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 Replies: 16 / Views: 3,425 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2200 Posts |
I began collecting coins around 1972, starting (like many) with Lincoln cents. I filled up many folders, including Jeffs, Rooseys, Washingtons, and some modest type coin collections.
During that time I was able to find a lot of wheaties in circulation, and every now and then some silver. While it wasn't usual, it certainly wasn't rare.
While my collection is certainly not full of high-end monetary value, almost all of it does carry some sort of premium over face value. And that's exciting in its own way to me--not because I want to be rich, but because my diligence in looking through change and making a modest purchase every now and then makes me feel like I've achieved some sort of investment.
Since coming to this forum, I see a lot of people who are new to the hobby asking about the investment value of newer coins--say ones from the 1980s to the present. I stop and think, Wow, that's silly--many of those coins have mintages in the billions and will never be worth more than face value. Hence, any coins you find in circulation aren't worth keeping outside of filling up a hole in a folder.
Am I being crotchety in my thinking that it's pointless to think that saving any modern-day regular issue is a waste of time? Or am I missing something here and should temper my thinking?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
We all have to start somewhere. People who stick with the hobby for a lifetime usually move on to collect earlier, scarcer and more expensive issues.
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Rest in Peace
United States
10625 Posts |
If people didn't collect modern day regular issues (back in the day) we would not have any classics to collect.  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4587 Posts |
Remember, the "common circulating Wheaties" you collected are now rare, never seen oddities.
Besides, 99.9% of the ZLincolns have enough scratches that in 25 or 50 years all that will be left is a green shell and a pile of Zinc dust.
-----Burton 50+ year / Life / Emeritus ANA member (joined 12/1/1973) Life member: Numismatics International, CONECA Member: TNA, FtWCC, NETCC, EveryCountry (online) coin club Owned by three cats and a wife of 40+ years (joined 1983) Author: 3rd Edition of the Sample Slabs book, https://www.sampleslabs.info/ |
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Valued Member
United States
338 Posts |
I'm putting away all the 2017-P cents I get in change. Most of them are still nice.
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Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
One of the best things about this forum is our acceptance of divergent collecting philosophies.
Regardless of each collectors goals, or lack of goals, there is a noted sociological connection between collectors and those with a creative talent.
As such it is no surprise when so many of us create what we believe is most satisfying.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5238 Posts |
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Am I being crotchety in my thinking that it's pointless to think that saving any modern-day regular issue is a waste of time? Or am I missing something here and should temper my thinking? Yes, you are being crotchety: 1. They fill up the folders, and that, if nothing else, is entertaining and educational. 2. Diligently, and in bulk, CRH can get the vast majority of modern coins, including silver, at face value. That makes a difference for new collectors with a limited budget. 3. Unlike in 1972, variety hunting can be profitable. |
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Rest in Peace
10197 Posts |
jpsned....ahem, dude, hey sport! You and I would get along like Brothers!   Quote:
Am I being crotchety in my thinking that it's pointless to think that saving any modern-day regular issue is a waste of time? Or am I missing something here Modern coins, since our Mint has digressed into the netherworld of RCM wannabe similarities, in their wild run up to glow-in-the-dark living President coins that chime when you flip them...(just you wait...)has produced a paltry prospectus of even nominal investment potentials hoping to impress the mindless minions of gullible young collectors. Yes, you know who you are, Millenials...Happy New Year!   Oriole...you tried selling any of dem errors? Let me know how you do it, I can't seem to turn a one. Edited by Crazyb0
12/30/2017 6:57 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5238 Posts |
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Oriole...you tried selling any of dem errors? Let me know how you do it, I can't seem to turn a one. Actually, I am not a collector of errors or varieties, but one of our LCS in my city is a father and son team that has developed this as quite a profitable part of their business. There is a middle ground between buying every mint product and slagging modern coins. I am saying that collecting modern coins can be enjoyable and educational-I see dozens of our fellow CCF members who enjoy it and know their stuff. Of course the average coin issued in the billions will never be worth face value, nor will most modern mint products ever be resold for their selling price. I doubt that collecting modern coins will be particularly profitable, but that statement could apply to almost any kind of coin collecting. I collect a lot of different things, and probably I would not get my money back if I sold them, but that is OK. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2200 Posts |
Hey guys, thanks for the viewpoints! They're all valid and thoughtful. (And just to clarify, when I mentioned saving modern-day issues being a waste of time, I meant saving them in bulk in the hopes that they'd be worth extra money some day. Filling up holes in a folder is always a good thing; heck, I'm still trying to fill in the Lincoln Denver issues from the last decade!)
Edited by jpsned
12/30/2017 9:17 pm
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Moderator
 United States
187671 Posts |
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If people didn't collect modern day regular issues (back in the day) we would not have any classics to collect. Agreed.  Quote:
Besides, 99.9% of the ZLincolns have enough scratches that in 25 or 50 years all that will be left is a green shell and a pile of Zinc dust. Sad, but true. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
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Am I being crotchety in my thinking that it's pointless to think that saving any modern-day regular issue is a waste of time? Yes I would agree that you are. Every coin was a modern at one time. A coin is also a coin, being older doesn't make something more of a coin, everyone has different tastes and there is nothing wrong with liking moderns. Yes mintages are in the billions or 100s of millions but how many of those do you think are actually nice? The majority don't come that nice from the mint in the first place as they are pumping them out so fast, and the overwhelming majority get used as no one saves them. There are a lot of examples of moderns where finding a high grade one would be harder to find than finding a "key date" classic coin in a reasonable grade |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
997 Posts |
Collecting new coins is fairly simple, you can just buy them from the mint or get them at the bank. I like to collect out of circulation and have started to try to collect a roll's worth of each circulating date/mintmark coin I can. While I already have pretty much done so for most pennies )both US and Canada) I have only jut started on nickels. Dimes and quarters and perhaps dollars are down the road...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
I swing wildly from excited back to crotchety. Like you, I started in the early 70s working a cash register job where you could still pull silver quarters, Mercury dimes, Buffalo nickles, IHCs for face value. Now I get excited (briefly) when I find a 1965 quarter still kicking around. I ponder the history, it sits on my desk for a week or two, then the crotchety kicks back in and I think, what are my kids going to do with all this junk? and back into circulation it goes. I got excited when a friend agreed to score a roll of Effigy Mounds quarters for me at the launch in Iowa, then I went through the roll and there wasn't anything better than MS62 in the bunch. What's the point of tying up this $10 for a generation? Back to crotchety. But I think you just have to separate "collecting" from "investment" and focus on what you enjoy. If you focus on "investment", you'll always end up crotchety. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
900 Posts |
Just because it's not expensive, doesn't mean it's not worth keeping. Collect what you like.
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Moderator
United States
187671 Posts |
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Just because it's not expensive, doesn't mean it's not worth keeping. Collect what you like. Short and to the point.  |
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Replies: 16 / Views: 3,425 |
Posted 12/30/2017 5:55 pm
