Your Budget

No reason to be rude though

Whatever I've got

money... what's that?

Five years ago at least I had a better idea.

Nothing.

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time soon after my Dad died I was going through sorting his stuff and I found a load of coins. Just regular ones, but a briefcase full of all the same coin, plus a handful of others.

A few of them I liked, so I took the regular currency to the bank and cahed it and then went to a coin dealer and bought a few pieces. I guess I got the bug.

Anyway a few months later I had done some research (because everyone wants to know how much a coin is worth, don't they?) and in the process had found a book in the library called The Splendid Shilling.

Now a shilling is a British coin (I am British) that was demonetised, but that I remember from when I was younger. I could buy an ice lolly, or even a small book for a shilling when I was at school. And being British shillings had been issued not just here, but across the world in places like New Zealand, Australia, Fiji.

The idea of collecting shillings, just like the ones I'd seen in the book really appealed to me, so that's what I set out to do.

Trouble is, shillings have been issued since the reign of Henry VIII (the mid-1500s) so you can't just pick them out of change. You have to buy them. And the earlier ones aren't cheap!

Anyway, long story short, one day Wifey discovered how much I had spent on some of the coins. And she wasn't best pleased!

However, she did accept it was partly Dad's money (though now ours) and so decided to allow me a lump sum to spend on my hobby. We discussed what I thought I'd need to buy a decent collection ..

.. and I got half that!

And since 2004, that's what I've been buying my coins with. Of course, that money is long gone (and no, I'm not going to tell you how much). So now if I want a coin, I have to sell another. Or top up the money left with cash I get for my birthday or Christmas.

So I don't actually put any money aside. I have what I have and .. that's it. It's not a big collection (a few over 60 coins in total), but through making contacts with other collectors, learning about the things and a fair bit of luck and a good memory for images, I've done OK.

I have a collection I'm fairly happy with (yeah, there will probably always be some coins I'd like to upgrade and of course, the inevitable gaps).

I've had to narrow down my field of collecting to just the one reign now (or else I'd not even have a coin from each monarch, let alone anything close to covering all the varieties and types of coins issued).

But I have a collection thanks to Wifey and Dad. Which is pretty cool, I think!

You beat me to that reply.

how's that possible?: I have once paid 300 for one - a sort of rare variety it was, alright, but... "5"?

Ranges from week to week. I started putting my pocket change, that did not have any errors and such, into a jar and using that to make purchases. I also cut out eating fast food as much and packing a lunch. With the two lunches I pack per week, I spend what I would have spent eating fast food on something I would enjoy.

I found a backdoor mint error $2 in circulation, sold it for good chunk of money and used the funds to start collecting.
I told my wife I wouldn't spend more than the initial lump sum (unless I sold off something else).
as far as she is concerned I have no coin budget, as far as the truth is concerned...