Variety is the spice of collecting

Tuesdays are generally busy days for me but the second Tuesday of the month tends to be the worst.

"Paper Money Market" price guide goes to press this afternoon. The "Coin Market" price guide and Numismatic News have their ad deadlines this afternoon. Today is also the final full day of work before World Coin News goes to press tomorrow and Bank Note Reporter has its ad deadline.

It keeps me jumping from topic to topic and task to task as everything gets finalized. It is all very engrossing work, but the necessity of interrupting one task to complete another as the multiple deadlines near keeps me hopping.

And naturally, events don’t stop happening. There is the need to check things out. I see gold is down $11 this morning and the Mint puts more Presidential dollar coin products on the market.

Numismatics is a fascinating field. To look at it from the perspective of a collector of U.S. coins or a collector of U.S. paper money or world notes or world coins, there is no better day for me to see the variety than today.

It reinforces my perception that the hobby is a lifetime undertaking. No matter what area you pick, it will be a good one. It will challenge you to learn and improve yourself.

All the while it also serves as a vehicle for blowing off steam and forgetting routine cares.

And there is nobody scolding you, except me perhaps, that you haven’t taken your coin time today.

Don’t forget. It is good for you.