To Collect Coins You Really Need Connections
To collect coins is not what most people think of as a heart stopping, pulse racing, knuckle biting way to wring out the tensions of the workday. This is a hobby of quiet contemplation.
Right?
OK, so NASCAR it is not. But still, for such a calm activity, there do seem to be more than a few coin collectors, especially in the US. More than you would think, if all these passionately involved individuals are just, uh, filling up holes in an album.
What is going on here? What are all these people thinking about, and why do they so enjoy what this hobby seems to be giving them? What is the connection?
Ask any coin collector about his interest in the hobby and you will see certain patterns of connection emerge.
Collecting Money is Fun
Most of us have a bit of avarice in our personalities. Those photos of gold bars in Fort Knox, and the stacks of twenty dollar gold coins from the S. S. Central America sitting upon on the sea floor at 8,000 feet below the surface are exciting. Would it be fun to have even one gold coin?
Touching History
Suppose you are a middle school teacher of social studies or history, and you want to break through to your class in a tangible way. Coins have existed in one form or another for 2,500 years or so. They are a product of a people, a time, and a place.
There are coins available at reasonable cost, even to student collectors, from many of the significant times in history. Usually they will be well worn rather than pristine. All the better. A well circulated coin has Been There. Who can say if the 1863 Indian Head cent your student brings into class was not in the pocket of a Union artilleryman at Gettysburg?
Kinship
Many young coin collectors get their start from a relative who had some coins left over from a long ago trip overseas. Or, as in my case, from a great grandmother who owned a small dry goods store in the Canton area of Baltimore during the final decades of the nineteenth century.
Receiving coins from long ago that touch your own family history brings a sense of participation, albeit through inheritance, in the life of long ago.
The Hunt
As a new collector delves into the hobby, an awareness of the incredible depth and breadth of coinage takes hold. This is especially true as one enters a large coin show in a major city. Looking over the vast expanse of dealer tables upon entering the room can be like ones first view of the ocean.
What incredible coin awaits my discovery?
About The Author:
David W. Baker has collected coins since age 11 -- so, more than half a century. Coins have been a pleasant distraction for him over the years. Though he's never been a coin dealer, he has have occasionally sold a coin or two at a nice profit, when the market was right. These experiences taught him a bit about coin value in the marketplace. But, he would be the first to say that his greatest pleasure with coins has been the hooks they have to history and other areas of learning. Dave says that he can never quite get beyond the feeling that, if any of his coins could talk, the stories would be priceless!
Right?
OK, so NASCAR it is not. But still, for such a calm activity, there do seem to be more than a few coin collectors, especially in the US. More than you would think, if all these passionately involved individuals are just, uh, filling up holes in an album.
What is going on here? What are all these people thinking about, and why do they so enjoy what this hobby seems to be giving them? What is the connection?
Ask any coin collector about his interest in the hobby and you will see certain patterns of connection emerge.
Collecting Money is Fun
Most of us have a bit of avarice in our personalities. Those photos of gold bars in Fort Knox, and the stacks of twenty dollar gold coins from the S. S. Central America sitting upon on the sea floor at 8,000 feet below the surface are exciting. Would it be fun to have even one gold coin?
Touching History
Suppose you are a middle school teacher of social studies or history, and you want to break through to your class in a tangible way. Coins have existed in one form or another for 2,500 years or so. They are a product of a people, a time, and a place.
There are coins available at reasonable cost, even to student collectors, from many of the significant times in history. Usually they will be well worn rather than pristine. All the better. A well circulated coin has Been There. Who can say if the 1863 Indian Head cent your student brings into class was not in the pocket of a Union artilleryman at Gettysburg?
Kinship
Many young coin collectors get their start from a relative who had some coins left over from a long ago trip overseas. Or, as in my case, from a great grandmother who owned a small dry goods store in the Canton area of Baltimore during the final decades of the nineteenth century.
Receiving coins from long ago that touch your own family history brings a sense of participation, albeit through inheritance, in the life of long ago.
The Hunt
As a new collector delves into the hobby, an awareness of the incredible depth and breadth of coinage takes hold. This is especially true as one enters a large coin show in a major city. Looking over the vast expanse of dealer tables upon entering the room can be like ones first view of the ocean.
What incredible coin awaits my discovery?
About The Author:
David W. Baker has collected coins since age 11 -- so, more than half a century. Coins have been a pleasant distraction for him over the years. Though he's never been a coin dealer, he has have occasionally sold a coin or two at a nice profit, when the market was right. These experiences taught him a bit about coin value in the marketplace. But, he would be the first to say that his greatest pleasure with coins has been the hooks they have to history and other areas of learning. Dave says that he can never quite get beyond the feeling that, if any of his coins could talk, the stories would be priceless!