The Thrill of the Chase vs the Pleasure of Owning

[Paulus 1,975]

I have talked about this with a couple of members recently, and the subject resonates with me, very interested in your views.

Personally, when I acquire an upgrade, or preferably a gap coin I have been searching for, I gain a lot of satisfaction/pleasure if the grade/price/eye appeal is proven in hand. Then I will take the best photos I can, catalogue it, and sometimes post pics of it on here and other sites. I sometimes buy to sell, but most often it is to enhance my collection.

Once I am happy with the purchase, and with my pics, the coin will be filed in some way ... stored away in my safe in an envelope, a 2x2 flip, or occasionally slabbed. After that I tend to only look at my pics of the coin I have just acquired, or try and take even better pics, but the thrill of hunting the coin down in the first place far outweighs any subsequent pleasure from owning it.

All thoughts welcome

@PWA 1967

Edited October 22, 2016 by Paulus

[mrbadexample 1,006]

Other way round for me. The pleasure's in the ownership. I can look at anyone's pictures but if it's mine I can hold it, inspect it, admire it.

[Paddy 1,723]

I agree wholeheartedly with Paulus!

I set myself a huge target initially - one of each and every British coin (date and type) from the start of milled coinage to date. In the early days I was filling gaps quickly - not much challenge in acquiring most 20th century pre-decimal coins, but still satisfying as the albums filled up. As I knew exactly what I wanted, I could lable the slots in the album for the coins that were intended to fill them, and so filling gaps became a very visible accomplishment.

As time went on, it became much more difficult to fill gaps. Ebay got a lot of my business but soon the prices of the few remaining became prohibitive. Auction houses turned up a few more, but then I got into buying "job lots" either at auctions or through adverts in the local paper. With these I get the great satisfaction of searching and sorting through everything, labelling up for onward sale anything outside my area, and then (joy of joys) comparing any within my area to the current place holder. If the newbie is better than the old, then a swap is made and an upgrade achieved. A spreadsheet became a necessity to keep track on where I was, and the collection steadily improved.

Only more recently have I got into photos - mainly for sharing on forums like this. At present I only have a scanner, but with the next bonus I must get a decent camera set up going so I can do better.

In the meantime - the thrill of the chase to fill gaps or get an upgrade. Only today a 1748 halfpenny upgrade from barely Fine to GVF!

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by Paddy
Clarification

[azda 979]

The hunt is always the thrill, the ownership is the satisfaction

[1949threepence 3,367]

1 hour ago, mrbadexample said:

Other way round for me. The pleasure's in the ownership. I can look at anyone's pictures but if it's mine I can hold it, inspect it, admire it.

Yep, I'm with you on this one, Jon. I don't get any special thrill from the chase, but I do get a real buzz out of ownership, and being able to get the coins out of their trays and look at them every now and again. That's something that can't be beaten in my estimation.

Strange to say that I'll often contemplate the fact that I'm holding a coin which was in existence and looked pretty much exactly the same when my parents, Grandparents and Great Grandparents, and even beyond that, were born.

 

[Rob 3,152]

I get a thrill out of both. Firstly the work done in chasing down the acceptable examples for the collection, then the highs and lows of winning it or not, followed by a the buzz of having acquired a good looking coin that you had pursued, maybe for years before getting your hands on it. A roller-coaster ride that provides satisfaction with each successful step in the process.

[Paulus 1,975]

25 minutes ago, Rob said:

I get a thrill out of both. Firstly the work done in chasing down the acceptable examples for the collection, then the highs and lows of winning it or not, followed by a the buzz of having acquired a good looking coin that you had pursued, maybe for years before getting your hands on it. A roller-coaster ride that provides satisfaction with each successful step in the process.

Once added to your collection, do you then get as much buzz out of owning in vs chasing it down?

[Rob 3,152]

Depends on the coin. Some things tick boxes but are generally uninspiring, both in condition and interest, such as the numerous varieties of long cross pennies, some of which are only available in VF or worse. Others in that category are really nice coins in themselves, mint state but boring - such as 20th century bronze or most other modern milled for example. Others are difficult to find, so buying them becomes a priority such as some patterns where there are no more than one or two known there is a thrill in establishing the best example acceptable and then finding it. General appreciation is enhanced when you can add a bit of historical info such as provenance, or where you have waited for years to find a specific coin.

