When someone tells you they're a coin collector

[coindood]

A coworker recently told me she too collects and pulled out her phone to show me pics.

I saw a dozen or so red and blue seal bills that she repeatedly called "gift" certificates (rather than silver ). Pretty cool, then we got to the coins, which from what I could see were just a couple of shoe boxes with random piles of coins in them; Ikes, Kennedy halves, a few Mexican silver pieces, aluminum tins with some oddities from her cashier days, but not really very much beyond that, that I could tell. She told me her kids are always curious where she keeps it, like it's a hidden family treasure or something.

Now I'm not here to bash her, but it seems like people's definition of a coin collection varies quite a lot. IMO a "collection" should have some semblance of organization, research and identification with a general idea of value. She simply accumulates unusual coins, which technically makes it a collection I suppose, but it's not what I envision the word to mean.

What do you think?

[silverflake]

I have run into this too and it used to be that when I realized I wasn't going to be able to have a discussion on proofs versus uncirculated or junk silver versus key date collecting and instead was hearing more about "Got this penny with a hole in it on the bus to a Red Sox game"...I used to be disappointed. But I guess with age and a bit of humility, I enjoy hearing what these folks have. They are collecting nostalgia more than anything else. If they have it and it brings them joy then I find it rewarding to revel in their joy. Strangely enough, over the last decade or so I have become hesitant to tell anyone what I have, why I collect what I do etc. Hmmmm...

Anyhow, keep stacking. Stack silver and gold...or whatever makes you happy!

[coindood]

Thanks for the reply silverflake.

Wanted to clarify that I was in no way discouraging and in fact found it refreshing that someone I worked with shared an interest.

Something bothered me though. She's under the impression that her collection has significant value, and I just didn't see it (didn't tell her that though). Mentioned an upcoming local coin show and she showed interest, but I'm afraid if she brings her most prized collectibles there to be evaluated, reality would be unkind.

If she's indeed collecting just for the fun of it, so be it, and good luck to her. I just hope she doesn't think it's a store of wealth.

[Recyclersteve]

Something worth either face value or slightly more is going to lose out to inflation over the years, so I wouldn't advise storing it over the long term.

This does remind me of a story I told a long time ago on this site. My wife and I have been married a long, long time. Perhaps 5-10 years ago (when we still were married a long, long time) I showed her a steel cent that I probably got from a Coinstar machine. Her response shocked me. She said "I collect those!" I was absolutely shocked. I asked her how many she had. Her response: TWO! Over the next several weeks I went to a local coin dealer and bought her a roll of 1943's. You'd think I bought her a gold watch or something!

And that is what it is like when you live poor like I do. I'm not actually poor, but am concerned about my money not lasting the rest of my life, so I live poor and the wife and I are both very frugal.

[NDFarmer]

Strangely enough, over the last decade or so I have become hesitant to tell anyone what I have, why I collect what I do etc. Hmmm.

Unfortunately, in today's world if you have any collection at all that amounts to several thousands of dollars or even tens of thousands of dollars, it is best to keep your mouth shut and not tell anyone about it. Except maybe immediate family that you can trust to keep quiet about it. If you are telling people about it you might get your house broken into while you are away. Or worse yet have someone break into your house at 2:00 am in the morning when you are home.

[coindood]

Strangely enough, over the last decade or so I have become hesitant to tell anyone what I have, why I collect what I do etc. Hmmm.

Unfortunately, in today's world if you have any collection at all that amounts to several thousands of dollars or even tens of thousands of dollars, it is best to keep your mouth shut and not tell anyone about it. Except maybe immediate family that you can trust to keep quiet about it. If you are telling people about it you might get your house broken into while you are away. Or worse yet have someone break into your house at 2:00 am in the morning when you are home.

I'm very discreet about it at work, all they know is that they come to me with any unusual coins they find.

[Recyclersteve]

I frequently tell people that I do free appraisals and will even offer to buy foreign coins and currency that many banks won’t accept at any price.

[coindood]

Here's a sort of follow-up to my OP.

We had a big coin show here in Vegas this past weekend and I suggested it to my co-worker in case she wanted to attend and get appraisals for her stuff. Told her I was going to sell some Ikes to a dealer who regularly buys them at $1.10 a piece (actually found a different dealer who paid $1.25 apiece )

When she heard that price quote she said "What??? That's all???" I said sure, Ikes are modern and pretty common and most dealers aren't interested. It looked like I burst her bubble somewhat as she sat back and let that info settle in.

In short, that's the downside of being an accumulator vs a collector and not knowing the value of what you're keeping. If you're saving them because they're cool, that's a different story. Save swizzle sticks if you think they're cool. But putting random coins into a shoebox without knowing their true worth and thinking it's your kids' inheritance is setting you and them up for a cruel awakening someday.

[thecrazyone]

Like has been said already, "collecting" in this hobby can mean many different things.

Over the past 50 years of me collecting, I started by wanting to make sure I got every slot in my books filled- as I got older, and learned about intrinsic value versus numismatic value, that started to impact my "fill every slot" mentality.

Thankfully, I've been able to keep all of the coins I've acquired over the years, so I now have a mishmosh of both categories. I also have the car that my father sold his coin collection to buy, so, there's yet another dogleg of the collection