The Stamp Versus The Coin

Remember this is just one guys opinion...when I was employed at tbe big factory..a couple of the guys I knew were vest pocket coin dealers...turnover was quick...a guy wanted a gold coin or a certain silver coin..bing bang boom..a deal was struck..these guys did not have to have any particlur inventory..stuff came and went..then theres some of us with a huge inventory of 10 25 and 50 cent stamps and I dont recall anybody breaking the door down to buy them !! whats my point ? I dont know !!

Phil......

Coins are something that can be held in your hand without being damaged.(generally speaking) Most people can look at a coin with interest because it's money.....I can't remember ever meeting anyone that does not like having money. Everyone can relate to not having enough.

Stamps just don't have that kind of mass appeal. They demand more from collectors, just having them is not enough.

Tom, I appreciate your point of view...i knew barbers and people who worked in banks..they checked coins and said they would sell their collections when their Grandkids went to college...money is necessary evil..last year I needed a roof..pretty soon a furnace..next year a car..the money I can part with...the stamps I will hang on to for a while !

There is nothing in stamp collecting similar to banks/coins. You can't go to the post office and get a roll of assorted dates/varieties of 3¢ stamps to take home and sort through. Coin collecting was headed downhill also until precious metals and the state quarters took off. I think the national park quarters will do so also. I must say I have been checking here most days, but I am spending more time on the coin side. I have a hard time just getting the postal clerk to search through their Sears Tool/Stamp chest for some old left over issues, but my nice bank will order me in $100 of rolled nickels to look through anytime. I have "killed" several drink machines at my college by choking it with them

Jim

I'm coming out of the closet... I collect coins and currency of Costa Rica.

David

There is nothing wrong with collecting both. The only problem is finding enough time time.

David, I'm glad you have come out of the closet. I have a few Costa Rica coins too. http://www.coincommunity.org/galler...m=680&page=2

Steve

This topic is something I can relate to myself. Stamp collecting as a hobby is indeed going downhill; atleast in my part of the world. When I started collecting stamps, I bought in two friends of mine into this hobby; later we also started collecting coins. Now after 16 years both of them collect coins only and although I collect both I'm also starting to lose interest for reasons I can't explain. May be because of lack of admiration for my hobby by others. But good news is after joining this forum the interest is coming back.Cheers

I don't know why coins seem to have more appeal than stamps to some people. The ideas and opinions laid out above all make sense except that I don't look at coins that way myself. I think stamps have much more mystery and general appeal myself.

I use to collect coins from around the world. I gave most of them away because I lost interest. I think I still have a few laying somewhere.

I agree with laswabbie that stamps are more interesting to me.

Dianne

Soon after I began collecting stamps in 1955, I was given a Whitman Lincoln Cents folder and began collecting these. In the 1950's coins dating back to the early 1900's were still in circulation. But coins were so unexciting and so uninspiring. Identical pieces of copper or silver, save for the date and maybe a D or an S.

Collecting stamps was special. Collecting coins was just filling in holes. Unlike coins, stamps opened up the world to me and even the least attractive among them were more interesting than coins. I remember going to the library with my father and, over time, bringing home every book in the kids section that I could find about different lands and peoples because they tied in with stamps.

I haven't known many coin collectors but of those I have known, their main concern seems to have been money. It is, after all, money that they collect. They saw coins as an investment and were always talking worth. Most stamp collectors just want to have fun.

My feelings are with Swabbie and Diane...if a person can appreciate the beauty of a certain coin..thats fine with me..its also understandable why people who do not collect stamps do not understand what we see in them ..one of my brother in laws in Holland collects paper currency...i gave him one of the new 20 dollar bills when they came out..i couldnt believe how thrilled he was....

Collectors are Collectors! I have yet to see a coin or stamp collector that ONLY collects that. They always have a "closet collection" such as spoons, cows on everything, Harlequin Romance Novels, Old clocks ( guilty), Leather or cased books (me), Molas ( Panama me again ), gem crystals ( yep), casino chips, etc, etc.,

I have a friend who collects Vespas,also an Anatomy teacher friend collects weird x-rays or x-rays of weird anatomy ?? , Several that collect venomous things like certain spiders and snakes.....and gun collectors....

But that is what makes lunch interesting

Jim

Well desertgem you've just met one I have absolutely no other collections other than stamps.

Dianne

The only thing I've been able to collect other than stamps is ex-wives.

Fortunately, I've only been able to afford one of them.

You're a hoot Greg

Dianne

(In case you don't speek Candadian it means you're funny)

Never had any interest in coins, my utter intrests are:

Comic books (Golden age era )

Baseball cards... Pre WW 1 ( shared hobby with my son and grandson )

http://www.geocities.com/celenox2000/