949) Leisure Time (Hobbies): Tom Babinszky, a US based blind Coin Collector/Numismatist who has visited several countries and has collected several interesting coins from all over the world: (A Guest Post from Tom on how he goes about his hobby of collecting coins):
A brief introduction:
"Tom is a blind coin collector and numismatist. He was born blind in Hungary and started collecting coins at the age of six. After completing his university education, he moved to the United States where he lives with his family and works in the IT industry. He helps make information accessible for people with disabilities. He often travels the world for work or pleasure with his guide dog - Baldwin."
Tom has shared the following insights into how he has gone about his hobby of collecting coins:
People often ask me how I can collect coins if I can't see them. What I have no concept of is how you experience your coin collection when you can see it. For a long time, numismatics was for those with eye-sight. Fairly so, there is a lot to enjoy using vision about coins or currency. I personally don't know many coin collectors, let alone numismatists who are blind. It is almost unfair to say that such a hobby should be made available for all people, including those with visual impairment. But, it was, maybe more people would enjoy numismatics.
There is one thing though that would be important to consider. As life expectancy rises around the world, we will have more and more aging collectors and numismatists. This means, more and more people who now cannot enjoy their coin collection the same way because of the lack of perfect vision in later years.
Of course, this is much different from starting a collection without eye-sight, because I won't count on any vision and build a collection in a way I can enjoy it, but someone who has valuable coins in holders will not find it as interesting as I do find my circulation coins.
But more importantly, there is so much to enjoy about coins, without being able to see them.
I had to build my collection slightly differently than other collectors.
First of all, organisation is the key to the hobby. I need to maintain a perfect catalogue. There is no such thing as taking a coin out and putting it back later. Only one coin is handled at once and it goes back where it came from, where it belongs. Records are kept on my computer, which I use as a screen reader system. My records exactly indicate where I find a particular coin, which folder, which page, row and column.
I also don't have expensive coins. It is not numismatics where I seek investment ideas, and for the purpose of my personal collection, I don't get anything that would lose its value when touched. What I find pleasure in is holding a piece of history. But if this piece of history has fingerprints on it, the value will decrease. Therefore, I don't have anything where the visual appeal is perfect. After all I have no way to tell the difference between an MS60, and MS65 or MS70 coin. Maybe I can tell if a coin is a proof but I can tell that without it being MS70.
A coin is only one piece of a story, a small fraction of history. Even though it is this small fraction I am interested in, it does not make any sense without the context. The context itself is relatively easy to obtain without vision. More and more books are available electronically, today I can read thousands of books without having to leave my house. And if the book is not available, I can order it from the library, put is on a scanner and run it through character recognition, which can then be read by the same screen reader which helps me organise my catalogue. Of course, I have to miss out on the pictures, but I miss out on much more just by being blind. These days there is technology which allows to read handwriting, it is not perfect but soon, hopefully, I will be able to read old digitalised materials of archives and personal correspondences. Each year the possibilities are greater, what was unimaginable 20 years ago, a few years ago became hardly usable while today it is a matter of using everyday technology.
Coins can be interesting when using other senses. Hearing for example. When dropping a coin on the table it makes a distinct sound. Sometimes I can recognise a coin just by its sound, or at least tell two coins apart, know that it is made of, especially when it comes to aluminum or silver, or even distinguish bad fakes from the original. I started travelling as a child, and the first thing I noticed was that in each country people's wallets sounded different when they paid. I could early on distinguish the sound of a handful of coins from Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East and West Germany. I enjoy putting coins from a particular year together from a country and hear what the people heard when they used their money last year, or 200 years ago.
Other senses can be used, though given the sanitary considerations, I do not use smell and taste to differentiate between coins. But I heard that thre are people who can tell the metal of the coin by smelling it. Also, many years ago, people bit into coins to judge its authenticity.
There are so many things I cannot do as a numismatist. I cannot grade coins, I cannot appreciate varieties, I cannot enjoy beauty the same way. But I can either lament about it, or I can still find many things I care about which has enough resources for me to get an enjoyable experience. A few examples which I cannot enjoy without vision that interest me:
- The history of coinage in Hungary, Portugal and East Africa
- The life and contribution of Hungarian numismatists
- The history of how visually impaired people were able to use paper currency.
