Skip to main content

Get that small-town feeling with coins

Downtown Iola, Wis.

When I walk down the street here in Iola, Wis., people say hello. I reply in a friendly way. Sometimes it becomes the start of a long conversation. You never know in a small town. Iola has 1,300 people.

I realize that most of the population of the United States lives in an urban setting. The quarter of us who live in rural areas like Iola are considered to be throwbacks to a time gone by, or perhaps even hicks. No matter, it is a good life.

If you are now wondering about where I am going with this, I will tell you. Collecting coins can be like a small town if you let it. If you go to coin shows, coin club meetings, and/or seminars, you will soon find that you have made so many new friends and acquaintances that it is like creating your own small town even if you live in a metro area with millions of people.

That small-town feeling was something I enjoyed in the middle of September at the Northern California Numismatic Association seminar in Vallejo.

Now Vallejo is roughly a 70-mile drive north from either San Francisco or Sacramento. Neither of these cities will be mistaken for a small town like Iola.

However, at the seminar, where I had the privilege of being one of four speakers, it was like walking down the street in Iola. I saw old friends. We had conversations. I got the news. I enjoyed the warmest of hospitality. I can’t thank the organizers enough for the experience (read more here).

There is much in life that we cannot change, but the number of friends we make is something we have full control over. Collectors like alone time. It gives us the opportunity to study, to learn and to contemplate the history that gave us the coins in our hands.

For many, this contemplative part is virtually all there is. They don’t join a club, go to a show, or attend a seminar.

There is nothing wrong with that. But if that is where you stop, you are missing out on an aspect of numismatics that helps make it even more interesting and fulfilling.

If you want to feel a bit more connected, why not visit the American Numismatic Association website at www.money.org and join, if you are not presently a member? Check out the Show Directory in Numismatic News and find one to go to.

Yes, I know you are busy. Even in Iola, we understand that. I have had one neighbor who wants to join me when I travel to the next local show. Twice now his suggested dates have conflicted with a business trip of mine. It will look like I am dodging him if I can’t make the third time work.

But shows are worth making time for, even if you can’t go to as many as you’d like. If you are a resident of an urban area, all the better; there are more shows there. There are more potential dealers and collectors to meet. The sooner you start, the sooner you will enjoy that small-town feeling of numismatics.

 

This article was originally printed in Numismatic News. >> Subscribe today.

 

More Collecting Resources

• Subscribe to our monthly Coins magazine – a great resource for any collector!

• The Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000 is your guide to images, prices and information on coinage of the 1900s.

The post Get that small-town feeling with coins appeared first on Numismatic News.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Stack’s Bowers Galleries to display the Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation tribute to Benjamin Franklin’s Libertas Americana medal

Hover to zoom. Santa Ana, CA (December 19, 2020) — Stack’s Bowers Galleries is pleased to announce that it will display an incredible tribute to the Libertas Americana medal, assembled by the Cardinal Collection Education Foundation, at the upcoming Florida United Numismatists Convention in Orlando, January 9-11, 2020. The display, centered around one of the most beautiful and important medals struck in American history, will be found at the firm’s bourse tables 420-422. Back by popular demand, this collection drew dozens of interested collectors at the ANA convention in August and will be enjoyed once more by those attending this year’s FUN show. Following decisive victories at Saratoga and Yorktown, Benjamin Franklin wrote to the United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs Robert Livingston: This puts me in mind of a medal I have had a mind to strike… representing the United States by the figure of an infant Hercules in his cradle, strangling the two serpents; and France by that ...

Community Voice Response: Jan. 1, 2020

From the Dec. 13 Numismatic News E-NewsLetter What are your numismatic resolutions for the new year? Here are some answers sent in from our E-Newsletter readers.   One of my numismatic resolutions is to do what I can to make sure coin collector’s concerns are represented and NOT deep-pocket businesses. Ron Brown Address Withheld   My resolution is to encourage everyone in the world to never again buy from the U.S. Mint, considering the 2019-S Enhanced Reverse Proof fiasco. Steve McGowan Algonac, Mich.   First, I want to pay for the coins I purchased in 2019. Secondly, I want to pre-order my 2020 silver eagles graded. Merry Christmas to all! Timothy Kenyon Mechanicsburg, Pa.   One of my resolutions is not to end up with 20 2020 ASE’s in different holders/OGP/signatures as I did in 2019. Donovan Hamilton Address Withheld   We want to bring the enjoyment of the hobby to as many young people as possible and to keep the future of numismatics brig...

Letters to the Editor: Nov. 12, 2019

War in the Pacific ‘W’ Mintmark I was in the self-checkout at Walmart four weeks ago here in Mt. Vernon, Ill., and received a little bit of loose change for my purchase. I didn’t check it until I got home and was very surprised to find a War in the Pacific with a “W” mintmark. I’m just wondering if it’s something that I should send in to one of the grading companies. In other words, would it be worth more later on by doing so? I understand that it’ll cost at least   $30.00 to do so and also heard that “in the raw” is only worth maybe $25. I   hope to hear a reply. Name and address withheld   In Response to Richard Giedroyc’s Commentary I politely disagree with erudite and longtime numismatic colleague, Richard Giedroyc, whose Numismatic News story, “Get Rich” Promotion Wrong Angle for Healthy Market Growth,” was critical of a recent CNBC story entitled, “People have been making up to $100,000 off ‘coin hunting.’” He doesn’t think the hobby will benefit with an a...