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 Replies: 28 / Views: 3,969 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
588 Posts |
out that you're a coin collector? And what is your answer? The first thing people ask me is "How many coins you have?" I start to explain that amount doesn't really matter, and that you can have one coin and it will be a priceless collection. Sometimes I just say that I have a bucker with 40$ worth of pennies, that takes less time to explain.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2120 Posts |
"Like the State Quarters? Those are really neat" "What do you mean?" "oh... so, like... Pocket change?" "Please stop talking to me" lol... I've given a lot of different answers but, "I have a bucket with $40 worth of pennies" is definitely my new answer. :) |
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New Member
United States
47 Posts |
I just say "a few - anything specific you are interseted in?"
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Moderator
 Australia
16817 Posts |
At a Conversational English class I volunteer at, the Topic a couple of weeks ago was "Money"; the group leader knows I collected coins and asked me to bring along some "old and unusual coins" and talk about them. Here are some of the questions I was asked more than once during the night by the students (and the other volunteers). They're pretty typical of the questions I often get from non-collectors: How many coins do you have? I tell them the number my database spits out at me every time I add a new coin to it. Since I'm adding new coins all the time, I usually have a pretty good idea of the exact number. Right now, it's 9380. Isn't collecting coins expensive? It doesn't have to be. While some of my coins I've paid a fair amount of money for (and I leave it up to their imaginations what a "fair amount" might be), many of my coins have been given to me by friends and relatives, or I've purchased in bulk lots for just a few cents each. How long have you been collecting coins for? About thirty years - since I was eight. What's your oldest coin? My oldest coin is from the ancient Greek city of Miletus, from sometime around 500 BC. It's not much to look at (it's really small) so I brought along my Athens tetradrachm instead. It's almost as old (430 BC) and much more impressive-looking. Where do you get all your coins from? (or a more specific question about where I got a particular coin from) All sorts of places. Family and friends give me some, but the old and expensive ones I have to buy, from coin dealers, coin shows or even ebay. 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
United States
3098 Posts |
When did you get started When I was around 8 or so... when I just came to the US. My real collection (with cataloging, etc) started when I was around 9 or 10.
What's the most expensive coin? I guess it's a proof Buffalo...
and always...
What's the value of your collection? I don't know... I collect because it's interesting, not because I want to make money off of it.
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Valued Member
United States
89 Posts |
well first I get laughed at. then they usually ask how did you get into that... and I say my dad but I didn't really start collecting my own stuff till I was in high school. from there people ask what I collect; which then progresses to what is your most expensive coin.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1304 Posts |
" I have some old coins in a drawer at home, can you tell me what there worth? "
Sure, I would love too!
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Pillar of the Community
Thailand
1509 Posts |
I get to meet a lot of tourists here from all around the world and the first thing I want to know is "Where are you from?" Then in the course of conversation and becuse I'm 'sort of' retired I'll get asked "So how do you spend your time?"
Well that's the opening and I don't waste any time but stick the knife in. "Oh, I'm a coin collector, if you're coming back some time (and many of them do) can you bring me some from ......?"
First question is usually "How many have you?" Reply "Well at the moment over 11,000." Reaction "******* ****."
Other questions are:
Where do you get them from?
How long have you been at it?
How do you store them?
But, suprisingly, it's not very often I'm asked
How much are they worth? (Reply: I have absolutely no idea. But I 'll let you know if I sell them - yeah, like that's ever gonna happen!)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1409 Posts |
"What kind of coins do you collect?" ---- depends.....mostly Standing Liberty and Washington quarters, Walking Liberty halves and coins from 1868. "I have some old coins, maybe you could look at them?" - Gladly! "Do you have any really expensive ones?" - Eh, depends on what you think is expensive. Nothing crazy though. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1418 Posts |
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Moderator
United States
23497 Posts |
I recently attended a seminar on interviewing skills. This seminar trained employers on how to be more effective interviewers.
When the discussion turned to how to determine if a person was a team player, the instructor told the group to look for those people who were involved in sports and other team activities.
The instructor then went on to say that people who liked to do research, read or have hobbies like "Coin Collecting" were introverts and did not usually get along with others.
I then had the pleasure of informing them that I was a coin collector and that I attended the FUN Coin show in Orlando with an attendance of over 10,000 people and that I was an active member of a coin forum with a membership world wide that allowed me to exchange information with almost 9,000 members.
I proceed to ask how many people the average sports team member was in contact with?
At the end of the discussion the instructor agreed that perhaps he and his company were wrong - that due to the Internet hobbies like coin and stamp collecting were no longer hobbies of people who locked themselves away from the world.
Then the group wanted to know -
What did I collect,
Why
How expensive was the hobby,
and
Where were the closest coin stores and what were the best on line sites to purchase "money"
As I did not know most of this group personally -
My answers were safe ones.
I just have a few coins that I like
and
I keep them in a safe deposit box at my bank
No sense inviting trouble.
rggoodie
aka Richard
"catch em doing something right"
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
I guess the people I associate with are somewhat less concerned about my personal likes and/or dislikes. When I mention collecting coins, most say OK, then move on to other subjects that they are interested in. I've worked in places where people are from many other countries and when I mention coin collecting, they end up bringing me a piles of coins from their country free. I don't try to explain I only collect US coins so just put them all in a box. They too seldom mention coins again. None of my relatives, neighbors, friends collect coins so attempting to bring up the subject is like talking about Nuclear Reactors to a Grade School kid. Just no interest. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2541 Posts |
I usually get...
"my grandpa had some old coins that he gave me"
or
"NERD!" - to which I just laugh and throw cull Morgans at them!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
Quote:
"NERD!" - to which I just laugh and throw cull Morgans at them! You know, if you "frisbee them" at a high velocity...they can be quite lethal ! ...  I usually get question like...."Wow ! Interesting. How much is your collection worth ?"......."What's the oldest coin you have"....."I have a Buffalo nickel, but you can't read the date. How much is that worth ?" Then from Cousins who have already seen my collection !..... reality seems to grow to legend.....legend seems to grow to myth !They seem to think that my collection is worth tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars.... Like I have a pirates treasure chest full of Gold Doubloons !Now.....these "are" indeed my two secret chests of gold and other various valuables from the 1600's....but I just can't figure out how my Cousins KNEW ABOUT THEM ! ... ..    Just kidding of course.......  ..or am I ? .....  .....no...it just makes me so worried and very wary of friends, family, co-workers, etc. etc. etc. knowing or even thinking about ME = $* COINS*$ So...other than this forum and a couple family members....and a couple friends......I try to never discuss it much !! Edited by eaglefoot
05/03/2010 5:18 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1523 Posts |
Oops.Guess my quarter down the top comment was a bad idea.I apologize if it offended anyone. I get crazy sometimes.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
Quote:
Now.....these "are" indeed my two secret chests of gold and other various valuables from the 1600's So your the guy on ebay who always has the "Just Found, Treasure trove in old clock, blue jar, ect....ect" No just kidding. The question I get almost every time is " How much is a Wheat penny worth?" My answer is always this....."Well, a 1943 copper Wheat penny usually starts at around $100,000.00 and goes up from there." This one gets them going. About half the people I tell this too thinks they have one at home. My dad even told me he had one once after looking at my Red Book when he was over one day. My dads 1943 copper penny as well as 100% of the others that people had were all silver to grey in color, with the exception of one brown one a guy brought into work for me to look at. It broke my heart to see how rusty that thing was. |
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Replies: 28 / Views: 3,969 |
Posted 05/03/2010 12:52 am
