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 Replies: 16 / Views: 3,162 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
We numismatists certainly love our coins and love having lots of them. And, in fact, there is nary a collector on this board who does not have a "hoard" of miscellaneous coins which are peripheral to the core of their collection. I have found that being a devoted collector has always been perceived as suspect by those who just lack the "collecting bug." Furthermore, the very popular TV show Hoarders has caused many non-collectors to think that a numismatist surely has a hoarding problem. So have you found that your sizable or meager coin collection or peripheral hoard has been increasingly placed under the lens of scrutiny thanks to this TV show?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4000 Posts |
No, but all the pizza boxes, beer bottles, unopened mail and cats have.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
609 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1150 Posts |
Did hoarders do a show on a coin collector?
I think coin collectors are similar to gun collectors in this aspect. Some people would say that a person with 1000 guns has too many guns. Some would say that a collector with 1000 coins has too many coins.
People who don't collect what we collect will never 'get it.'
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3499 Posts |
mitchhailey- Very true, very true. But have you ever had anyone really think it almost unhealthy that you collect something, such as coins, which the masses ordinarily perceive as merely utilitarian?
TO be quite honest, I don't have a huge coin collection, and my hoard is not that large either, but many perplexed if not worried when they hear of my numismatic pursuits.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4000 Posts |
On a serious note, I've only caught a couple of those episodes and some of them have been crazy.
As far as me personally, a few of my friends that didn't "get it" at first, now check their pocket change on a regular basis and bring it to me to look at. I picked up my '88P RDV-006 that way.
Funny, when you give someone $40 for "just a penny", they seem to "get it".
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
838 Posts |
Thankfully, I'm not scheduled to be on that show yet (at least not that I'm aware!)
You know, I've been recently contemplating whether keeping my excess coins is really worth it. I take pride in any extra coins of value that I find/upgrade/acquire in a lot. But security becomes more of a concern the bigger the hoard gets!
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Pillar of the Community
1283 Posts |
My wife has said to me that I have to quit hoarding gold and silver, but is it hoarding if the items are collecting are valuable?
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Valued Member
Philippines
65 Posts |
how about money in a bank? isn't that technically "hoarding" if you just left it there unspent?  Edited by saturno
06/21/2011 11:48 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1244 Posts |
He he we have that hoarding show being aired in Australia at the moment, when ever I watch it I feel the need to clean my own house.
Well hording is a pre historic feature of what humans used to do millions of years ago or something, but seriously people should know the difference between collecting and hoarding.
Hoarders are people that just don't know when to let go. They have to keep everything. And also ... they don't know what a vacuum cleaner or a garbage bin is.
I collect for the enjoyment of it, but I am always upgrading and selling of my spares.
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Valued Member
United States
56 Posts |
I think it all boils down to whether or not your collection, hoard, etc. has a real psychological/physical impact on your life. Hoarders typically "collect" indiscriminately because they attach far too many emotions to possessions and their possessions create a bizarre sense of security for them (eg. I know where everything's at and that makes me feel less anxious--or--buying clothes and/or collecting things from the trash make me feel happy but I can't get rid of older stuff because that stuff also makes me "happy"...etc. ad nauseum).
In short, there's a big difference between not wanting to sell a coin because you are attached to it on multiple levels (sentiment, historic, value, etc.) and not wanting to sell a coin because you firmly believe that if you do--your Grandma will die.
To bring this back around, I think people outside of a collecting hobby have a hard time understanding the singular focus that collectors have because they easily disregard their own actions as "normal". Where, for example, I can spend my money building a collection and my time building friendships within the coin community, for some reason, this seems bizarre because "it's just coins", whereas, someone else spends their time buying music and hanging out in a bar and that's "normal" because that's what "everyone else does".
But I think this is one of those perceived issues and not really an actual psychological one. A lot of people go around talking about how they're "having an OCD moment" and typically whatever it is they're describing is far from what OCD actually is.
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Valued Member
United States
56 Posts |
Oh, and yes, the show has brought about a bizarre lens of scrutiny. But I blame that on the fact that I only have one speed: out of control.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1150 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3294 Posts |
When a collector has so many coins they are a health risk from falling on them, then they might need to think about selling some.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Missed that show all the time. Way to busy with my coin collection to watch TV shows about them.
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Valued Member
United States
301 Posts |
I've seen the show and my thoughts are that some of those people are absolute crackpots. Some have went hundreds of thousands in debt buying worthless c*ap.
I always think to myself "why don't they hoard something good, like silver eagles?"
I also think that some of them I've seen on that show are just more pigs than anything. They have a house full of 52 dead cats and trash they were too lazy to throw away.
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Replies: 16 / Views: 3,162 |
Posted 06/21/2011 6:46 pm