It also has to be said that some things just appear, so the enjoyment is solely having been in the right place at the right time.

Just as with the question, 'What is your favoiurite coin?', this shifts from day to day, week to week.

It might surprise you, but the attached gives me satisfaction. As a coin it's a real dog, but given the only other known example (VF) had sold 3 or 4 years before for £2K plus juice, the appearance of this in 2003 and the recognition that it was an opportunity not to be missed, made a sensible bid the only real option. Sod placing a low bid on ebay in the hope that the vendor will offer it cheaper in the future. You may not, indeed are unlikely to get the opportunity to revisit the coin on a relisting, so putting in a proper bid at market value made complete sense. The underbidder was nearly £400 below me and obviously hoping for a bargain at a basement price. 13 years on, I still like it for what it is. I like it for the minutiae you can extract, such as the person who set the dies in the press obviously aligned them by putting the French arms against the top of the obverse - clearly the case as it is the only set of arms in the correct location with the die axis as seen.

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Edited October 23, 2016 by Rob

[PWA 1967 2,135]

I dont even have most of mine to look at 

Personally i like the chase and filling gaps .......looking for them.

I then move onto the next as been put away ....sure everyone is different.

[pokal02 44]

i spend more time chasing than looking at acquired examples, but certainly get satisfaction from both. Incidentally I also started out with the aim of one of each milled denomination & date in any grade (except gold).I started with the coppers  got down to 2 or 3, then started 3d's including maundy (managed about 70%)but lost interest in the lower denominations once I started on crowns, although I later diversified into hammered groats and pennies.  

[DaveG38 405]

For a completist, the greatest moments come when a long standing gap is filled. Oh, the joy when I found a 1854 sixpence and that annoying gap closed. Ditto the 1841 halfcrown. Once filled, for me, the interest does wane rather, and the coins become a 'given' even though they get handled and looked at whenever possible. 

[copper123 1,485]

19 minutes ago, DaveG38 said:

For a completist, the greatest moments come when a long standing gap is filled. Oh, the joy when I found a 1854 sixpence and that annoying gap closed. Ditto the 1841 halfcrown. Once filled, for me, the interest does wane rather, and the coins become a 'given' even though they get handled and looked at whenever possible. 

sorry but thats me as well , the thrill of the chase is everything

Edited October 23, 2016 by copper123

[VickySilver 830]

Well, I like having great huge runs of unc. coins to pull out and look at on occasion and I do recall how hard I chased them - so that is really appreciating both!

[PWA 1967 2,135]

I have been thinking about this since talking to Paul a week or so ago and posted earlier.

Think once i have bought one it does not do anything for me and i just move on to the next.

Its only a coin ,something i wanted and hopefully nice to own but nothing else.

Pete.

[bhx7 222]

For me like many on here it is a bit of both. I love finding and filling those annoying gaps but also love to look through and study my coins. Each coin is unique and I find in some cases I have multiples of the same coin. Some with full lustre and some with natural toning. I find them all like mini pieces of art. The studying and re looking at my coins has helped me find new nuances and variants I hadn't realised I had previously had. A good example is the mint toned pennies of George VI, 1944-1946. I have numerous toned varieties from almost no mint toning all the way to really dark velvety dark chocolate brown lustre. For the 1945 I have 6 variating colours all UNC each one a keeper for me. I couldn't imagine just locking them away and not getting them out to look at them. I spend a lot time finding nice ways to display my collection and caring for it. Hopefully when my kids inherit them they will take as much pleasure out of them as I do. I know my youngest son has already put his claim on them.

[Nordle11 564]

On 22/10/2016 at 11:22 PM, azda said:

The hunt is always the thrill, the ownership is the satisfaction

I like this one. Very exciting searching and having to outbid others to win it, very satisfying having it and being able to look at it whenever you want.

I also take out all my coins every month or so and just look through them. Because they're in capsules, in trays, after a month of movement most have rotated and they're all out of place, gives me an excuse to look at them by lining them up again  

[azda 979]

Just now, Nordle11 said:

I like this one. Very exciting searching and having to outbid others to win it, very satisfying having it and being able to look at it whenever you want.

