What is it about coins?
What is it?! What is it about coins? What got you so interested? What continued to hold your interest? Why do we care about each other so much?!
As we enter 2021 I'm being reminded a lot about why I have loved coins and numismatics my entire life, ok since about 10 years old actually. Maybe it's because immersing myself in the online coin communities only during the last couple years is teaching me a whole lot about newer generations of collectors. I can feel the influences, even my numismatic language is being refreshed. I'm also experiencing some coin learning perhaps similar to when I was a child and being exposed to completely brand new discoveries all the time. It's great, I do not hate this lol!
I can feel and see the numismatic information gathering and getting more organized online and there are the online communities of coin collectors who all seem to have the same exact things in common...help and encourage. It's just like when I was a kid! It's just like what Q David Bowers explains and tells stories about from his younger years and older years in so many interviews. It's simply wonderful.
So what is it? What is it about the coin collecting community(s) that keeps us so...ummm, just plain nice? So supportive of each other for a bunch of generations now! Whether you only check your change or you can afford thousands of dollars of coins a month it seems if you simply thirst for numismatic knowledge you are accepted and welcomed. No one is discouraged based on budget or age or numismatic interest, it's just a love of coinage and in turn, for each other as well. And it's like this all over the world!
I continue to learn and be genuinely surprised by new coins and new coin learning and it's seemed to be constant now...for over 40 years! Do I actually know that little about coins? Or is there actually that much to know about coins?! What is it?!
I'll just tell you because I know the answer! Lol! Yes, there really IS that much to learn about coins, and then some! I'm pretty sure any of the fantastic people at ANA will tell you that even access to a world-class coin library does not cover it, even a life of learning about coins does not cover it. If we had it all figured out there wouldn't still be a constant stream of new research and numismatic discoveries!
For me it's been a repeating reward of learning something EVERY time I go looking for an answer to a coin question. This has kept me absolutely HOOKED. After decades of not really having been away from coin collecting itself it's still actually an amazing feeling to be simply welcomed back warmly into the coin communities online! I just haven't been involved with the massive growing online numismatic content and communities as they've grown.
It's a bit ironic really, because much of my career life was spent working as a lead designer in e-commerce web design, social media and online marketing. Perhaps because of my immersion into other industries online it just wasn't ever a priority or a necessity for me to spend time online with any type of social medias or online communities. Coin collecting for me was completely separate from my online stuff other than occasionally looking up a price on PCGS or NGC.
The "web" became a completely normal part of our lives a long time ago, tiny computers and cameras (our phones mostly) have allowed us to be involved as much as we choose to in all this. I no longer actually need to leave my home to do some serious coin shopping or wishing. I no longer need to pull out reference books every time I struggle to remember certain varieties. I no longer need to wait to get to my local coin shop to ask a question to an expert, in fact I can now ask a bunch of "experts" a question in one place when I'm in the proper forum. I can now even choose to sell my coins in a bunch of ways without leaving my home other than to mail things. I can even be a writer of blogs and find out right away if people enjoy my content or care at all about what I have to say....again, wonderful.
I'd love to hear all your thoughts about what else is wonderful about coin collecting these days! What things are you excited for numismatically in 2021? What do you love about coin knowledge and the coin communities online? Did I miss anything awesome and maybe obvious about how amazing we numismatists all are?! :-)
Comments
Coinyoshi
Level 4
Very interesting. I never thought about that.
Kurisu
Level 4
Thank you, I'm enjoying everybody's content here! :-)
the coin guy
Level 4
I remember seeing Dennis the Menace and seeing lots of Saint Gaudens double eagles.
Kurisu
Level 4
Sweet :-)
CentSearcher
Level 5
I am looking forward to all the coin roll hunting I plan on doing this year. Usually when I start a hobby, I need other people who are also doing it to keep me interested. But that is completely different with numismatics. I admit, at one point I nearly stopped and packed it all up. But that is when I joined the ANA. The amazing coin community here is now helping me "mature" numismatically in a way, and numismatics have helped me grow an appreciation towards american history. I could go on talking for hours about this, but that is for another time. Thanks for sharing!
