WRITE a STORY about your COIN/s, what MOTIVATES U? ,

[TomGoodheart 373]

As Rob mentioned, I guess I'm an inverterate collector. I collect all sorts, but coins are the one thing I spend money one. If it wasn't coins I suspect it would be something else. I guess I got it from my Dad though his enthusisasm was stamps. However, like most of his generation he also picked coins out of change and kept them.

When he died I cashed in all the 'hands' 50p pieces (£50+) and took the silver bits to a local coin dealer and ended up with around £100. Looking through the library to see what the coins might be worth I came across a book called The Splendid Shilling and that was it. Shillings were a fond memory to me as I'd spent them in my childhood and I liked smaller coins and when I found the book I decided that's what I'd collect.

Well, like everyone else I was restricted by budget and when I discovered the appeal of early milled I realised the best I could do would be a coin from each reign (ideally the first date issued) and possibly an example of each major bust change.

Oddly I resisted Charles I because of the complexity of the series - Dad had bough the Coincraft book and that was my guide. Eventually I found ebay and my luck changed because there I met a couple of Charles I enthusiasts (it's not a big world really) who recommended a couple of books. At around this time Wifey found out I'd spent a decent amount on coins and was none too pleased! But since it was Dad's money really she asked how much I reckoned I'd need to form a decent collection. She allowed me half!

It was the book of the Brooker collection that really did it since that meant that I had a guide as to what was available and what a coin in (generally) decent condition looked like. I'm sure most of us wouldn't be the collectors we are if it wasn't for a Brooker, a Peck or a Gouby. The idea of collecting cold is frightening to me, but with effectively a catalogue to shop by ...!

My friends continued to teach me and it has to be said, some of the rarer pieces I wouldn't have (or know about) if it wasn't for them. Some I've picked up because of knowledge. Yes, condition is important (and I would love to upgrade a few of my commoner pieces and shed some poor examples) but sometimes rarity means you have no choice. I have a couple of coins for which I only know of one other example. Should I have waited until a better one came along? I guess that's a choice we all have to make at some point. Mostly my collection is about getting a representative coin for each known variety and finding any unrecognised ones! Where the coins are common enough then yes, I'm after better ones but 'finest known' isn't something I worry about (nor can I afford on my budget!)

I dare say my little collection would look different if I had bought the book first or had patience (even now when I am aware that if you wait better examples do turn up eventually, I still buy too soon!) but .. that's collecting and that's me. I'm moderately happy with what I have. I'd just like some more money to spend, but I'm also aware that it's probably lucky I started collecting when I did since if I had to do it all now my budget wouldn't stretch, nor would some of those opportunites be there!

[scott 129]

i got a good few from the early days.

having, not dipped into hammered and the shop recently moving due the the centre it was in closing, it so happened that i found it years later when my dad whent into the camera shop in there, so i looked in the window and saw.

for £2. i never did follow up much on hammered but to find something so old, for only £2 i think is amazing.

and a couple more.

stories about research and such like.

few years ago i went back to my dealers, having a look at the 10 and 25p stuff (as i do) with my low bughet and saw an 1858 farthing for £7 now having seen this design and wanting it for many years i thought it was a fantastic idea to buy this as it had good details and wasn't just a battered knackered one. at this point i knew nothing of varietys or even cared much.

2 years ago, i did some research on it (had other stuff to consentrate on in the time so coins were put on hold) after picking it up again, and was amazed by the fact i had not picked up a nice VF 1858 farthing. but a VF 1858 SMALL DATE Farthing. although it is vastly undervalued due to very little listings and being discovered post peck.

i have a better picture but dont have the time to look for it.

[scott 129]

these ones is fairly recent, went through the 10p stuff, looking to expand a few dates in my french collection, as most coins from france can be picked up from 1860's in there. was told on another site to look out for a particular date, namely 1958 for 100 francs, (although it is a variety that is worth a fortune for that) but couldn't remember the demonination for this date, found a 1958 50 franc in there, i didnt have the date, so i decided to get it i couldn't research it there. so i went off not having the date for a few denominations for that year and picked up a 10 franc as well (not rare).got home, and as always with my 10p's' i research them, (usualy come home with at least 1 or 2 better grade coins worth a couple of quid, still do), and always have focus on a few countrys when dipping in there.

these are a few of the better finds from in there.

cant modify the date so it isn't fake (no 1948's) to buy one of these in this grade is £100-120 i got it for 10p - mintage is 500k so acctually high for a coin worth so much.

i do also add to german coins, found this, as a nice example of its type.

did some research 1902 J 10 pfennig is 815k mintage and as a result wirth £30-40 in this grade

i have found plenty of bargains on ebay, and in bulk buys but these are just 2 of my fave finds. and baregain finds a great motivation to do such things as researching, and planning on what i want knowledge is power (and profit)

Edited October 27, 2011 by scott

[declanwmagee 122]

What motivates?

1) Now mid way through my 40s, I don't want to be swinging a pickaxe for a living in my mid 50s. By then I want to have bought everything I need to live (which isn't much - details in the next point), and do this coin thing for a living. Not to make lots of money, but because I can't think of a better way to spend the day.

2) Pretty much all we need now to complete our self-sufficient setup is a little bit of land - not much, a couple of acres of scrubby woodland would do us just fine. Just enough to hide in. Everything else about the way we live we can keep the same. Now I know that swinging a pickaxe for £10 an hour is never going to amass us a five figure sum for a patch of land, but building a coin collection is. And that's what I'm good at. To be honest, I'm not even that good at swinging a pickaxe. Since we decided to put serious time and effort into it, 5 years ago, the collection has increased from 400 coins worth £1750 to 800 coins worth £20k. So I think we're well over half way.

Top 50:

In order to convert the coins into land, I'm going to have to sell them sometime in the next 5 years. Given also that I want to keep doing it after that, I'm going to have to hang on to some to get me started again. It would make sense to keep the best, so selling up will be a process of starting at the bottom, working up, and stopping when we've got enough. So how do you rank them? Value's a good start, as it's a rough indication of how easy they would be to replace, but there are lots of exceptions - recently acquired 1953 2+A farthing for instance, took me years to find, but at no.732 in terms of value, it would be in the first 100 to go.

So picture if you will, a little turf roofed hobbit house dug into a bank in a hidden corner of Gloucestershire. A wisp of woodsmoke drifts from the barely visible chimney and amongst the runnerbean wigwams you can catch a glimpse of the Pwincess tending our crops. Inside you find a coin collector, his desk below a specially positioned skylight to catch the natural light for photographs, happily sorting out another batch of incoming Jiffy bags.

It is real - see how they did it...