What If I Cannot Buy A Coin?

Undoubtedly Matthew, when I'm not looking for coins to buy I spend a lot of time researching them! That might be looking for or through auction catalogues in the hope of spotting one of 'my' coins (always a nice bonus!) Or I will keep track of decent coins and prices, even though I have one like it already.

And occasionally I'll either see a coin that I take a fancy to, or sometimes it's one someone has asked to have ID'd, and that will set me off trying to find out more.

Some of it, it's just because I like coins and it's fun to know more about them! Why was one design used over another? What was happening in the world at that time and what would that coin buy? Where would it have circulated and who might have handled it?

But also it's good for me because the better I know what's available, in what condition and price, then the more likely it is that I can feel confident I'm buying the hoped-for 'above average' coins that will make my collection something special. Well, that's the idea anyway!

I buy my romans to learn about ancient times...it works well, very motivating to have a look around history.

And seeing some of it posted here is all the better.

It all depends on how serious you wish to take this hobby.

The difference between a "coin collector" and a mere "accumulator" or "investor" is the desire for knowledge.

While both a "coin collector" and a "numismatist" ought to have a desire for knowledge, for its own sake, the difference between them is this: for a collector, owning the coins is still of primary importance whereas for the numismatist it is the knowledge itself that is most important. There are plenty of numismatists out there who do not own any coins at all, or at least not the particular kinds of coins they are studying.

I think the history behind some coins - is every bit as much fun to discover as a coin itself.

If you are looking for some history - I suggest you jump into the commemorative forum and read some of commems (another user) posts on his fantastic collection of commemorative coins. The early commemoratives almost all have a long history behind them, and a history that gets even more interesting when you read about the process it took to get them minted and then some of the crooked games played with distribution.

I can't really see being a coin collector without buying coins.

Ever sense I started coin collecting 5 years ago I have through out the years gained an incredible amount of knowledge about coins. Now I have a fairly big collection and its growing. By now I don't think I would be able to buy the coins that I buy now compared to the ones that I used to buy if I didn't have that knowledge. everybody knows what my #1 hobby is and when I'm at school, if a teacher or a student have any odd coin they have never seen before, I will tell what they have and to not put it back into circulation. From what iv learned, knowledge is very important... so I guess I'm half collector and half numismatist.