year of the Dragon, you see

In all seriousness, though, 99% of my collection that hasn't been obtained via trade on CCF has come to me straight through my cash drawer. The exceptions are my very old foreigns (purchased from my shiny coin man on the Bay) and some of my IHC/wheats, which I bought from a collection someone had in the 50s and abandoned (childhood collection though, so, y'know, still searched from change). As a result my collection has very little form. However, I like it that way--I like the idea that my nieces, when they are old enough, will be able to be handed my shoeboxes and told to "play, just make sure ALL of the coins are back in the box when you're done and please ask me before you pull out the bills" and then fantasize over Merc dimes, IHC, shiny pennies from the years their mom and dad were born, yuan notes from China, a $20 from 1950 (ANCIENT TIMES, THOSE!) all mixed together with State proofs and big, shiny Morgan and Peace dollars (thank you again, jfransch!) . . . and also silver coins with an actual queen on them that are all the way from England and come from a time when women wore big frilly ball gowns all the time, and coins in funny other languages, and . . . . you get the picture.

My collection can thus be roughly divided into five parts:

--Professor Peabody's Wayback Machine: The Cent Edition. This is a collection beginning in 1982 and going backward until I can't afford anymore or hit the beginning of the IHC (sorry, Flying Eagle lovers, they don't do it for me), all contained in a nice shiny binder as suggested by BadThad.

--Drink Up, Me Hearties, Yo Ho: This is an amalgamation of modern (read: post-1955) foreign coins and bills that will someday be tipped into a painted chest containing a map of the world with a big red X drawn over Texas, where my girls live. They will then be encouraged to hunt down the locations from which their "pirate treasure" came and to mark each new location on the map, and also to learn about what's on the coins (who is that person? Why is that building there? Why do you think the coin has a hole through it/is that light/has those funny bumps around the edge?).

--On An Island What You Can Only Find If You Already Know Where It Is: An amalgamation of older foreign coins (no bills yet). When the girls get a little older and want to know where the good coins are, they can come see me. The answer is, they're in a shiny blue box from a place called Whitman, in little cardboard holders.

--All That Other Stuff: junk I've pulled out of my drawer and found fascinating.

--Why Do You People Know My Phone Number: bills! Star notes and old stuff, and a few foreigns.

I think I started out to be a coin collector. Still am maybe. No longer sure. I've been collecting coins for well over 60 years. I would like to get rid of about 5 to 10 thousand coins and I really will, someday, maybe, possibly, I think. I know I'm not a hoarder since I put coins in Albums so I must still be a collector, maybe.

I've thought about that a real lot. I've got no one to leave it all to so might just do that someday.

I have completed a number of circulating sets, but also could be accused, I suppose, of hoarding coins since I have so many unrelated to either completed sets or sets I'm working on.

For several reasons.
1. They're just plain interesting;
2. I might get interested in acquiring an entire set;
3. They can be used in trade for what I'm interested in;
4. My kids might like them.

Another project I'm working on is an Excel spreadsheet of my inventory. So far I'm at over 6,000 coins, (25% done?) with only a few hundred being in collections.

Is it a hoard if you have an inventory?

That's a given considering the forum we're on.

WAIT WHAAAAA---

Ben, how old are you?! I thought you were at least my age!!


And Carl, I'm going to agree with Ben. I'm not a "big cheese" but if you wanted to leave a few coins to my nieces via my current collection (which will, when I finally make a will, be bequeathed to them), I would be happy to pass it on to them (along with a letter about it and you, if you'd like--I've mentioned the memory books I'm making for my girls and anything that adds to the written record is precious!). My side of the family is very poor, and Grandma and Grandpa Mossberg are the children of Holocaust refugees--there aren't a whole lot of heirlooms and such to be had. I bet if you looked around you could find lots of "spiritual heirs" who would be happy to preserve your coins with your memory--I've certainly learned plenty from you and no way am I the only one!