RCC/Finding Your Collection "Survivor"

Finding Your Collection "Survivor"

by Kent Woodson

I have been fumbling around for some direction in my collection for more than a year now. I have thought about collecting specific coin types, from specific era, or just coins of a particular emperor. Once I resolve to start "specializing" in a certain genre of coinage, I end up not being patient enough to find the "key" historical or scarce coins in the group or just getting bored at looking at one thing. I lapse into buying something that is entirely different than anything else in my collection, or worse yet picking up a good deal that duplicates a coin I already had in my collection. Right now my collection rangcs somewhere between Alexander The Great and Catherine The Great, and I am in dire need of limiting the spectrum of my collecting.

I originally came to the conclusion that my collection needed some focus when I tried to think of an exhibit for the Raleigh Coin Club show. I thought long and hard about how I could make a cohesive thematic exhibit that would be interesting to a wider group of individuals beyond the academic ancient coin collector. No matter how I tried, I couldn't put together a set of anything... Mint Cities, Family of Constantine, Twelve Caesars, Denominations,.... ANYTHING that could fill one of those imposing display cases. I eventually want to collect everything and have the ability to make a display on a variety of subjects regarding ancient coins, but until I win the lottery here is an exercise I have undertaken. If you feel you collection has grown too unwieldy this is perhaps an exercise you can use to pare down your collection to what you really want.

The concept that I am using comes from using the concept of CBS' "Survivor" show that comes on Thursday nights. Just in case you have not seen this show, let me fill you in on the basic elements of it. There are a group of 16 people stranded in the middle of the Outback with only the bare essentials to survive. The 16 individuals are divided between two "tribes" and the two tribes regularly compete against one another for more "necessities" or for an immunity idol. The tribe that loses the competition must vote one of their own members out, until there is only one "survivor" left and he/she wins $1,000,000.

Of course I am not advocating that each coin collector only retain one coin, but most collectors don't start with just 16 coins either. In fact the interesting part of the survivor show to me and this exercise is the early part of the show where, the tribes start getting rid of the members they deem the weak link. In the early stages of the competition, the tribe votes out the members who bring the least tools to the tribe, or possibly those that have the most abrasive personalities that could make 42 days in the outback more brutal than necessary. Those that can bring food, shelter, or physical or intellectual prowess in the games are especially prized by the group and likely to survive. The methodology that I used for analyzing my collection is thus:

(1) Spread all (if that is possible) your collection around you. Separate your collection by collecting genre (this is perhaps the most difficult step), these will become your "tribes". Those coins that can possible fit into two different "tribes" are a bonus because they have utility in both groups and bring a little something extra to the table.

(2) Within each tribe, assess the personal attributes of each coin. Nearly every coin has some positives or weaknesses associated with it. For instance in lieu of an abrasive personality, does your coin have abrasion, nicks, scratches or other ugliness that can limit its utility. (I know it sounds callous, but if you are stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a coin, it might as well be aesthetically pleasing. Another trait is "Does your coin eat to much?" Certainly on the TV show the tribe member that uses an inordinate amount of the limited resources is a prime candidate for being kicked off. In my opinion, an unjustifiably expensive coin is the same thing. That coin is using up financial resources, that could possibly fill a lot more holes in your collection. Another trait is the ability to fit in. On the show, it is to one's advantage to not stand out too much from the others, and a premium is placed on compatibility. Perhaps it could be the same instance with a coin. You might have a group of nice coins that are great pieces by themselves, but when put together as a cohesive group does a particular coin stand out. If you were to make a collection of mint state Morgan Dollars from Carson City and all them are shiny lustrous silver except for one beautifully rainbow-toned one...perhaps you could look getting something that doesn't distract one's eye from the other coins. Another trait would be the uniqueness of the tribal member. In other words does this coin have something so special that another coin cannot replace it? Is the coin hard to come by? Or does the coin contain a seldom seen mint error. Lastly, there are the sentimental favorites. On the show there are those that members of the tribe that have excellent personalities and say the nicest thing about everyone. In your collection there are coins with the same attributes, they are really nice common coins, or perhaps you have a coin that was the first one that you ever found out of pocket change or inherited from your father's collection.

(3) Starting with each tribe, starting trimming out the dead wood. Select those coins that are replaceable and/or non-conforming and toss them out. They might be spectacular individual pieces, but they might not complement your collection at all. Use cold realism and place little value on sentimental attachments if those coins eat too much (i.e. can be sold to obtain members whose attributes you really need). Get rid of superfluous duplicates, it would be nice to have MS 63 Red 1911 S Lincoln, but do you really need the other two 1911 S Lincolns in similar condition. Place a higher value on those coins that can fit into more than one tribe and assess their worth in each one individually. Repeat this step as many times as you wish. If particular tribes become too depleted with each subsequent round, you might want to very well consider eliminating the tribe altogether. If the tribe is too depleted, it will probably be too weak to stand on its own; or perhaps too expensive to create a cohesive complete unit from such few remaining members. Continue doing this in each tribe until you cannot bring yourself to get rid of any more members. This will be the core of your collection, and you can then look at complementing these core members, with new additions.

(4) Sell or swap the ousted tribe members for coins that have attributes that could complement your existing core. A great place to banish these coins is out to eBay or perhaps to the RCC bidboard that is starting up again. I will certainly have a few of my recent castaways out at the meeting.

Paring down one's collection is not for everyone, but with limited fiscal and time resources, most of us cannot afford to collect, attribute, and store all the coins that we have ever wanted for some reason or another. This exercise will probably inject some cold realism into your collecting habits and make your next purchases last longer in your tribes. I for one have collected a lot of coins that were "great deals" but were not really needed in my collection. I could have gotten a much more needed coin for the collection if I would have spent and extra $5 or $10 to pick one with slightly nicer attributes. I won't regret paring down my collection nearly as much as missing those coins that should have been a member of one of my tribes, and are now not available.

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