Kurisu
Level 4
And thank you for sharing as well...yes I too am sooooo excited about my upcoming roll searches. I just got a few that took almost 3 weeks to show up, no complaints! Just excited to finally have them :-)
Long Beard
Level 5
Holding an old worn coin in my hands from, say 1847, timewarps my thoughts of the years it circulated, wher it's been, who had it, and so on. And that is the human connection of coinage.
Kurisu
Level 4
It's tough not to think about every bit of that every single time I hold a coin! :-) Agreed!
CoinHunter
Level 5
A episode of "Dennis the Menace" basically got me started collecting, and thanks for the blog!
Kurisu
Level 4
Oh my gosh! Not only do I remember the episode, "Dennis and the Rare Coin" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0557914/ but I know for sure there were other episodes involving coins as well.... amazing how these little things influence us! I was a 70's and 80's kid but boy did we watch a lot of old B&W shows!!! Thanks for sharing this memory! :-)
TheNumisMaster
Level 5
XD I know exactly the episode you are talking about!
coinsbygary
Level 5
My interest started with coins that either no longer circulated or scarcely circulated in their day like the odd denomination coins. I remember my fascination with gold coins that I never knew circulated before I got the collecting bug. I was also intrigued by mint facilities that no longer operated. In essence, its history, artistry, and scarcity. I always enjoyed pocketing wheaties when I was a kid. When my parents remodeled their kitchen I found a 1919 Lincoln Head Cent in the wall. Really neat stuff there. I am also intrigued by hoards and shipwrecks. I own a coin that sat in the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for over 100 years! When I was a kid, I worked as a dishwasher at a restaurant. I used whatever my parents didn't make me save buying coins. I bought an 1885-cc Morgan with a pedigree to the Redfield hoard and my first gold coin, an 1881 half-eagle. I also bought an XF 1876 20-cent piece because it was an odd denomination with a low mintage. These things for whatever reason fascinated me. I also still own the three aforementioned coins some 45 years later.
Kurisu
Level 4
Oh that's so great! I only have a couple of my original coins and tokens from childhood but I absolutely love how pretty much every single coin in our collections are directly connected to our own personal history as well as sometimes decades or more of other history....if coins could talk!!!
I. R. Bama
Level 5
I got started when I was about 8. A woman on a freighter was throwing foreign coins to the kids watching the ships go through the locks to get into Lake Erie. I'll never know who she was but she inspired a lifetime of enjoyment in the coins I collect, both domestic and foreign.
Kurisu
Level 4
You win! :-) What a great story...wonder how many people in the area that was remember that sort of thing?! I remember parents giving us kids a few coins when we asked (way up in North West Indiana) so that we could put them on the train tracks....our parents encouraging us to go play by the train tracks in the 70's lol!!!
Longstrider
Level 6
Love to read about your history of collecting. I seem to always be collecting something. I never got into sports cards but I did have a big Creature Features monster cards. Stamps, marbles, even bottle caps, and much more. It seems we collectors collect. I was lucky to get into coins and learn from people all over the world. Thanks.
Kurisu
Level 4
Definitely true, collectors collect, usually a lot! Often it even ends up effecting our career/entrepreneur choices as well!
"SUN"
Level 6
Coins have a great historical story to tell.
Kurisu
Level 4
Thumbs up!!!!! :-)
TheNumisMaster
Level 5
I got started based on a series of countless random events, that had they not happened, I would not have the collectors mindset. My grandfather on both sides each left a collection to my parents who never got into the hobby, so they passed it down to me. I clung on, and began my adventure. Im with Nub on this one. That unexplainable feeling that binds us all together is the one that makes numismatics both unique and enjoyable. Cheers, NM
Kurisu
Level 4
Thanks for sharing that... I love the hind-sight when you think back on what tiny random things happened to completely guide lives and interests lol!
It's Mokie
Level 6
Collecting coins has two primary benefits to me. First, it allows me to own beautiful works of the engraver's art which depict scenes or themes of interest to me. Second, it fosters wonderful friendships as we all share our passion together on this forum, in club meetings, at shows, and many other ways. My collecting passions have extended to Ford Mustang ephemera, Batman themed items, and military headgear, but coins have always been first and foremost.
