Collecting coins a great source of happiness

When you live in Wisconsin and it is too often 20 below zero in the winter, you have to find something to brag about besides the weather.

I found it this morning thanks to the Daily Mail online.

Wisconsin is on the top 10 list of happiest states to live in.

Is that because so many of us are coin collectors?

I think so.

Finding an indoor occupation to keep your mind off the weather in January is a good guarantee of feeling satisfied.

I have lived in Iola, Wis., for 40 years.

Chet Krause christened this place the “Coin Collectors’ Capital,” and I used to be jealous of it when I was merely a subscriber to Coins Magazine.

My first-hand experience living here more than lived up to the sense of anticipation from my reading Coins Magazine starting in 1967, when I was a kid.

The whole state could claim dibs on being a special place for coin collectors. The local coin show schedule keeps many a hobbyist busy this time of year.

You won’t find coin collecting mentioned in the Dail Mail story.

But look at this Top 10 list: Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Texas, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Maine.

Some of the busiest numismatic events I have ever been at were in Salt Lake City.

Colorado Springs, home of the American Numismatic Association, is the capital of coin collecting if any municipality can lay claim to the title nowadays.

Wyoming next door has the active Colorado-Wyoming Numismatic Association.

Between being the home of Heritage and the Texas Numismatic Association, what’s not to like about the Texas coin hobby?

North Dakota might not come immediately to mind until you remember the Fargo coin show in January, which is incredibly active.

The Red River Coin Club Show and Sale is at the Ramada Inn Jan. 27 and 28. Go. It is wintertime numismatic fun.

Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin are the next three.

I have bragged already about Wisconsin. I lived as a kid in the other two states. I know they have coin shows.

I got my 1964 Kennedy half dollar on the first day of release from a bank in New Ulm, Minn., and the very first coin show I ever attended was in Forest City, Iowa.

New Hampshire is the home of Q. David Bowers. Need anything more be said?

Maine. What can I say about Maine? I have never been there.

I guess that will be one of my missions in 2018: Find the hidden source of numismatic happiness in the state. I know it is there.

Happiness is elusive, but coin collectors have a leg up on finding it.

Am I being fair to the other 40 states? Well, there is nothing in them that wouldn’t be improved by more coin collectors. That's why we run the Show Directory every week in Numismatic News and publish coin reference books.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017 . He is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."

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