Are You Happy With Your Collection

My collection is made from two. Mine from when I was growing up, and the one passed on to me by my Grandfather. He was a firm believer in only collecting what he got in circulation. He also had lived through the Great Depression and so was very frugal. This character trait influenced him to collect multiples (from circulation) of the same thing instead of worrying about a few missing holes.

So I am in the process of cherry picking extras at present and want to use asnything I find to fill in some keys that are missing. After all, I cannot find these in circulation anyway.

Am I satisfied? Yes. Do I have the keys I want yet? No. Its the hunt and the desire to acquire that makes a good part of the fun in the hobby for me.

What makes a keeper? Something that fills a hole, something with a design that appeals to me, or something with some great history attached to it. Mostly this will be US or Canada coins, but there are exceptions.

I've always thought of a keeper coin as a better date/MM coin...
Anyways, to answer your main question...

Yes, I am happy with my collection. It's kind of small, but it has some really nice coins in it (like my 1880 S ICG MS-63 PL Morgan dollar). I'd really like to finish of my Buffalo nickel dansco, and then put together a type set (in a 7070).

I use two different mind sets as I build my collection. Does it tell a story and is it like the letter "T"? DOn't worry, I will explain...

A gold dinar minted under the rule of Ummar Bin Al Khatib sold for around 6 million USD. 1 1936 "dot" cent sold for 250,000 USD. If I was a multi millionaire I could buy those two coins as "treasure assets" but would those two coins seating side by side do anything for you? Despite their value it wouldn't be a coherent collection. You could assemble a run of silver, nickel and loon dollars for a fraction of the cost of even one of those coins and you could show people the evolution of the Canadian dollar.

Now about the "T" comment. The letter T has one line that goes wide (broad) and one line that goes down deep. I am putting a lot of work into municipal trade tokens of ATlantic Canada. I probably have around $600 in my tokens with the silver proofs, errors, gold plated etc. That is the deep line in the T of my collection. At the end of the day though they are just one aspect of the hobby. I also have cheques, Roman AE3s, Sassanian Drachms, 1 of 40 slabbed Terry Fox dollars signed by the engraver and a run of MS nickel 5 cent pieces. That is the wide line of my collection, a little bit of everything to a lesser degree.

I think it is Sel that is always saying he wants a museum like example of coins from every time and period.

I guess to answer your question I am happy(ish) with my collection. I might cut some coins out of their pylo packs and bring all my extra modern twoonies, loonies, quarters and scratched up nickel dollars to the bank in the future. I didn't even bother to buy the new remembrance day coin pack from the RCM. I hate that I have so much money tied up in post 2010 stuff.

Happy, yes. Happy doesn't mean done. I will never be done. Until I'm dead.

I am happy with my collection given the money I have spent on it. For the most part, I feel I purchased pretty well and like the overall look for the most part.

What is frustrating sometimes is that I can't always afford everything I want. For example, I spent a decent amount of time looking for a 27-S Lincoln for my collection. I found one at a coin show for $125, but there was a nicer one for $625 but that just wasn't in the budget. I like the one I got, but there's always a nicer example out there. There's sets I'd like to assemble but don't because I only have so much to spend. I'd love to assemble a compromise free collection but then that's not too realistic unless I win the lottery. Of course, with unlimited funds there would be no challenge, so who knows - maybe I would lose interest.

Overall, though, I am pretty happy with my collection.

Harmonica has confirmed.
My collection is a statement of the whole of numismatics, all cultures C/- 650 BC, up until about 1950, when silver as a circulation medium began to be withdrawn from the World's circulating coinages.

Many historic stories can be told from such a collection, and the hearer, who may have no interest in coins at all, will almost always show some personal interest.
A bit like a TV documentary, but with the hardware actually sitting in the palm of their hands.
About 1,500 coins arranged in mainly time order, to describe the World numismatic timeline.

More people than just I seem to be happy with my collection.

There a few collectors of similar ilk to mine here in the CCF, who are collecting in a similar manner.

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I currently have my eye on a silver unit of the Pyu conage of the Funan period of Burma, 300-400 AD.
5.7 grammes 30 mm diameter, nearly fine with surface roughness. That is probably the result of brass brush scrubbing to remove hard encrustations after recovery from in ground burial.
The people who find these things are obviously not coin collectors!

I am currently trying to find some pricing information on similar pieces; that hard to do.

I have a new answer...

I am happy with my coin collection, but I dont yet have that "Wow" piece yet. I'm not talking about a VF ish 1931 S LWC, I'm talking about a pre-1932 proof coin, a AU-MS gold piece, DMPL morgan. I dont know, I just kind of feel like 45% of my collection is mid to low grade cheap stuff (not that I dont mind that... Some of that stuff is still pretty cool)... Anyways, when I get sick of looking at some of the cheap stuff of mine and just want to stare at some eye candy, I really only have two coins with awesome eye appeal: my 1944 Mercury dime, MS-66 with awesome toning, and my 1880 S ICG MS-63 PL Morgan, which is (in all honesty) the most "wow" piece I own (except maybe my ALMOST discovery piece DDR-004 homestead quarter). Not sayin I dont own anything cool (I own some AWESOME stuff!), its just that I see so many great coins on here and it just reminds me of how much I have to improve- and how much I WILL improve- over the years. I guess I'm just growing impatient, waiting for more cash to roll in (too young for a job) so I can get more expensive coins over the cheap stuff I have right now... Anyways, depending on the amount of cash I get for christmas, I'm either going to buy my first gold coin, or a proof Indian Head cent.

Wow, that was my first "rant" (if you could call it that)!

I am happy working on my collection. It is fun, relaxing and I enjoy it.

But am I happy with it. I am happy to a point, but not satisfied.

I think I change focus too often. Also, I sell a lot of things from my collection when they no longer interest me or are not part of my 'focus'. It is good because I need the funds to buy things in my focus, but not good because I miss having a larger more expansive collection. Sometimes I miss the things I sold because I get back into what I thought I wasn't into anymore.