Kurisu
Level 4
Yes! Other interests came before coins of course, but once coins entered the picture it sure seems to have influenced a lot of my other interests and even my career(s). Miniatures have always fascinated me and even fine art when I was young...coins have all that and much much more! My family happens to be around the world (little brother in Tokyo for almost 30 years) and it's just incredible how coins are a true passion for all ages all over the planet and it influences so many collectors the same way...not just with American collectibles of course but it also has that effect! And as soon as collectors start to learn about world-class sculpting and the amazing talents of the engravers throughout history and all the artisans involved in the engineering of minting coins can easily be compared to the finest arts that have ever existed. Much coin love to you my friend! :-)
Stumpy
Level 5
As my Grandfather would say, "that is a beautimus coin", and I say an excellent blog. I started rolling coins for my Uncle who owned and operated most of the coin machines in our small county, everything, from a mechanical horse on main Street to cigarette machines in all the bars and tonks, as they used to say, on both sides of the tracks. I was probably the only six, seven, eight year old kid who managed to physically go in every bar in the county, white or black, my Uncle was a drinker and would sit me on the bar after emptying the machine and shoot the breeze. This was our secret, my split Jewish, Southern Baptist family would have had seizures if they had known, lol! Great memories. Indian head, Lincoln cents, quarters and half dollars all passed through my young grubby paws. Oh if I could only have access to some of those coins again, later saving coins with my Grandfather and Dad. I was hooked! Your blog makes me smile with good memories. Thank you.
Kurisu
Level 4
Oh that's a fantastic story! Now I have questions lol! If someone's autobiography started with a bit of goodness and humor like you just shared...I'd read it! :-) You just made me smile!
Golfer
Level 5
When I was young the local grocery store did a coin promotion. Coins of Yesteryear. 5 coin set where you received a coin a month for your set. Got me hooked on collecting. I started roll searching for wheats, war nickels. Went to local coin shop sometimes. Signed up for US mint sets. Read coin magazines to get information. Signed up to receive a couple morgan dollars a month for a while. All this while I was growing up. And all this without any groups or club involvement. Just a young individual hooked on collecting. Not sure I even knew coin clubs or the ANA even existed. Always loved coins though the years. Now I belong to the local coin club and enjoy the coin shows. I think owning something old and rare is part of the thrill. Or something new and beautiful. Something that is part of history. Just like coins and the information about them, the reasons to collect are endless.
Kurisu
Level 4
That's a wonderful story...and it's just amazing that no matter who is reading it, there are life parallels. It's just incredible to me. You nailed that one thing too...no matter which coin you have or are inspecting or looking at...it's the ONLY one like it. It just always feels special, like you know something others don't and also sharing those special things with those that like you, do know. :-) Thanks for sharing back! Happy New Year!!!
Mike
Level 7
It's the passion we have for coins. The research and history. Coins give me that. I life-threatening coins and tokens and medals. I can't get enough. That's why I collect!! Great blog. Very interesting.!! Keep them coming.
Kurisu
Level 4
Thanks!!! I agree, the history keeps getting me in unexpected places when doing the research, gosh I love it. :-)
slybluenote
Level 5
GREAT post Kurisu ! I resemble ALL of your remarks ... LOL Being an "older gentleman", and also a veteran, Bama said it best in his blog about AHEM. It's a great read about the framework of numismatics. Being the proud owner of a Associates degree in Web Technology myself, I can fully relate to your post! Thanks again for your thought provoking question "What is it?"
Kurisu
Level 4
Awesome! And thank you for your service sir! I bet you and I are going to get along fantastically :-)
Big Nub Numismatics
Level 5
Those are great photos, Kurisu! We always cite, history, friendship, possibly coins being valuable, but it's the feeling we can'rt put into words that makes this hobby so amazing!
Kurisu
Level 4
And I can feel the love every time I interact in life or online :-) Thanks!!!