Coin Collector Quotes

There are people like Senhor José everywhere, who fill their time, or what they believe to be their spare time, by collecting stamps, coins, medals, vases, postcards, matchboxes, books, clocks, sport shirts, autographs, stones, clay figurines, empty beverage cans, little angels, cacti, opera programmes, lighters, pens, owls, music boxes, bottles, bonsai trees, paintings, mugs, pipes, glass obelisks, ceramic ducks, old toys, carnival masks, and they probably do so out of something that we might call metaphysical angst, perhaps because they cannot bear the idea of chaos being the one ruler of the universe, which is why, using their limited powers and with no divine help, they attempt to impose some order on the world, and for a short while they manage it, but only as long as they are there to defend their collection, because when the day comes when it must be dispersed, and that day always comes, either with their death or when the collector grows weary, everything goes back to its beginnings, everything returns to chaos.

When, as my friend suggested, I stand before Zeus (whether I die naturally, or under sentence of History)I will repeat all this that I have written as my defense.Many people spend their entire lives collecting stamps or old coins, or growing tulips. I am sure that Zius will be merciful toward people who have given themselves entirely to these hobbies, even though they are only amusing and pointless diversions. I shall say to him : "It is not my fault that you made me a poet, and that you gave me the gift of seeing simultaneously what was happening in Omaha and Prague, in the Baltic states and on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.I felt that if I did not use that gift my poetry would be tasteless to me and fame detestable. Forgive me." And perhaps Zeus, who does not call stamp-collectors and tulip-growers silly, will forgive.

It was on the order of coin or stamp collecting; no rational explanation could ever be given. And high prices were being paid by wealthy collectors.

Why do you choose to write about such gruesome subjects? I usually answer this with another question: Why do you assume that I have a choice? Writing is a catch-as-catch-can sort of occupation. All of us seem to come equipped with filters on the floors of our minds, and all the filters have differing sizes and meshes. What catches in my filter may run right through yours. What catches in yours may pass through mine, no sweat. All of us seem to have a built-in obligation to sift through the sludge that gets caught in our respective mind-filters, and what we find there usually develops into some sort of sideline. The accountant may also be a photographer. The astronomer may collect coins. The school-teacher may do gravestone rubbings in charcoal. The sludge caught in the mind's filter, the stuff that refuses to go through, frequently becomes each person's private obsession. In civilized society we have an unspoken agreement to call our obsessions “hobbies.” Sometimes the hobby can become a full-time job. The accountant may discover that he can make enough money to support his family taking pictures; the schoolteacher may become enough of an expert on grave rubbings to go on the lecture circuit. And there are some professions which begin as hobbies and remain hobbies even after the practitioner is able to earn his living by pursuing his hobby; but because “hobby” is such a bumpy, common-sounding little word, we also have an unspoken agreement that we will call our professional hobbies “the arts.” Painting. Sculpture. Composing. Singing. Acting. The playing of a musical instrument. Writing. Enough books have been written on these seven subjects alone to sink a fleet of luxury liners. And the only thing we seem to be able to agree upon about them is this: that those who practice these arts honestly would continue to practice them even if they were not paid for their efforts; even if their efforts were criticized or even reviled; even on pain of imprisonment or death. To me, that seems to be a pretty fair definition of obsessional behavior. It applies to the plain hobbies as well as the fancy ones we call “the arts”; gun collectors sport bumper stickers reading YOU WILL TAKE MY GUN ONLY WHEN YOU PRY MY COLD DEAD FINGERS FROM IT, and in the suburbs of Boston, housewives who discovered political activism during the busing furor often sported similar stickers reading YOU'LL TAKE ME TO PRISON BEFORE YOU TAKE MY CHILDREN OUT OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD on the back bumpers of their station wagons. Similarly, if coin collecting were outlawed tomorrow, the astronomer very likely wouldn't turn in his steel pennies and buffalo nickels; he'd wrap them carefully in plastic, sink them to the bottom of his toilet tank, and gloat over them after midnight.

There are people like Senhor José everywhere, who fill their time, or what they believe to be their spare time, by collecting stamps, coins, medals, vases, postcards, matchboxes, books, clocks, sport shirts, autographs, stones, clay figurines, empty beverage cans, little angels, cacti, opera programmes, lighters, pens, owls, music boxes, bottles, bonsai trees, paintings, mugs, pipes, glass obelisks, ceramic ducks, old toys, carnival masks, and they probably do so out of something that we might call metaphysical angst, perhaps because they cannot bear the idea of chaos being the one ruler of the universe, which is why, using their limited powers [...], they attempt to impose some order on the world, and for a short while they manage it, but only as long as they are there to defend their collection, because when the day comes when it must be dispersed, and that day always comes, either with their death or when the collector grows weary, everything goes back to its beginnings, everything returns to chaos.

Bryce looked like a California underwear model. Not that I’d thought about him in his underwear. Much. He was talking with his friend Nathan. Where Bryce had the whole tan, blond, hazel-eyed thing going on, Nathan was fair with dark hair and dark eyes. They looked like opposite sides of the same coin. A really hot, totally unreachable coin that a collector would keep in a special locked case, which normal girls like myself were not allowed to touch.

