Is DV collecting the 'Rodney Dangerfield' of Numismatics?

[Russellhome]

A friend shared with me today that he had been contacted by an eBay member about one of his auctions for a 1963 1c DDO. The helpful information that the person offered was that he was selling a coin with a very minor anomaly and that it was worth exactly 1 cent. I guess the guy was not current on the value of copper (or die varieties, for that matter).

A few weeks ago, I was selling a listed 2005 25c DDR on eBay and I received a similar 'helpful' message -- where someone more or less called me a crook for attempting to sell such frivolous junk to the unsuspecting masses.

And finally... I used to do posts on the [some other] coin forum - but got tired of being ridiculed for virtually every post I did. There are members at that forum who seem to die for every chance to post "That's not a doubled die -- this is a doubled die..." and show a photo of the 1955 major DDO cent.

I have spent serious $$ on some of my die variety purchases -- and to many in the numismatic community, that makes me a fool. If I turn around and sell a die variety, I am just another crook perpetuating the myth that minor die varieties have any value more than face value.

So what is the deal here? Are we the Rodney Dangerfields of Numismatics? No respect! Do VAM collectors, registry set builders, or even comic book or action figure collectors catch this much flack for what they enjoy collecting? There are many things that others collect that don't interest me in the least -- even within numismatics. But I don't go out of my way to heap insults at others for doing what they like to do.

[eagames]

Yes it's frustrating. People don't know a real variety when it gets listed then people buy fake stuff, thin cents like in my other post, strike doubles, realy minor stuff like fly on the buffalos rear.... I can tell when the non variety folks make ebay adds, they say "partial doubled die" that means strike double or poormans, they say things like "this 55 poormans is an example of what progressed into the big one" or they list some junk and say their local dealer said it was yada yada yada. I feel like emailing them but it is not worth it.

But there's an upside to it, sometimes you can pick up a good real ddo variety while those ridiculing people are bidding on some garage made major fake error.

It's also sort of what I was asking in my other post, where do the other variety collectors draw the line between what they want to collect. Who care's what people that don't collect them think. I just want to know what other variety collectors think.

[Russellhome]

The stuff you mentioned is another twist on the subject -- the junk that people are willing to buy and sell on eBay. To some extent, part of the bad rap that the Die Variety Hobby gets is due to the MDD, die cracks, chips, dents, and fakes that get listed as some sort of rare or valuable thing on eBay.

Most of the time, I think the sellers are just not aware that what they are selling is common junk. But some are just scamming people and it makes us all look bad. But the scary part is that stuff sells even if the seller is honest about the coin being a manufactured error (fake) or being a strike doubled coin. One guy I've seen regularly sells 1969 S and 1970 S Lincoln cents with strike doubling clearly stated in his listing -- and he regulary gets $20 to $70 per coin! I would not sell such junk -- I (like everybody else) see bold MDD on those years all the time.

The trouble is, this type of junk looks more interesting to the novice 'error' collector than many legitimate die varieties. I know I bought some of it when I was a rookie. When searching, I even set some extreemly interesting MDD pieces aside for a little collection I have.

But it must be said, part of the 'No Respect' vibe that the Die Variety hobby gets is probably due to the buying and selling of this common junk that is not even considered part of our hobby. Perhaps many of those who heap insults my way have a 1969 S 1c MDD coin in their collection that they later found out was worth nowhere near the $50 they paid for it.

[Dick]

Ken, ED, You both have put forth some interesting thoughts about many things that I have found to be part of the old "Carnie's" theory: There is a sucker born every minute, and two, out to get him"! It looks like as we become more experienced in our hobby, the more we become disgusted at the "nice people" who demean us for doing what we enjoy. I am very new at Varieties, so new, in fact, thatI know very little about them, et al. I used to buy from certain sellers, who had proven their worth, by the types of coinage included in the "collections, and lots". I gathered a pretty good sized bunch of different coins, and a ton of "unsearched" wheats, that some how turned out to be someones culls! BJ put me onto this forum, and I am very happy with the caliber of people I am associated with. In the short time I have been a member, I have learned a whole lot more about cents in particular, and coins in general, than I had learned in some 40-50 years of "sort of gathering coins" Most of them, by the way had gone to feed mt kids! Yes, I too, bought the white metal cent, the 1969-s doubled die, and in the process learned that not all sellers are bad, just most of them!
Merry Christmas Gentlemen! I hope Santa is as nice to you as he is to your kids!
Dick

[Bob P]

You should really consider quitting this whole die variety thing and start collecting something that makes everyone else happy. Me personally...my new years resolution is to stop collecting die varieties, and start collecting snow flakes

Seriously though, I never expect everyone to understand this field. You are correct in that we can be known as the "Rodneys" of the numismatic world. However, the collecting aspect is yours...not theirs. They can find no joy in what you do because they do not understand it. Sometimes, it is easier to disregard their ignorance, than attempt to explain it to them. Don't waste your time. Do what make YOU happy.

[rollmeupabe]

I find the best way to get someone to leave me alone is to start to tell them about my die variety collecting hobby. As soon as I describe looking at pennies with a microscope they start to move away from me. I have a great time with the hobby and hate the people on Ebay who try to scam the unsuspecting. I do occassionally send a question to someone trying to sell a machine doubled coin as a DDO. I find most know what they are doing and respond with some response to mind my own business. The only reason they bother me is because their scamming ads make it more difficult to sell the real thing. Too much clutter out there. I have also never purchased a variety except through Lincolncents.com since I find it more fun to search for them vs. buy them. And it is a lot cheaper.

[ldarrellc]

I may get ridiculed for saying this but............yall need to remember the old addage ........ one mans junk is another mans treasure.

[smed]

There's always going to be somebody (usually a fornicating moron) to tell you what you should or should not collect, that all your coins are overgraded, cleaned pieces of crap, he has this and that and the other, how HIS dealer would NEVER do anything but give him deal after deal, blah blah blah blah blather blather verbal diarrhea...

Tell 'em to blow it out their assets...

[wavysteps2003]

Ken - I believe that I know which goup is behind this "cleaning up act" on Ebay and the result may be turning towards the "Salem" syndrome.

If your auction has a known variety with any type of various file number attached (CONECA, WEXLER, CRAWFORD and most importantly COPPERCOINS') then tell these people to MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS . There are still plenty of auctions that are pure junk on this site, let them go after those. If that does not work and they still persist in hassling you, report them to E-bay.

WAVYSTEPS2003 aka BJ Neff

[Earwig]

Ive sold on and off on ebay for over 5 years and had no problem with varieties. If you are honest and the buyer or seller has a clue what they are buying or selling there is usually no problem. Im sure over the years ive sold coins to many peaple on this site and only 2 coins were not attributed right on over 10000 positive transactions i offered a full refund but the buyer still kept them cuz they were described in full with photos and they needed the coin that i was selling example being 60d rpm 20 and rpm 64 easy to confuse. The one thing is dont fall for a description and get a coin that is just a machine double or even a fake. You can get good deal and accurate attribution if you are careful. But dont fall into the Spearhead Crackedskull, unknown double die (usually strike doubling) rut.

Eric