Viewpoint: Sharing Thoughts With the Community

I have been a coin collector and numismatist for over 60 years. It all started when I received a Canadian penny in change at six years old while buying candy at a penny store on my way home from church with my father and younger brother. My brother and I were given each a dime and were told we could buy any one-cent candy pieces we liked, and as many as we wanted up to ten cents. If we only spent a nickel, we could keep the remaining change. Being frugal even as a young child, I wanted both the candy and some spare money. I did love my sweet treats and still do today, but I loved saving my extra cash to save up and get something I wanted, like a new Matchbox car I had my eye on. On one beautiful Sunday morning, I spent six cents on candy and got four cents in change. As I glanced at these four pennies, something caught my eye. One of the coins was a bit different. It was something I had never seen before! It was odd, but I knew I liked it. It was a fairly new Canadian penny.

I knew I had to save it separately from my other spare change, and that I would never spend it. This is what started it all. This is what got me hooked on this awesome hobby and searching for new coins. This has grown into collecting, studying, and learning about numismatics and eventually becoming a numismatist. Sixty-one years later, I still enjoy learning about coins, looking at coins, assembling collections, and doing appraisals and anything else numismatically. I feel one of the best parts of the hobby is relating these and other stories to fellow coin collectors. I have told the tale many times, to numerous people, and on many occasions, and have written about it in publications and right here in Numismatic News with letters to the editor and Viewpoint.

As a subscriber to this wonderful publication, Numismatic News, for well over 35 years, it has been a source of ultimate knowledge and interest as well as a great deal of fun. I love reading all the exciting articles to learn about new and old coins, one-cent pieces, gold coins, common pieces, commemoratives, and coinage minted from all over the world. The individual articles written by your writers and contributors are compelling and provocative. Reading them gives me a vast array of information on many different subjects regarding numismatics. I partially enjoy reading Viewpoint and the letters sent to the editor by fellow collectors and numismatists. Many of these writings come from individuals who want to express their feelings about the hobby and how they feel about a particular subject matter in the world of coins. To me, this is a very enjoyable part of collecting and being a numismatist. Our hobby is much more than just assembling a group of coins and tucking them away somewhere. Or at least it should be. If you are just concerned about what your coins are worth, or how much you can monetarily get for them, and nothing else, then I don’t believe you are a true numismatist. By the way, that is perfectly fine; many folks collect just for investment purposes and are quite successful at it.

This brings to my attention something that I have noticed in the last few years, reading Numismatic News. I saw that in the past, many more people had sent “letters to the editor” and “Viewpoint” to be printed in its publication. Numismatic News will almost always publish any of your writings. Today, it seems that fewer people are sending their thoughts about the hobby to the editor. I am wondering why there is such a decline and what happened. Is it that people in our country don’t have as much interest in coin collecting or numismatics, or do they just not have time to write and express their ideas? Perhaps they are concerned that they wouldn’t be published? Or maybe they’re worried that readers will not agree or understand what they have to say? None of us should be worried or concerned about any of these things.

In Numismatic News, they ask for submissions all the time, whether it’s for Letters to the Editor, Viewpoint, e-letters, or coin finds. They ask for our opinions on different topics because they are interested in the feedback, to see what our thoughts are on several areas of numismatics. The editors give us all a chance to express our opinions about our favorite subject, numismatics. They want to know about interesting coin finds and how you feel about many different aspects of our awesome hobby. I know they would love feedback on articles published in the magazine and your thoughts about the state of the industry. Pro or Con on a subject, it doesn’t matter, talk about it, they do want to hear from us. Years ago, if you were inclined, you had to write a handwritten letter and put it in the mail. That is what is called Snail Mail these days. Those days are thankfully over. Nowadays, all you have to do is send your sentiments by email, and with a click of a button, Numismatic News editors and staff receive it in a millisecond. There is no reason not to get involved and express yourself. It’s a great deal of fun to talk about our collections, interests, and our thoughts on this most fascinating hobby. Give it a try. Numismatic News would be very happy to hear from you.

This Viewpoint was written by Philip Lo Presti of Jupiter, Fla.

To have your opinion considered for Viewpoint, email submissions to numismatics@aimmedia.com. All opinions presented in Viewpoint submissions are solely those of the author.