If You Had It

Instead of going to a coin show with $100 and buying 15 coins, I would try to buy just 1. I've only been collecting for 3 years so I haven't made too much of a mistake with this, but I'm really trying to be focused and buy less coins of higher quality going forwards.

Just_carl,

I would say that given the real estate market and the stock market, if you look at coins as an investment instead of a hobby you did better than the other investment choices, especially with those 1916-D's you picked up.

It pains me every time I read your posts regarding your kids, because I too have found that coin collecting can be a lonely hobby at times and I am only 31. I told my wife the other day that it gets lonely when no one wants to see your coins. This is why I am glad I found this place and I figure this is why others join local clubs. My grandfathers name was Carl, so I have adopted you as my forum grand-dad. And I think I speak for all, when I say we appreciate your presence here and we are glad you picked up this hobby years ago, instead of doing something else.

As numismatists we spend a lot of time thinking about where our coins have been, but maybe we should try to imagine where our coins will go from here. Maybe one day, the coin we treasure most, after spending some time in a pawn shop or dropped in a junk bin or worse yet in a cash register, may end up being treasured by a new collector and we will become that coin's history.

As for my answer to Metalman's question. If I could do it over again, I would not have spent money on comic books and baseball cards when I was a kid. Out of my three childhood hobby's coins would have retained there value better .