How to Appreciate Your Coins More

I thought I’d share with you today something else I do with my coins after I pick them up in a trade or buy/etc. I recently blogged about *where* they all go as far as which collection of mine (the “box” vs the “binder”), but before any of my lovelies go into either, I keep them close by on my desk below my computer monitor for a few weeks/months until I’m tired of looking at them :)

This accomplishes a few things:

1. I appreciate them more! Since they’re near my computer screen, I literally see them every single time I sit down to type something out. Which means I get to see their beauty a good 4-5x a day :)
2. I prolong my enjoyment! Since coin collecting is so freakin’ fun for me, I get re-reminded every time my eyes glance towards that direction.
3. I remember what I have, vs what I don’t. My memory is incredibly bad, so the longer I see these coins day in and day out, the better odds I’ll remember what I have, as well as what I don’t need going forward (my goal is to have 1 of every major type of old U.S. coin – and not any duplicates).
4. I’m reminded that there’s more to life than just working. While the coins are placed near my keyboard on purpose for all the above reasons, it also serves as a nice reminder to NOT work as hard a I usually do Monday-Monday (I’m self-employed which = 24/7 hustling).

I’ve been doing this for about a year now, and it’s really given me more of an appreciate for the coins. As well as help break up the work day too when I get side tracked by picking one up and admiring it ;)

Here’s a close-up of the coins I currently have there now:

You’ll notice a couple of those error coins I blogged about last week, and I’m about to swap out some of the more older ones on that box with those I blogged about just the other day (the coins from the 1800’s).

Here’s a breakdown of what’s shown in this pic:

• 1825 Liberty Capped half penny – Super old and super not in the greatest condition, haha… but it’s my first half penny so I’m pretty thrilled! I inherited it from a family’s collection I’m currently liquidating for them – which I’ll be blogging about soon.
• 1842 Canadian Half-Penny – Or, rather, a “bank token” from the Providence of Canada and the Bank of Montreal. So old and neat looking! Despite it being worn and very much so bent ;)
• 1857 Flying Eagle penny – Another coin I’ve inherited – these are my favorite types of pennies btw :)
• 1858 Seated Liberty half dollar – A pretty cool older coin you/I don’t see very often.
• 1897 Barber dime – Great condition! And also inherited…
• 1899-O Morgan dollar – A classic coin, and one that most collectors collect and get started on (myself included)
• 1908 “V” nickel – Not worth much, but I like the way it looks for some reason…
• 1909 VDB penny – The first Lincoln head penny produced!
• 1915 Barber dime – Another nicely toned coin from the same collection (I usually don’t like having duplicates but these were just too nice looking to get rid of :))
• 1916 Barber dime – Crap condition, but has this hole in it plugged with some sort of silver looking metal? Perhaps was worn as a necklace back in the day? (Not worth much but keeping cuz it’s just cool looking to me :))
• 1916 Cuban 20 Centavos – A fun coin I picked up in a trade that as a nice solid star on it (I have a thing for stars, and even a tattoo on my chest of one ;))
• 1922 Peace dollar – Another classic coin which I inherited from that same collection.
• 1947 Canadian 1 cent – Found this in a roll of pennies I was searching! 70 years old!
• 1957-D Lincoln penny – Another coin that’s not worth much but it’s a beautiful specimen!
• And an Italian medal of some sort with a cool looking ship on one side, and “Columbus Day” along with “Italy” and “America” inscribed on the flip side. Probably from a parade in New York City back in the day that my grandma more than likely attended while living there. I found this in my foreign coins chest I inherited from her years ago but only just realized this was in it?

And then, here’s a SUPER close-up of these same coins :)

All in all a fun way to appreciate new coins in your collection before they get socked away somewhere and forgotten. And if you happen to be picking up WAY too many coins than your budget allows, well, this should serve as a nice reminder to cut back on that as well ;)

Hope this helps give you some ideas…

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PS: That “Wake up and do nothing” sticky note in picture #1? That’s a reference to this brilliant article I read the other week on having your finances automatically working for you so you don’t have to worry about them at any given point in time. And also a reminder for me to continue working on passive income so that I can *physically* choose to do nothing with my time if I wanted to down the road in early retirement. You know, except for coin hunting all day long ;)

PPS: Don’t judge my dirty desk!