Some folks regard me as a relic. And that's okay -- I've been around.
As a necromancer, I enjoy relics.
Some date/mint and variety collectors will "tolerate" a relic coin because it is the only option, but this is not the same thing as loving the unloved. They will unload the relic as soon as a better one becomes available.
But, some of us will treasure the relic coin above all else.
Worn or corroded surfaces tell it like it is. This is our only connection to the secret lives of our coins. Coins with surfaces smoothed by fingertips and corrugated by corrosion are exciting because they reflect life. They connect us with the past -- a past that was full of action.
There is an aesthetic here that is more common than you might think. Many folks have developed an eye for the relic. Some like to use the gentle word "patina" to describe what they love. Others, more boldly, just call it the "battered" look -- they like to say: "There is beauty in decay." Still others, like to put oldness at the forefront, as in the "primitive" look.
Consider the following: a crusty rush light, a tattered pie safe, a rusted C10 rat rod ... the old look is cool. It makes us feel a certain way -- only Dr. Freud can tell us why. But we know that the feeling is powerful and runs deep.
Why not crusty, tattered, and rusted coins?
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