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 Replies: 16 / Views: 4,327 |
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Valued Member
United States
113 Posts |
I have almost always collected coins by type specifically world coins, and have tried collecting some US coins by date. I am curious as to why people collect coins by date, I would personally use the money and resources for different coins. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
2668 Posts |
That's series. You do you.  |
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
Joey , I started 59 years ago collecting by date ,mint and condition of mostly all U.S. series . Still do and I'm not about to change now !  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1613 Posts |
I began collecting U.S. coins in this manner back in 1974. Way before the technology age and internet. It wasn't until then that I started buying world coins, at first ones which struck my interest. As time passed I find that I'm collecting a few specific countries, again on interest, but as a series run by date and mint mark where it applies.
ANA member - PAN Member - BCCS Member There are no problems only solutions - the late, great John Lennon
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Moderator
 United States
34396 Posts |
Quote:
I am curious as to why people collect coins by date, I would personally use the money and resources for different coins. Of course that is what makes coin collecting so much fun--we each get to pick what types of coins we want to collect (assuming our eyes and bank accounts can come to an agreement). As far as collecting coins by year, you might be interested in looking through this thread linked below--we started with world coins minted in 2020 and have marched our way backwards in time to 1605 AD today on our way to somewhere in the late 1400s. http://goccf.com/t/364499"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7934 Posts |
I started out as a reign collector.
That somehow morphed into a reign and type collector.
That somehow morphed into a reign, type and mint collector.
By the time I had my target list for reign, type and mint, I was more than 50% of the way to being a date collector.
Why fight it?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Coin collecting is a hobby and many people do it as they want. Different people, different ideas.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
I personally use my coin buying money across the whole of numismatics.
But you need a good supporting numismatic library and many decades of experience to reduce the buying mistakes.
At least, with such a strategy, the possibilities open up to buy well, and
you get to learn a lot about numismatics generally as well.
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Moderator
Australia
16808 Posts |
"Date set collecting" is popular, because it's easy. You can easily find the date on a coin, and even for foreign coins written in alien scripts, locating and deciphering the date is usually easier than attempting to translate the entire coin. You don't need to buy a guidebook or catalogue to find out what all the possible dates are. It's also "limited", and predictable - there's only one date change per year, so you don't have to worry about the mint deciding to churn out hundreds of different years, just to try to extract profits from the year collectors.
Mints know that collecting by date is popular, which is why they still put dates on coins, long after the actual need to put a date on a coin became redundant.
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
Canada
1505 Posts |
Great question, not sure why I do, but I think I would place the blame on bulk lots or roll hunting. I would pick one up from time to time and add a bunch dates so I became close to completing a series in a particular denomination. Then I figured, why not just finish it off. Overtime this moved into having all coins in MS (that goal will take a lifetime and probably not realistically achievable).
Maybe it is just a plain old case of scope creep. Originally I only wanted Large cents, silver dollars and a nice type set. Now it's only about $20 a year to keep up to date in Canada, that is why I still do it.
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Valued Member
United States
416 Posts |
Personal opinion of course, but I only care about type, not date. To me it is "crazy" that this-or-that year is so much more valuable because fewer were made, to me it's all the same coin. I chalk it up to the fact that everyone starts out collecting those Whitman/Dansco type coin albums where you have to get every year, and the mindset gets engrained.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
Well Tim , to each his own .  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1316 Posts |
Very guilty date collector here. The heart of my collection is a coin dated to the 82nd year of all centuries (Gregorian) or corresponding for all centuries. Only 2 centuries left to go as 482 and 318 BC. I started doing US type stuff, but 1882 as 100 years before I was born resonated with me and it morphed from there to 1782...1682... and it just kept going. I've started branching out a bit. I have US Capped Bust dime and half date and Draped Bust large cent and half set date sets to finish. I've also started date sets of Liberty nickels with my daughter and Buffalo nickels because I love the "buffalo". I suppose the date set is because these were issued annually and so to complete a set I need the dates and mintmarks. Sticking to type, I've got some older Thai coins and want to get more of the 19th and early 20th century types. I lived in Thailand for a couple years and their early pieces with the elephant in the center are IMO as beautiful of coins as have ever been struck. But I don't have to go collect every year of every type on these to be perfectly happy, especially the copper and bronzer issues. |
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Valued Member
Australia
66 Posts |
We all collect in our own ways. My father loves collecting by date, while I prefer to collect as many different types as I can. Love that there is no wrong way to do it. You do you :)
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Valued Member
United States
143 Posts |
I really enjoy tying historical events to the coins' mintage dates. Tossed in are, of course, some personally important years.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
561 Posts |
I'm in the same spot as @drowning. My father collects date/mint runs but I've only ever been interested in type collections.
I wouldn't ever personally collect a date run, it's not of interest to me, but some people like the draw of having a full set of one type. As mentioned by others, roll hunting has some impact too. Especially for people trying to limit the money they spend in coins, date sets for more modern coins are a great way to have a complete set without a major price tag
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Replies: 16 / Views: 4,327 |
Posted 03/11/2021 7:18 pm
