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 Replies: 8 / Views: 1,792 |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
548 Posts |
Coins are history
They say something about what a country or an empire was doing at one point in history and because they vary so much in value it's easy to put together a truly historic collection. How many items apart from coins do you own that are 50, 100, 200 years old? Not many I'm guessing.
Coins are precious
Did you know the reason settlers originally went to America was for "gold, God and glory"? Well, I don't know about the God and glory bit but the gold bit I understand. I love gold, in fact I love anything precious. Jewels, rings, necklaces, etc, but as a man it would be a bit weird to collect jewellery so I get gold coins instead. There is a satisfaction is putting together a collection of cheap coins, but gold is condensed money. It is a wonderful thing.
Coins are beautiful
Britannia
Lady Liberty
'nuff said
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2133 Posts |
I like numismatics too, however I have plenty of other items more than 200 years old: medallions, tokens, jettons, brooches, arrowheads, pottery, furniture, books, letters, documents (mainly indentures and sasines), paintings.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
History, politics, art, language, symbolism & heraldry, geography, and metallurgy - to name a few -
coins are tangible aids in all of those studies.
And the only limits are your imagination, and (sadly) the weight of your wallet.
And perhaps photography and internet skills might be added to the list these days.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Their relationship to World history is what attracts me to numismatics.
Nevertheless, coin collecting can be one of the few hobby interests that can turn a profit in the long term. I cast my collecting interests in coin collecting very widely, to extent that it covers ALL coinages of ALL ages, but with my personal qualifier that each and every piece could have actually been USED to make a purchase.
The wide interest allows me to consider virtually every coin available for sale on a value for money basis. Such an approach allows me to always buy well. Hypothetically, I may have consider an MS Morgan against a Roman EF antoninianus of Gordian 111, as to which is best value for money, when my budget has been limited.
The only problem is that such a collection can become embarassingly valuable over a period of decades, and thus a security liability. The problem is magnified if you have an abiding lifetime interest in coin collecting / numismatics.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
The only problem is that such a collection can become embarassingly valuable over a period of decades, and thus a security liability. The problem is magnified if you have an abiding lifetime interest in coin collecting / numismatics. And that is more true in some areas as in others. In places of large cities where crime runs rampant, allowing anyone to know you have a coin collection or anything of value is not to smart. Where I live houses, garages, stores and factories are robbed all the time. So many that few ever even make the news. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
937 Posts |
Why I love coins? Wow what a question. Sure the history and the dream. The story the coin would tell. When I look at my 1803 Half Cent, heavily worn but even and natural surfaces maybe VG on a good day with a grader in a good mood... I cannot help but wonder how many times this was used to pay for a 37 1/2 cent meal at at a tavern in Weymouth Mass or Concord NH. Or perhaps given as a tip to the pretty tavern maiden in Albany NY who bent down just enough as she served up a fresh pint. A good part of my love is what it meant as a kid. No matter how hard things got they never hated or hurt me. Those worn out old wheat cents and V nickels were always there. Through the decades most have been replaced with MS examples but it is still the same always good times with coins. To the OP; How many items do you have over 50 years old? well quite a few; many of the cooking pans and pots we use everyday were made before 1957 and several pieces of well used furniture made in 1920,s and 1930's Over 100 yea there are several things in the house at least 100 years old including a price guide from 1886 that shows an 1877 IHC valued at less then thirty cents... never have gotten a dealer to accept that offer though. Over 200, well I have a few cool fossils hanging around, and no, I am not one of them. I said cool fossils. Of all the things it is coins that always brings me back, I can never stay away they are my crack, or coke...OOOHHHH pretty... shiney...hmmmmm...and it is 1828 in Atlanta... |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
There's nothing weird about a man wanting to collect jewellery. In the past, in many cultures, a woman was the holder of the man's gold/wealth - you would see big 24K chains and earrings being worn by married women. It's sort of true to this day, but now it's more of a gift. If society tells you it's "wrong" to like something deemed feminine, don't worry about it in the slightest - those people have twisted sets of ethics. Most of the world's diamond dealers are men, and traditionally the goldsmith was a man with the woman handled the retail side - but that's changing too. I think that the biggest justification in the eyes of men concerning jewellery is that it has to be tied to an achievement (graduation, marriage, Super Bowl/sports) and any other jewellery type is just vanity - but there are tons of other things that men show off to boost their egoes so it's really no different than expensive suits, designer sunglasses, muscle cars, big guns, etc. De Beers really hammered their marketing home to invent the message that diamonds are FOR women only, to be GIVEN - it's marketing and it's working on you, DB! ;)
I like gold because it's soft and doesn't tarnish. Plain and scientific. It's the perfect art-metal in and of itself. I should write a paper on this, ha!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2200 Posts |
I have a 1794 large cent. The people who handled it before me had George Washington for their president. Enough said.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
711 Posts |
I like the illustrated history of the debasement of money by centralized governments. Going back through the coins of Mexico and watching the silver content get lower and lower is interesting to me. Most interesting thing to me is that they had a circulating coin in the late 40's, their 5 peso coin, that had more silver in it than a Morgan dollar. I kind of want to see what the relative purchasing power of the peso was back then compared to the dollar then and the dollar now. Here is that coin. I love the high relief on the eagle's chest / breast.  |
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Replies: 8 / Views: 1,792 |
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Posted 09/20/2014 9:50 pm
