Struggling With Enjoying My Collection

So which of your coins are your favourites, and why? Who were the engravers and when did they live, for instance. Which section of your collection intrigues you most and why? The answers you come up with are bound to inspire somebody else, and might even lead you into what could be an exciting avenue of research that you never thought might be interesting. Sharing the ideas will start conversations and everybody will be better off as a result. I hope this helps. Above all, have fun!

People collect many things, coins, salt shakers, dolls, antiques, whatever. For some it's a casual pleasure but not a huge part of their lives. Others are more serious, more involved, dedicate more time to their hobby, keep documents, take photos, post info, go to estate sales, auctions, coin shows, etc.

I like to take photos of my coins/bullion, mostly just use my cell phone, not the best pics but works for keeping a photos folder of them. Sometimes I take better pics with a macro camera to post online. There's numerous photo editing apps available, some come preinstalled on computers, phones. It takes some time to learn how to use the apps, edit photos.

It's up to you. If it's more of a chore for you to take pics or try writing a blog, share your coins, then that's not fun. If you wouldn't enjoy it then don't do it, nothing wrong with you just enjoying your coins on your own. My wife and daughter don't care at all about coins, so lucky me they are all mine LOL.

Sharing is part of the enjoyment. Having most of a collection locked I a vault, I put much time into photographing the coins for my own enjoyment. I think I understand what you are saying.

Sometimes researching an unknown coin is even more enjoyable than acquiring it. And then there is a tale to tell.

Or you can try medals instead of coins. Each is more unique and they are usually well preserved all. It matters less if you use another photo of the same medal. I am planning on telling some stories about medals here. If I can acquire the one I am after :) But would be able to tell it with having and photographing that medal. It will be new information here because no one discussed that medal here yet.

I advise that you go back to your original problem, the photos. Telephone photos suck. HDR sucks. If you want really great photos you need a frame to fix the camera, good lenses, manual focus. Without it you will spend much time looking for the right focus each time you photograph a coin. Frustrating. You will trade material for time and need much patience. Autofocus with macro on cheap cameras is terrible.
Old and now cheap early pro or enthusiast cameras and macro lenses will do fine. Lenses are harder to find cheap. You only need macro lenses for near and very large photos. So you can use one with a regular lens and set it up further from the coin. Good for lighting too.

If you struggle to enjoy your collection it's probably time to sell
It or put it in storage or revisit it.

If you want to share it, that's not really an enjoyment issue.

I think you have to enjoy it before you start sharing it, but take into consideration that most people care about what it looks like what it costs what it's worth. I'm not one that cares about minutia for the most part. But I do like to share on here, but I also understand that not many are interested in what I like.

Hello,

Thank you so much for the replies, a lot of good advice and insight here as always.




There is a lot of truth to this statement. I think sharing my collection should be something I do here with people who also like coins rather then "out there" where most people could care less about coins.




I think I need to go back to basics here. Why did I want to collect coins in the first place? So, I could have something to pass down to my son. I don't collect anything rare or valuable and my son could care less about coins. I have learned a lot, both good and bad. Taking pictures of coins is just one small area of the hobby. I used to subscribe to Coin World magazine and would get a lot of good information from there, perhaps it is time to revisit that.

I wrote something about my 1979 Proof set, took my time and had fun doing it.
http://goccf.com/t/461009

Maybe this is how I can share my collection and experiences.

Rich

I've just read kbbpll's post. Couldn't agree more. This forum is the place to be because it's guaranteed that someone here will be interested in the research-rabbitholes we all go down from time to time. Makes me happy to know it.

Well said, Hunter.