Do You 'Enjoy' Your Coin Collection?

This is an interesting topic for a noob like me. Since I've just started, I can't really be guilty of this...yet. Just about every night, though, I take out my Whitman folders and bring the kids over to the table to look at them. They're still little, so I'll say something like, "see this one, it says here that there were 5 billion of these made. This one here only had 2.5 million made. Which one do you think was more difficult to find?"

Then I explain the whole concept of rarity and why one is worth more than the other and why they are both worth more than 1¢.

They kind of get it and think it's cool. They absolutely love to roll hunt with me. I always keep a few wheaties free and toss them in when there are a few lousy rolls in a row to keep them interested.

This is a great thread b/c it reassures me that I'm enjoying the hobby, and keeping it just that: a hobby.

I have coins that are valuable, and coins that aren't. The valuable ones will still be in the bank, but I will be bringing a few home every now and again to remember why I bought them. Since I really started searching them again in the last few days, I have made some nice discoveries. I guess after 20 + years of collecting you are bound to have a nice coin or two, and some real 'what was I thinking?' coins as well.

Great question...

I just (re)started collecting about 3 years ago and have gone through the emotions both ways. At first, it was just to get something new and pretend I knew what I was talking about but after some bad purchases it turned around. As I started to learn more about what I was collecting and finding the small differences in what make one coin stand out over another one, the joy began to develop. Over the last two years I would say that I have really enjoyed my collection and look through parts of it a couple times a week and I know this is why I like the Dansco folders so much because I can see both sides of a coin and compare it with others.

My wife would most likely say that I hoard certain coins but she also knows the joy it brings to me to have them. Over the extent of my life I can look back and see that I was always collecting something at one point or another and that I would then move onto something else. I think the reasons I moved on were that I grew tired of something too easily, everyone else was doing the same thing, or it had to be a high grade to have any value. These items always had a price tag to them and not a pure excitement like when I buy a new; or old, coin. When I pick up a coin I start to think of the history that coin has gone through: who owned it? how far has it traveled? what did it purchase? did someone famous use this and if so, for what? If I put some kind of meaning behind it, it makes it move enjoyable, if there is no meaning, then it is just a piece of metal.

Just carl, I really hope one day my kids can post somewhere like this that they have coins their dad gave them. My eldest is 4 and he is already showing an interest, my youngest is 9 months but he only wants to eat them.

Interesting topic. I am grateful for every coin that I have. I love the story it tells. And I love to give coins away to add to it's story. So, yes, I do enjoy my collection.

I do a lot of buying, selling, and investing as some of you know. It took me a long time to separate the collector in me from the business end. But I have found that I am a collector at heart. I think that's why I enjoy selling coins as well, whether it be on ebay, CCF, or Locally. I am a firm believer that if you have a passion for something and do it to your best ability, you will be rewarded. I guess that's why I have 4 different businesses that were hobbies and now supply my income...pretty cool.

My favortite coin series are in Dansco Albums, and I look at some of those almost every evening.

The few valuable coins I own are in a safety deposit box -- which I haven't visited in over a year.

I slowly but surely give coins to our three children and six grandkids. My hope is that at least some of them will keep the coins, become collectors themselves, and pass the coins on to future generations.

I am a collector (since the mid 1950's). I am also a hoarder (55,000 Lincoln Cents, 500 Statehood Quarters, etc.).

Whatever category I fall into, it's been a wonderful hobby, and continues to give me pleasure.

I enjoy every coin I have and everytime I get a coin a never had. I love looking at my coins once in a while as I remember not only the historical backgrounds but the sentimental side of the coins. Whether it was given to me by a loved one or by someone I made happy. Whether I got it expensive because I like it very much or I got it at a bargain for being lucky. I have always enjoyed collecting and keeping doubles for whoever I can also make happy by giving or by swapping.