What if collectors were majority?
Coin collectors can easily feel isolated from the general population because of their numismatic interests. At least I have from time to time in my life, especially when I was a kid when discussions at family gatherings always seemed to turn on what grade I was in at the time and whether I was still collecting coins.
On Saturday, though, I had an experience that was just the reverse of the usual.
I volunteer from time to time at the community brat stand to sell the popular sausage to raise money for the Lake Iola Lake District.
The volunteers are not always the same people. There were five of us on Saturday morning. Two were charged with overseeing the grill and three of us were dispensing the food and collecting the cash.
This time I had charge of the cash box.
During slow moments, the chitchat started and surprise, surprise, the other two persons in the trio also had interests in coins.
Interestingly, I was right smack in the middle in the age range. One volunteer is 13 years older than I. I had worked with her before, but we apparently had never before discussed coins in our slow moments.
The other volunteer had just moved to Iola in April and he was 10 years my junior.
Her interests had centered on Whitman albums and coins of her birth year. His interests were wider but with an ongoing interest in proof silver American Eagles. And, yes, he mentioned the gap year in the annual issues.
I find it is always enjoyable to talk coins, but I couldn’t help reflect that for a brief interval the three coin collectors were a majority in the ad hoc brat fry group.
That doesn’t usually happen, and that made my day's experience even more interesting.
And no, I received no interesting notes or coins in payment for the brats. Darn.
Another chance for me to try again will come in May.
Buzz blogger Dave Harper is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."
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