Why Do You Collect Coins?

I liked Saps Reference to history. I can relate to that. But Conder makes a valid genetic point. BUT he forgot the RAVEN geneOf this I believe I have a dominant trait. If I see a round shinny object I have the compulsion to stash it away. Using good conservation practices. Now I love a pristine proof or ms/bu coin. But nothing is better than holding a fine /very fine cc Morgan dollar and trying to connect with the person that used it for ? you name it Were has it been? what has it seen? So I guess I'm a hoarding conservator Collector(raven) Just a thought.
Coggie(jeff)

For me it is the right combination of using the right brain/left brain. I really appreciate the art (and the lack of it in a rare few) and history as well as the problem solving of finding a great coin from a particular mint at the grade I am looking for. Not just the thrill of the hunt but the appreciation of the prize at the end as well.

It is interesting that all of the things I do or ever have purposely collected in my life are small things: salt cellars, golf course pencils, shot glasses, stamps, coins. Well -- OK, I do have a rather extensive collection of cribbage boards, two or three of which are bigger than a bread box. But in general, I think I'm a miniaturist at heart. (Maybe that comes from being short.)

But, of course, with the coins, there's more to it than that. For me I think it's the history and the aesthetics and, for a reason I can't quite pinpoint, the fact that there is an inherent value. A salt cellar or a cribbage board is only good for holding salt or playing a game, and they would only be of value if someone wanted them enough to give me money for them. Coins, on the other hand, have a built-in value, and that appeals to me. I could, after all, spend them if times got really tough.

Hmm. Good question. I'll think on it some more.

OK, you're on, MorgansR -- but I've got a double-double run for 16.

Some relict squirrel gene, I guess.

I've buried a lot of acorns of various kinds. Some I continue to hunt for, some I've given up on. Postage stamps for instance. And I satisfied my desire for German state coins very quickly.

The history of coinage, specifically U.S. coinage and Colonials, has always been a driving force that propels me. The ever changing designs, the value of the dollar and what it has meant over the past 215 years, folks that could have had a particular coin in his/her pocket. It never ceases to amaze me that my avatar, a 1786 Vermont Copper, could have been held or pocketed by Ethan Allen who led the Green Mountain Boys to drive the English out of Vermont. How about that Indian Head cent you own that could have been in the pocket of a soldier at the Battle of Gettysburg. Or how about a Draped Bust Large Cent that George Washington may have handled. This is why I love this great hobby!

My 'signature'.

You can't beat the 'thrill' of getting a rare coin from circulation!
Then you wonder how the coin came to be yours, and where the coin was for all of those years....

I got a 1976 1 Deutsch Mark instead of a quarter last week in change at the deli. Made my day. Not a rare coin, except this was Michigan. A nice add to the "found in rolls and change" collection.