On January 1, 1991, a new, 96-page state law goes into effect: H.B. 1750, passed last year [1989]." It requires all Oklahoma residents to declare everything they own to the tax collector, everything: guns, coins, art collections, furniture, business equipment, bank accounts, household furniture, etc. Forms will be distributed through banks. Any taxpayer who refuses to fill out the form and submit it to the tax assessor by March 15—the ides of March—will be visited by an assessor.

His books - his good books - lined two walls. None of the volumes were worth much. He was a book owner rather than a collector. He was a hoarder. That was the truth of the matter. His books added something to his existence - a sort of atmosphere. No, it was more than that. They were a barrier of sorts. They were like a concrete foundation on a house; they kept the structure of his life up out of the dirt. They kept the termites out of the sill and kept the whole place from shaking to bits when the earth quaked. Looking at them was satisfactory, even when he was in a foul mood.

It absolutely stinks to have to pay to use public toilets, whether it’s for just a quick tinkle or for a more drawn-out doo-doo. Either way, it’s a shockingly foul business that makes millions from our blameless bladders, and where the only barriers to entry, it seems, are a couple of murky turn stiles, presumably soiled – for free – by non-coin collectors and fantastically ironic dogs. Next time we’ll remember to bring a bottle. And cork.

If it rains, winter provides the best grazing. This is when the Bedu disperse into small family groups, taking their herds deep into the desert. In spring the grass begins to wither, and by summer it is dead. Then the Bedu must congregate at deep, permanent wells where their camels will live off the fat that they have stored in their humps during the winter. If you are a tax collector or other government official, summer is when you know where to find the Bedu. Spring is the time of sandstorms and the harbinger of hot, dry, hard times to come. Whoever coined the term “Arab Spring” was clearly not a Saudi, for to the Bedu, autumn, not spring, is the season of hope, rain, and renewal.

A GATE It originates at the detail, the hinge of the door to the museum. Not the landscape or the figure that might be art, might be a coin-collector, maybe both. How you’ve taken us to twenty such places in the name of teaching me. The titles were always better than their canvases, all that blank sincerity. Their voices— if voiced—would spiral up into sincerity, and I never liked a sound for what it signified. I lost you in the impressionists. Found the gate to the pleasure-garden behind the museum. There, I named no flowers, no birds. Let the world be a worse sketch, left untitled.

For all that little financial lesson in the Montreal hotel, Emily was still confused by British currency. She’d grown highly incensed not only with it but with me because she couldn’t understand it. It was the only thing I ever heard her admit to not understanding. It was in vain that I tried to show her the difference between a half crown and a two-shilling piece. She refused to admit they were anything but two versions of fifty cents, and persisted in being so stubbornly obtuse about it that I finally told her that if she just bring herself to read what was written on them, she’d know. This didn’t work out so well either because she’d keep taxi drivers waiting interminably while she’d scan the reading matter of each and every coin, turning it round and round, sometimes breathing on it and rubbing it clear. When I suggested that people might think her awfully queer, she said, not at all, they’d merely mistake her for a coin collector. I tried explaining to her that one florin meant two shillings but that only made her madder. The day we received a bill made out in guineas and I told her that there was no such thing as a guinea, it was a pound and one shilling, only the swanker shops charged you in guineas, and you paid in pound and shillings, but you called it guineas, although as I had said there really was no such thing, she slapped me.

Coins and precious metals, food, slaves, and luxury goods flowed to Rome; little came back except tax collectors and soldiers.

But bear in mind that whatever you are, whether a collector or an investor, it is essential that you get your coins in your possession and never let any company keep them for you. The company may go belly up and you could be left holding a worthless paper document. Store your coins where you can be sure they are safe like in a safety deposit box of a bank.

Managing all data related to your coin type and its size can be overwhelming. A coin collecting software might be a good idea to have to help you keep track of your coin collection. Coin collecting software is not just for creating a catalog or inventory. Most commercially available software packages have built in coin inventories to categorize modern, ancient and medieval coins. They also are able to organize coin related links, existing web resources and an option that includes recent coin values updated for the current year. Software that has a coin glossary and a dictionary of various numismatic terms integrated in it would be most useful. You can choose from various programs that have an easy to learn interface and have readymade templates. A good one should allow you to create reports and summaries. Both novice and expert coin collectors will benefit from using good coin collecting software.

There are consumer protection agencies, like the Federal Trade Commission, that are concerned with getting your complaint information so cases can be filed against fraudulent dealers. Most government agencies may not be able to deal with individual disputes but they can provide you with sound advice regarding what actions to take against erring dealers. If the dealer who defrauded you is a member of a coin organization, you can normally file a complaint in that organization and receive help. The Numismatic Crimes Information Center gives the following tips when responding to ads online and offline: Both dealers and collectors should be cautious when responding to ads, especially online ads placed on popular websites such as Craigslist. Even though there are hundreds of legit transactions that take place all the time, some can turn out to be a scam or robbery.