Loving the Unloved: Battered and Corroded Coins

Only a true collector can love the unloved. It is the way of the necromancer.
   Let's take a striking example: here is a battered and corroded coin. Can it be marvelous?

This old cent draws you in. It is beautiful for starters.
This cent has storyline that is familiar to us all: it was
lost, and it laid in the earth while the world churned;
then it was found again, blooming with corrosion,
and shouting out it story.

   Indeed, this heavily corroded cent caked with verdigris and exfoliating at the center is not likely to be found on a collector's want list. Perhaps it takes a rebel to collect something like this. It is clearly outside the accepted realm of the new and shiny. Yet, the necromancer enjoys battered and corroded coins such as this.
   And I assure you, I am not rebel.
   Instead, the necromancer sees something special in pieces like this. There is a storyline here: of being lost, perhaps hunted for, and now found. Some bloke lost this one over a century ago (maybe it was a dark night or maybe he tripped or ...).
   In any case, this cent was the still-point while life roared above it. Folks stepped on it. Moles dug past it.
   There is more.
   The storyline runs deeper, reflecting issues about mortality -- ours and our objects. Nothng lasts forever. We can feel it when we look at this one, even if the feelings go unexpressed.
   Once you get past the initial disdain (which is just a defense mechanism), you can't look away. Herein lies the allure.
   So why are such "heavy" coins unloved. I think it is because many collectors do not listen to their hearts (or their amygdala). Yes, too much cortex, too little emotion.
   The Angel of Numismatic Correctness pulls us away. Too bad. This is an object that is fascinating to ponder. It is a pure collector's coin, full of intrigue. It is marvelous!
   In her introspective book, In Fragrante Collecto, Marilynn Karp -- a Professor of Art, no less -- put it this way: "Of all the faces of collecting, this is the purest: collector and object, no intervening issues of value or competition, wholly unselfconscious choices." Indeed, loving the unloved is one of the hallmarks of the true collector. And the necromancer is standing right by his side.
   So why not collect battered and corroded coins?
   I submit that those who find magic in corroded coins are of a particular bent that is no less astute or fervent than the (so-called) connoisseur flashing his lustrous Morgan Dollars.

Collecting like a Kid

I was fortunate enough to have grown up when collectors were searching bankrolls and speculators preferred stocks. I hunted for old Lincoln cents and Buffalo nickels in pocket change. On rare occasions, I stumbled across a ruddy silver piece smoothed by a thousand fingertips -- a mute witness to decades of saving and spending.
   Now folks lament that the Golden Era of collecting has passed. The silver is gone. And, wheat-back cents are few. Nary a nickel dated prior to 1960 can be found. So, we gather together to sing nostalgic tunes while wondering if coin collecting will ever be the same.

This is Fun! Coins are Fun. Are you having Fun?
Or, have you lost the ability to appreciate a ruddy nickel?

   Slabs are everywhere. Mint products flood the marketplace. Circulating coins made of pot-metal offer little intrigue. But this is not why many collectors feel lost. Rather, they have been seduced by the Angel of Numismatic Correctness.
   Consequently, many collectors have allowed their brain to be white-washed into thinking that new and shiny is the only way to go. The best-selling coin books are filled with valuations. Coins are treated like stocks. So boring.
   Is this how you want to spend your leisure time up until the day you die?
   Once upon a time, a Buffalo nickel found in pocket change was reason enough to huddle together with friends. Everyone elbowed in to see and touch. An old coin looked old. It was exciting to imagine how it survived. The experience was so good that many of us (kids) spent our allowance on old coins. For me, this was a whopping $0.75! But, a cool Buff was only a quarter or less. A deal! 
   It was great fun to search for all the dates. Some nickels could be found, and some purchased. Some nickels just had the last digit showing -- but no matter, it was cool to be able to decipher it. The heavily worn pieces were interesting in their own right. Wear patterns, oxidation, odd nicks and scrapes -- these features added to the allure.
   Nowadays dealers label these coins as "junk" or (pejoratively) "collector coins." What does this clever phrase mean? Collector Coins. I guess it means junk.
   Too bad that many dealers have lost their soul. I see YNs, dressed in sharp suits and ties, sitting behind tables full of slabs at coin shows. They look serious, wielding fancy pens, spreadsheets neatly folded to the side, like stock brokers. A ruddy nickel never gets a look. Too bad. Instead, they obsess about full horns. Who cares about full horns?
   Did you know that some folks have paid big bucks (many allowances added together) for a 1926-S full-horned buffalo? Mushy strikes make the horn a coveted feature. Yet, rarely do you see regular folks elbowing in to inspect the horn. Such a beautiful coins reduced to a horn! Oxidation looks better.
   As for me, and the other necromancers, we want to explore old coins that look their age. These are the coins with stories. Collecting is most fun when we are driven by curiosity and imagination. Collector coins are full of intrigue.
   The way of the necromancer is to recapture this youthful exuberance. It is not about spreadsheets: gray, red, or otherwise. And, it is not about full horns.