I think the most popular questions people had been asking me since 2008 are "what is my coin value?" When I start my blog and offer free coin appraisal for my readers, I get at least one email a day asking about coin value. Sometimes not just coin, people also ask me about their medallion, token and jewellery value. Is monetary value the most important thing in coin collecting? Do you collect coins just for their "money value"? How about numismatic value of your coins, doesn't it really matter? What other values that you can get from coin collecting? Today, I want to share with you, coin collecting value is not just about profit or money. If you want to start collecting, read this and keep it in your mind. If you already a collector and understand what I mean, share this with your friends so they can truly understand what coin collecting really is, profit or money is not the main concern.
Coin collecting value:
Hobby & fun value
Many people feel a bit stress in coin collecting especially if their friends have a better collection then them. Hobby suppose to be fun and can help you relieve stress not the other way around. Collector who join this hobby for fun will not get stress easily. They knew it take time to get a complete collection and they don't expect to gain profit from their hobby. If they find a scarce coin on sale for a cheap price, they will only buy one piece for their collection. They don't think about buying the rest of coins for instant profit. For them, in coin collecting, you must share with other collectors, don't be greedy. They will think that there is one collector out there who is looking for the same coin, if he/she buy it, the other collector don't have a chance to find that coin.
Sentimental value
They're also collector who inherit coins from their parents or friends. The coins has some sentimental value to them, it make them remember about people who give that coins to them. At first, they might do not know anything about numismatic and maybe don't have any interest in numismatic too. But when they search for information about the coins that they inherit, they learn more about numismatic and might try to complete the coin collection. Collectors like this are consider as the lucky one, they don't need to start from scratch like most of us.
Historical value
Most of the old coins are related to history. For example, the coins of White Rajah of Sarawak or Rajah Brooke are collected because that is the first & the last Sarawak were ruled by a King. Each coins of the Rajah Brooke have their own history. Another example is North Borneo 25 cents silver coin. Why that coin is the only silver coin in North Borneo coin history? All the other denominations are either copper-nickel or bronze. Keeping such coins can help you understand history of your country better and it can help you when you need to give explanation about history to others.
Educational value
You can learn many thing from a single coins. For example, if we look at Malaysia Parlimen series coins, we can learn more about Malaysia by searching information about the Parliament building and Hibiscus motif (Bunga raya) on the coin design. It told people who collect them that building is a building complex where the Malaysian Parliament assembles and Bunga raya is Malaysia National Flower. Coins indirectly will give education to their collectors about their country of origin.
Artistic Value
Some collectors collect coins because of the artistic value. For them some particular coins is beautiful and worth to collect. For example, some collector like to collect Canada Toonie because of an image of a polar bear by artist Brent Townsend. The coin might be simple but the beautiful design might be appealing to them. They're also collector who like to collect coins base on which artist design the coins.
Please remember, coin collecting isn't just about profit & monetary value....