I also take out all my coins every month or so and just look through them. Because they're in capsules, in trays, after a month of movement most have rotated and they're all out of place, gives me an excuse to look at them by lining them up again  

This part would worry me, if they are moving inside the capsules then you may need some black ring foam to stop them moving, the more movement the more wear eventually against hard plastic

[Nordle11 564]

1 minute ago, azda said:

This part would worry me, if they are moving inside the capsules then you may need some black ring foam to stop them moving, the more movement the more wear eventually against hard plastic

That worries me too! But be safe in the knowledge that the capsules are rotating inside the trays, instead of the coins inside of the capsules  

[azda 979]

Just now, Nordle11 said:

It would worry me too! But be safe in the knowledge that the capsules are rotating inside the trays, instead of the coins inside of the capsules  

Nothing to worry about then, i had visions of the coins themselves moving 

[Nordle11 564]

Well I didn't think about that until someone mentioned it here a few years back, as soon as I read it I thought 'shit, my coins have been moving this whole time', but after investigating they're pretty snug in the capsules and it's the capsules that don't quite fit in the trays. Although I have one tray that I had to buy here that the capsules are almost too snug in.. Difficult to get them out.

[jaggy 528]

For me, the thrill is not so much in the chase but in knowing that I have filled another (one of the many) holes in my collection. That is a tremendous satisfaction. In terms of ownership, it isn't so much owning individual coins but the overall quality of my collection that matters to me. So I am constantly looking at my coins, both physically and in photos to see where upgrades are required.

In terms of the chase, I do get excited when there are auctions coming up. Probably the best feeling is when you get a coin you really want at a price substantially lower than you were willing to pay. But I don't get disappointed when I miss out on a coin. Experience has taught me that, sooner or later, another one will show up.

[IanB 175]

I have never considered myself as much of a collector, over the years I have toyed with the idea of collecting something but then thought what is the point, whatever it was it would sit in a cupboard gathering dust and being forgotten about. 

Coins for me are a little different, I am not collecting them so that I can show them off, its purely for my own pleasure. I enjoy a Sunday afternoon with a cup of tea and no one bothering me with my modest collection in front of me. I will pick one at random and give it a good hard looking at under a loupe. I like the way the light shine across the surface and shows of the toning or I may notice something that I missed previously.

I guess what I am saying is that its something just for me and no one else and I don't have to try and convince anyone otherwise.

I do get a satisfaction from buying them and looking for ones that I don't already have and of course who does not love an upgrade

This forum also plays a big part in the process, I think without it I would have probably gone off the boil.

[Leo 91]

I collect an easy series so there is not much thrill in the chase - this is like a financial exercise of setting the money aside and relentless crawling through auction catalogs and eBay listings looking for that sweet combination of grade and price. It's a mild degree of fun. However I enjoy much more with in-person purchases to dealers and shops.

I certainly find more joy and satisfaction in the ownership, photographing and cataloging the new purchases, and reading about the historical periods these circulated in. When I've had a s*** day at work I look at my coins and really helps me to wind down.

I should also note that learning the technical intricacies of coin collecting is fascinating, and this forum has played an important role in that. I take my hat off to the more experienced members who are always available to answer queries and give their opinion.

[1949threepence 3,367]

8 hours ago, Leo said:

I collect an easy series so there is not much thrill in the chase - this is like a financial exercise of setting the money aside and relentless crawling through auction catalogs and eBay listings looking for that sweet combination of grade and price. It's a mild degree of fun. However I enjoy much more with in-person purchases to dealers and shops.

I certainly find more joy and satisfaction in the ownership, photographing and cataloging the new purchases, and reading about the historical periods these circulated in. When I've had a s*** day at work I look at my coins and really helps me to wind down.

I should also note that learning the technical intricacies of coin collecting is fascinating, and this forum has played an important role in that. I take my hat off to the more experienced members who are always available to answer queries and give their opinion.

I can definitely relate to that. 

[Paulus 1,975]

It has just occurred to me (somewhat belatedly) than the same OP question can be related to wives/husbands and girlfriends/boyfriends