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 Replies: 16 / Views: 3,234 |
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Valued Member
Canada
495 Posts |
One of my brothers made a comment the other day that kinda shook me a bit when he asked how was the hoarding going these days, meaning my coin stash. I'm a collector said I not a hoarder "but you don't collect like a true collector does with goals and clear objectives, you buy on impulse from those auctions your always on still looking for the treasure you said you lost when we were kids" well, after a few choice words I said goodnite and hope the bedbugs do bite.
Im still wondering if he may be half right tho :}
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1391 Posts |
This comes up every couple of months. Usually someone starts a poll to ask what a true collector is. Most of the time they like to define a collector, and what they mean is people who collect like "me." Do a search for them on the forum, as there are some interesting results. Some people think a true collector will only collect by date and mint mark on a specific series. I'm serious on that one, too. I would find that so boring, looking at the same coins, over and over again. Given that collecting is rather irrational by nature, you should check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman What it comes down to is that there are different types of collectors. They range from people who collect a bunch of junk silver to people who are more historians and numismatists. People talk about the joys of collecting, it is really more of a gentle madness. Edited by allranger
01/24/2015 8:44 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1018 Posts |
I agree, I have that FEVER!
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Pillar of the Community
New Zealand
1679 Posts |
My thoughts ---
If you collect world then its all on.
If you limit yourself to 1 or 2 countries then your a collector
If you limit yourself to a specific coin or set,year or dates then you are a specialist collector.
But if you collect a country or set or coin and then buy others because you like them then you are a Magpie collector.
If I buy a collection or bulk I pick out what I need for my collection (Canadian Vickie cents)(GB Farthings) and sell the rest.
Please add to the list.
cheers Don
Cheers Don
Vickies cents and GB Farthings nut.
"Old" is a figure of speech and nothing more
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1049 Posts |
Maybe you have to find what it is that you are collecting, that is if you're not sure yet. Perhaps you do or don't have a specific goal of sorts. If you do then at that point maybe you can put to rest where you are unsettled by your brothers quiery, after all it seems to have got hold of you for you to ask such. Cheers and best to you Macdon to resolve this. Jon.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1018 Posts |
IMO you could have 100,000 pennies and know nothing about them and I would call you a "hoarder" You could also have 100,000 pennies and know their mint marks, composition value, errors and I would call you a "collector"
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5417 Posts |
I'm the same way, while I don't hoard, I don't have any specific goals in mind and just buy what I like. As long as you collect for the same of collecting (and not for investing, or selling etc.) then you're a coin collector. Simple as that.
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Pillar of the Community
798 Posts |
A true coin collector is somebody who sees a roll of queen Victoria quarters sitting on the back counter at the bank and will not leave until they get them... in this case if it happen to me and they didn't let me exchange for them I would do exactly that, not leave until I got them and would ask for a manager or someone of higher authority. People who buy coins as investments I would not consider a true coin collector but that's just me and everybody's different. In my mind hoarding is just collecting a really lot of it weather you know about numismatics or not, also here's an other one... a true coin collector is someone who can say those random sequences of numbers and letters to identify a Varity of a coin or usually token at any time. To be a true coin collector at all you need to have interest in coins and there well being as well.  now that I look, the person above me seems to think pretty close to how I think.  Edited by Normic67
01/24/2015 9:44 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
2360 Posts |
Give your brother a call and put things right. He was only
saying what he sees. And to the non collector it appears
funny/crazy for anyone to pay $1,400 for a silver dollar,
or for a Vicky cent. When a deal comes along, you have to
jump with speed or it will be gone. So the regular people
see us doing that sort of thing with enthusiasm and
determination and it appears like fanaticism. We are
fans. I am a bit of a scatter shot as a collector,
Decimal, Bullion, NCLT, but I have some genres that I focus
on and have a wish list. I'm glad I have a supportive
family that puts up with all of this mania. But hey it's
pretty harmless, as long as your not betting the farm. Now
I turn over bills for radars, and don't spend commems at
all. Deeper into the rabbit hole.
Edited by SilverDon
01/24/2015 10:11 pm
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Pillar of the Community
798 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1049 Posts |
Silver Don, well said!
I do and am a collector, however my collecting is in a different venue, I metal detect and find hundreds of coins each year. Yes there have been some real nice finds and believe me lots of junk ones. I've probably 3000 coins overall in different venues. The most I've put out is 500.00CDN on about 300 coins, group lot. Other than that it's been all finds that has built my collection, it's not my breath but it's my passion of a hobby that leads me to where other wise I'd not go. I study history, habit, human involvement in specific places to get my results, hence the coins I find. I love my hobby as diverse as it may be!
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Moderator
 Australia
16808 Posts |
I would disagree with your brother in that it is not "goals" and "objectives" that distinguish a collector from a hoarder. Rather, it is what you do with the coins in your possession and how much knowledge and information you have attached to particular coins. Are they sorted and organized, rather than randomly tossed into a bucket or bag? Do you keep a database or other set of records of when, where and how much you paid for each coin? If your brother were to pick up any one coin out of your collection at random, would you be able to tell him exactly why that particular coin is in your collection?
If the answer to any one of these questions is "yes", then what you have is a collection, not a hoard.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1192 Posts |
I consider my uncle to be a hoarder. He has dozens of generic boxes of us cents still in the unsearched rolls just because they may be collectible one day. Like 500 lbs mostly recent boxes he gets from banks. He also hoards Ike's. I asked if he would mind me looking through them with him and teach him about varieties so he could set aside more valuable one. He declined saying he was just going to let his kids fight over them haha.
I wanted to tell him I saw his Ike's going to a bank counter one day. No dealer would bother going through them to look for something special. I have a set of Ike's in a album, all dates mints and varieties. I need to show it to him and see if he changes his mind haha. Stockpiling Ike's just because they are Ike's bothers me haha.
I guess hoarding to me is when you gather large amount of coins without a purpose with the sense they could be valuable one day. It's not a bad thing to me if it makes you happy but its a recipie for heirs dumping quickly at face value. I just feel like there should be some reason behind it
I don't collect something unless it fills a hole in a album. Collect date and mint mark.
Edited by Bertensgrad
01/24/2015 11:58 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3049 Posts |
I consider myself a collector... but in truth I often will buy quantity over quality... I have a pile of pennies and the nickles are quickly piling up as well... My focus can be at times all over the map.. but that's just part of it for me.. I love learning so much and there's so much to learn... it's what keeps me interested and engaged... to each their own
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
694 Posts |
I think this definition covers all bases . Doesn't matter what the premise used for a collectionis or for that fact what you actually collect. So many narratives can come into play but I really liked this one. "something gathered into a mass or pile; accumulation: a collection of rubbish". Yes that is the extreme end of the thought process but you can even collect rubbish and it's still a collection. I know as many hoarders who know exactly what they have. dates,denoms. when and where. I think where the two seperate. Generally hoarders have no order. Its space that is their enemy. Whilst collectors its having space that is the enemy.
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Valued Member
Canada
496 Posts |
I think all of us collectors are nuts ,spending so much
money on a little metal disc. Just because we are intrigued
by a little history or rarity. At least a hoarder has a
goal at the end (to hoard as much value as possible)
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Replies: 16 / Views: 3,234 |
Posted 01/24/2015 8:46 pm
