Imagine Being A Collector Around 1909-1916...

Book marked Gothic! I love old boards and albulms, thank you.

Interesting topic. And when you think about it there have been coin collectors for a long, long time. However, I don't think this coin collecting stuff was really popular until recently. Not to long ago there were few books on coins available. Not many companies made anything to hold coins except a few that made Folders such as Whitman. Not to long ago no one knew how some things hurt coins such as PVC. Not to long ago people just handled coins as if they were coins. Ever watch Dennis the Menace show. That Mr. Wilson handled coins as if they were just coins. Kept in open trays too.
Back in the 1916 era not many people collected coins so the change was only noticed by some and many disliked the change. Even in the 1930's not a lot of interest in coins. Yes there was some but just not a big thing.
Stamps were more popular in the past so if you did go back there in time you would find coins were cheap. Stamps were the biggies of the times. A good example was when I was a kid I saw 10 1916D Mercury dimes in a hobby shop window for $1.50 each.

The early 20th century would be an awesome time to collect coins, but I feel like if I lived in that time I'd collect some of the older types, like Seated coinage, bust coinage, and large cents for example.

I'm going to challenge popular opinion here: Barber coinage (including V nickels) and Indian Head cents are underrated, and collectors hype the coins that replaced them too much IMHO. The coinage redesigns of 1909, 1913, and 1916 were great and really innovative, but the Barbers and the rest were classics that don't get the praise they deserve.