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 Replies: 33 / Views: 4,501 |
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Valued Member
United States
355 Posts |
So I figured I'd post something today on why I collect...what got me really drawn into the hobby. The picture below is really what gets me collecting. While I enjoy putting together as nice a looking set as I can, i.e. my unc set of Washingtons, or the nicest set of V nickels that I can afford, what really sparked my interest in collecting US coinage was the fact that each piece that passes through my hands is literally tied to our history. It was there when what we now see as a history lesson, was the mundane day to day rat race. It helped put gas in someone's car so they could go to work. It helped pay for someone's dinner. You get the point. The picture below is of a regular old 1941 Jefferson nickel. This coin at best is a VG8. I found it in my pocket change. As a specimen its not really impressive.The coinflatoin website gives a metal value of less that what the coin actually says. FMV gives is a value of one more cent than what the coin actually says. But I love these old worn out coins. To me they are priceless in a sense. They were used, and used heavily. They did the heavy lifting for whomever used them. They show, like a pair of hard working hands, that they've done the job and done it well. BLS.gov's inflation calculator shows that a nickle in 1941 had the same value as .80 does today today. You could buy a loaf of bread for roughly a nickel in 1941, but today, that loaf of break costs, on average, a dollar and a half. A nickel was like the quarter is today...used in almost every cash transaction you make. Back in 1941, you didn't have a little plastic card you used to pay for things everywhere you went...you used cash. In 1941, the US entered WWII, embarking on one of the most resource intensive times in the US's modern history. Food was rationed and resources were strained. All this going on and this little round silver metal disk was there to see it. It helped pay for living, and doing. Maybe I'm too sentimental, maybe not. But when I come across a coin like this in my change, there is no way I can let it go. It's done its job. I do my best to give it a good retirement. Its now safely sandwiched between a 2x2 flip and tucked away with a bunch of his old friends from its home at the Phili mint. I get them out every so often and love looking at their dates and how wore out they are. I try to connect with and understand all that I've learned about what it was like to live during that time period.   Edited by phankins11
03/13/2014 12:16 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1476 Posts |
Excellent, excellent, excellent post  . I could not agree with you more!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3107 Posts |
Just a great post. Thanks for sharing the diamond in the rough.
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Valued Member
United States
256 Posts |
The only thing that would make the hobby even better is if the coins could actually talk and tell you what they've been through.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8904 Posts |
Fantastic writing! I think you've captured what we all feel when we see a coin like yours. (You're just way more eloquent than most of us!!)  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3453 Posts |
 , yeah, what he said. |
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Valued Member
United States
331 Posts |
Very good read. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17901 Posts |
Well said, phankins11! I used to love finding old coins like Queen Victoria pennies in change when I was a kid!
I still love old worn coins that have been in real circulation...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
655 Posts |
I totally agree. Circulated coins are in many ways more interesting than coins that went straight from the mint into someone's collection. In fact, some time ago I decided that I wanted to complete my set of LWCs as the highest grade circulated coins my budget allowed. To do that I had to downgrade a lot of my uncirculated 40's and 50's. The uncirculated coins now reside in a tube and my album now has some really nice, AU or lower coins. I had a heck of a time finding nice, circulated 43's. They seemed to be available as either mint state or totally worn out. |
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Valued Member
United States
306 Posts |
OUTSTANDING! In 100% agreement! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1042 Posts |
Found this one in a roll, while reading this thread.   Like you, I have a growing collection of coins that I've been lucky enough to 'rescue'. Found a dateless type 1 Buffalo in a bank box a few weeks ago. 101 years old, and still in circulation! I love this hobby. And the history that goes along with it is a bonus.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
I have to admit: I have also been 'suckered' by the history and romance of numismatics.
My interest has extended way back to the invention of coinage some 2,600 myears ago, in Asia Minor, now known in modern times as Turkey.
If only coins could talk? How many times over the centuries have coin collectors asked this question?
Three examples of coins in my collection:
1. A silver tetra(4)drachm of ancient Athens. My example was struck in about 450 BC. It was used as a trading coin thoughout the Mediterranean, at a time when Athens was at the peak of it's political power. It has an image of oak leaf garlanded image of Athena on the obverse, indicating the twin victories of the Greeks, after finally repelling the Persians from Greece. Those twin victories were the sea battle of Salamis, and the land battle of Marathon, where Phidipides ran the 26 miles back into Athens to tell of the great victory. He died immediately after.
The silver for this coin came from a very abundant supply at Laurium, a district not far south of Athens, and provided the explanation as to why Athens rose to great political power.
2. I have a gold stater of Philip of Macedon, struck at about 330 BC. It has mint mark of a tiny thunderbolt on the reverse below a two horse chariot driven by Apollo. This mint mark indicates that the coin was struck the town of Pella, about 50 kilometers to the northeast of Thessalonika (Salonika). Paul wrote extensively to the the Thessalonians, and those letters survive today in the Bible.
I have some personal identification with the coin itself, because I have visited the modern town of Pella and it's surrounds. A a huge amount of gold was mined in this region and helps to explain why Macedon rose to political dominance in the ancient Greek World. These were the coins that Alexander The Great paid his armies with, when he went on the rampage throughout Southern Asia, and crushed the very great Persian Empire out of existence.
Both of these coins can be tested easily for authenticity with X Ray Florescence for trace metals other than gold and the metal can be traced back right to the mine where it came from.
3. I have a rather poor example of the famous Widow's Mite of the Roman Procurator of Judaea Valerius Gratius, (A.D. 15-26). That means that it was actually struck during Jesus' life time on Earth. That is a poor example is not very surprising. Almost all of them were very carelessly struck.
Did Jesus actually handle this coin? If only coins could speak!
One of the most surprising things about these coins are, that even today, genuine examples can be obtained for around $20 to $30.
I find that very humbling.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1304 Posts |
I agree with the rest, Well Said phankins11 !!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
651 Posts |
Great post! This is why I collect circulated coins as well as uncirculated.
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Moderator
 United States
15395 Posts |
Perfectly stated phankins11 I admit as well to a passion for circulated coins ... for similar reasons ... although I have never written so well about them. Thanks for sharing. David Take a look at my other hobby ... http://www.jk-dk.art |
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Valued Member
 United States
355 Posts |
Oh wow...glad I shared this! Its great to have good folks to share it with who actually get it. Scotty11 very cool find and sel_69l great share as well.
Let's raise a toast to history...and then get back to collectin!
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Replies: 33 / Views: 4,501 |
Posted 03/13/2014 12:51 pm
