The Hunt And Burn Out

I switched interests, I went from straight Morgan collecting where I collected each date/mintmark to collecting Morgan VAM's of all types to just narrowed it down to 1878 Morgan VAM's and considering there are about 250 1878 Morgan VAM's alone it seemed like it would keep me busy for a lifetime. Well I collected ALOT of 1878 VAM's and still don't have a dent in them but I was at the point where even though I may have purchased a VAM I didn't already have a week later it just looked like each and every other VAM I already had, then I had the problem to where I have just about all of the 1878 Morgan VAM's that seem to be plentiful and hit the market quite often and I would sift through hundreds and hundreds of 1878 Morgans and not find anything I needed so I started to get a little burnt out and would even skip days of looking at 1878 Morgans (where I used to search each and every 1878 Morgan that hit ebay,Teletrade,Heritage,sacks and David Lawrence) the Dansco 7070 allowed me to see something different and when I filled a hole I was looking for a different looking coin instead of the same thing over and over so the 7070 definately helped make collecting fun for me again

My collection is pretty diverse with just about all denoms in an active or active reserve catagory,,

I think that helps keep things even,, I will search for a coin or two in one series and then maybe a coin or two in a different one,,

I have also been working on the photography end of collecting, which has helped to take out the fatigue that can come from everyday collecting, and taken my frustration levels to new heights once only achieved by my first wife.

I also read ,study and watch what others are doing and the progress that is being made by others.

I have been going back through coins some of which I have not looked at in a few years to photograph them,, in doing so I have found what looks like a DDO 1944 Jefferson ,, again the photography part has been totally frustrating for me on this coin.

I will be shopping soon for a QX or something that I can photo these type coins with.

I guess what all this means is I think diversification is the key to not burning out !!

Rick

Thanks for the replies. I think I know exactly what Bryan1315 is saying about VAMS. I got burned out on Lincoln BIEs for the same reason. After about 500 of them you pretty much have seen all the combinations.

I think these 7070 albums are on their way to becoming big winners with coin collectors! And with them maybe the return of authentication certificates isn't so far-fetched anymore.

I guess I avoid burnout by switching my focus between my hobbies. Right now it's hockey season, so that's where most of my time, money, and energy are going. I also have my garden to keep me busy, and any gardener knows that can be a full time job!

Rachel

On the opposite end of the scale from Bryan's problem, the endless progression of similar coins is exactly what appeals to me most about my current specialization. That sort of mind-numbing parade of identical pieces, requiring the viewer to find the one needle in the haystack, appeals to me. Then again, I never claimed to be particularly normal.

I stave off burnout by keeping a whole lot of unrelated balls in the air at once. At any given time, I've 10 browser tabs open covering 4 or 5 totally unrelated subjects from computers to coins to biking to just plain "I wanna read about this thing now," with a liberal sprinkling of Google Video, Flurl and YouTube for comic relief.

For those rare occasions when I'm awake, not on the clock and not at the keyboard, I generally have two or three books in progress, ranging from Science Fiction to detective mysteries to Rolling Stone.

Gene, if you hang it up after the State Quarters you might not have any reason to come in here and that just won't do my friend. What about those 7070 albums? Seems like everyone likes them.

I think my temporary burnout came from trying to do "too much too soon". Come March of next year, I'll have two years under my coin collecting belt, and I've purchased nearly a thousand coins in that time. At first, I couldn't get enough - just buy, buy, buy with little knowledge of what I was buying.
Then I decided to buy the Dansco Albums to store my collection in. A new way of collecting for me in that I used the Dansco as a guide - if it has a hole, get the coin for it, and I'm sure I don't need to expound on the thrill of putting that last coin in a full album. But, it seems that thrill is short lived too, and, after the thrill, comes a little let down - it's no longer a challenge because you've completed it, so it's on to something else, but it seemed to become redundant after awhile.
Bought some books on coin collecting, and read articles on the internet - that's an ongoing thing.
I read about the Dansco 7070 here in the forum, and thought it might be a new challenge, so that's the direction I'm going in. That doesn't mean I intend to put the rest of my collection aside, and just concentrate on this one album. I'll still be working on my other albums, but this one has given me a new direction - a new challenge.
Although I have several of the coins for this one, I'm starting to look at, and buy particular coins to fill the holes in it. As I said, it's something new I've been needing.
I do have other hobbies - the foremost of which is leathercraft. Started as a hobby, turned into a profitable business, and now, after more than 40 years, I'm back to the hobby stage again.
I think, in my situation, it's a case of doing something because you want to versus doing it because you feel you have to.
Thanks for letting me ramble - getting older, and living alone does seem to have it's drawbacks, and rambling, when given the opportunity, seems to be one of them. :)

Ralph