December 13, 2015

Silver Eagles: Not for the Necromancer

Coin World reported this week that sales of Silver Eagles reached 44.85 million in 2015! Previous sales records were broken. Just like Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, and so on.
   Wow! Can you hear the trumpets blasting?
Woo Hoo! A silver eagle from Santa! Now what?
   What does the necromancer coin collector make of this? Not much. These pieces may be beautiful (even that is debatable), but they have no story to tell. They are just stamped bullion with a recycled design. I don't think Ms. Liberty looks any better than when she first walked across the face of the half-dollar in 1916. In fact, the original design is better. And the eagle? UGH. What do you think?
   You might be surprised to learn that I have a few of these "sad" coins. I get one every year as a Christmas present from the local coin club. We all get one. Yet, I never know what to do with them. I have re-gifted a few pieces. I considered carrying one around in my pocket (but why do that when I can carry the real thing in the form of the aforementioned half-dollar). Maybe I should have sent them off to be graded: If one came back as MS70, then I could have boasted about my numismatic heroism.
   Of course, I could jump on the bandwagon and get a bunch of them -- a mega-box, or whatever -- and place the cache in my underground bunker that I am building in the backyard. When the globe melts or when the bombs start falling, I can buy bread with silver.
   No, I won't do that. I would rather die holding something that actually has a history worth musing about -- a coin filled with spirits. Something that I have transformed into a collectible piece by my own eye. This is the magic of collecting -- namely the transformation of something useful into something symbolic and personal.
   My humble advice is this. Go out and find some really cool coins that have been softened by a thousand fingertips and glazed with the grit of humanity; then, give them to your friends. Oh, and keep one for yourself.
   This is the way of the necromancer.

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