Against all my collecting habits and criteria, I recently picked up a 1921 Swiss 10 Rappen from the coin store. No big deal, happens to all of us collectors, but there is still something unusual about it. I strictly collect by type, and I already had a 1962 10 Rappen.
When I pick out a coin, it has very specific criteria, unless I get a few coins from somebody, or for some reason I pick up a pile of coins to go through. I only get one coin per type, usually based on KM number if it is applicable. The only reason why I would get a second one of a type is to add it to my swap list if I think I could trade it for something good I don’t have. If I happen to have more than one of anything, almost without exception all the extra ones go to the swap pile. The exception is if I have any kind of an emotional connection to a coin, for example I got it from somebody special.
I tried to be very strict about these rules. I used to think that getting more than one of anything is hoarding. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about other collectors, somebody else may have a different way of collecting, I simply tried to ensure that I’m collecting and not hoarding, by following my own rules.
So, last time when we went to the coin store, all of a sudden I felt the urge to get a 1921 Swiss 10 Rappen.
I already have one from 1962, and some even newer ones in the swap folder. But there was just something special to holding an older coin. 1962 is relatively close to my birth year, but 1921 feels more like history. Different thoughts go through my mind when I hold this coin. The interesting thing is, I cannot even feel the difference. If you swapped out the two 10 Rappens in my catalog, I would never know.
I picked out this coin from the $.50 bucket, so the price I paid for it is not a big deal. I was just fighting not to start something new that doesn’t make sense. But I couldn’t resist. Maybe it does make sense. There is just something quite special to Swiss coins, Switzerland is one of the few countries where they use some of the same coins today they used in the late 1800’s. Even more so than in the US.
Will this start a new trend in my collection? Probably not. I enjoyed the experience so much that I may pick up a few older coins just for the sake of having it, but at the moment I’m more interested in continuing to get more coins from my previous interests, of which there’s many.