Just to name a few. But as for most collectors, interests are changing over the years, some stay, and others replace old ones.
But I left the most important thing to the end, which absolutely does not require eye-sight. The friendships I made over the years through swapping coins and talking about numismatics. I met some of my best friends through this hobby and I am constantly meeting interesting people through conversations online, or through my travels.
Certainly eyesight is very useful when thinking about numismatics. But I would like to encourage you to think about your coin collection, your numismatic interest, what are the ways you can appreciate your hobby when you close your eyes.
Blog Editor's Note:
Tom has written several interesting posts on his favourite subject "Numismatics", particularly with a focus on tactile/blind assist features deployed by various countries to help visually impaired users identify the denominations of coins and banknotes, which can be accessed in his blog titled "Blind Coin Collector" at the following link:
Coins can be interesting when using other senses. Hearing for example. When dropping a coin on the table it makes a distinct sound. Sometimes I can recognise a coin just by its sound, or at least tell two coins apart, know that it is made of, especially when it comes to aluminum or silver, or even distinguish bad fakes from the original. I started travelling as a child, and the first thing I noticed was that in each country people's wallets sounded different when they paid. I could early on distinguish the sound of a handful of coins from Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East and West Germany. I enjoy putting coins from a particular year together from a country and hear what the people heard when they used their money last year, or 200 years ago.
Other senses can be used, though given the sanitary considerations, I do not use smell and taste to differentiate between coins. But I heard that thre are people who can tell the metal of the coin by smelling it. Also, many years ago, people bit into coins to judge its authenticity.
There are so many things I cannot do as a numismatist. I cannot grade coins, I cannot appreciate varieties, I cannot enjoy beauty the same way. But I can either lament about it, or I can still find many things I care about which has enough resources for me to get an enjoyable experience. A few examples which I cannot enjoy without vision that interest me:
- The history of coinage in Hungary, Portugal and East Africa
- The life and contribution of Hungarian numismatists
- The history of how visually impaired people were able to use paper currency.
Just to name a few. But as for most collectors, interests are changing over the years, some stay, and others replace old ones.
But I left the most important thing to the end, which absolutely does not require eye-sight. The friendships I made over the years through swapping coins and talking about numismatics. I met some of my best friends through this hobby and I am constantly meeting interesting people through conversations online, or through my travels.
Certainly eyesight is very useful when thinking about numismatics. But I would like to encourage you to think about your coin collection, your numismatic interest, what are the ways you can appreciate your hobby when you close your eyes.
Blog Editor's Note:
Tom has written several interesting posts on his favourite subject "Numismatics", particularly with a focus on tactile/blind assist features deployed by various countries to help visually impaired users identify the denominations of coins and banknotes, which can be accessed in his blog titled "Blind Coin Collector" at the following link:
https://blindcoincollector.com
Tom has also recently started a page on Facebook where Numismatic Bloggers can become members and share their posts/experiences on one platform. This page can be accessed at the following link:
https://facebook.com/groups/numismaticbloggers
Tom has also recently started a page on Facebook where Numismatic Bloggers can become members and share their posts/experiences on one platform. This page can be accessed at the following link:
https://facebook.com/groups/numismaticbloggers
Links to other interesting posts from the US Mint/ Federal Reserve:
25) American Innovation $1 Coin Programme: The first coin in the Series - depicts the first patent signed by US President George Washington in 1790: Start of the series wef 14.12.2018
26) Leisure Time (Hobbies): Tom Babinszky, a US based blind Coin Collector who has visired several countries and has collected several interesting coins from all over the world: (A Guest Post from Tom on how he goes about his hobby of collecting coins):
26) Leisure Time (Hobbies): Tom Babinszky, a US based blind Coin Collector who has visired several countries and has collected several interesting coins from all over the world: (A Guest Post from Tom on how he goes about his hobby of collecting coins):
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