"Sherman, set the Wayback Machine...."

[mmarotta]

If you went back 100 years ago, you would risk typhoid fever, horse apples in all the streets, and people who bathed only on Saturday night, but you could get a 1907 Saint and a 1909-S VDB.

 

So, given the risks... where would you go... and why...

 

And think, too, of living in the times and places. If you could go back, think of what you could take. Imagine spending Mercury Dimes and Walkers in Rome. "I come from a land beyond the western sea..." and the legends would be almost perfectable legible: E PLURIBUS UNUM... LIBERTY... UNITED STATES OF AMERICA...

 

Say you could take back 10kg and bring forward 10kg. What would be your choice for time and place?

[hiho]

I work in NYC and risk horse apples in the streets, people who bathe only on Saturday night plus bedbugs, drug addicts and subway crazies everyday. And overweight tourists who walk five abreast on the sidewalk near Rockefeller Center when I am late for work.

 

I would like to go to the 1915 Panama Pacific Expo in San Francisco and stock up on $1, $2.50 and $50 gold commemoratives, some of the most beautiful coins ever minted in my opinion.

 

Or Rome. Or Amsterdam. Maybe Venice, Vienna or Geneva. I have been to most of Europe but would love to have been there at the turn of the century.

 

Especially Rome...

[ScottO]

place and time? 1858-71 losts of lovely valvualble coins in this area, especially 1859 69 and 71 the UK of course

[Saor Alba]

When I was growing up my grandmother would often say that the "good old days" were really not that good, in fact they were bad. So with that as a basis I think I will stay in the current time and collect coins from the past.

[mmarotta]

When I was growing up my grandmother would often say that the "good old days" were really not that good, in fact they were bad. So with that as a basis I think I will stay in the current time and collect coins from the past.

 

Agreed, and on the same grounds, though this was just a vacation, not an immigration.

 

How about the other direction? There was a classic Twilight Zone about bank robbers who heisted gold bars, stored them, and put themselves into suspended animation. They came out in 2000 or so, bubble top cars and all that, died (of course) and the woman turns to the man and asks why anyone would cart all that gold around and he says that it used to be valuable before they figured out transmutation.

 

Anyway... what would you take forward, say 100 years to 2110? Do you think that any modern coins will have extraordinary value? Personally, I do not. In fact, on a speculation, I would print out all of CoinPeople, and bind it, because I am not sure that electronic media is stable enough and 100 years from now, people might pay a pretty penny solar to have an old archive.

[nicholasz219]

Agreed, and on the same grounds, though this was just a vacation, not an immigration.

 

How about the other direction? There was a classic Twilight Zone about bank robbers who heisted gold bars, stored them, and put themselves into suspended animation. They came out in 2000 or so, bubble top cars and all that, died (of course) and the woman turns to the man and asks why anyone would cart all that gold around and he says that it used to be valuable before they figured out transmutation.

 

Anyway... what would you take forward, say 100 years to 2110? Do you think that any modern coins will have extraordinary value? Personally, I do not. In fact, on a speculation, I would print out all of CoinPeople, and bind it, because I am not sure that electronic media is stable enough and 100 years from now, people might pay a pretty penny solar to have an old archive.

 

 

Yes, I would love to travel to Russia during the reigns of each Emperor. Also to Rome and even back to the American Revolution and Ancient Egypt and Greece.

 

The problem is, if you are going to show off as magic and bring items from a far away land, then you better be able to do some real magic when they burn your witch butt at the stake.

 

The other issue is that if you go back and load up on rarities, it pretty much can change their relative worth by making so many more coins available when you return.

 

Fun idea, yes, but I'll tell you after driving around some of the more backward parts of the country: people don't like strangers, no matter what they say, and I would hate to be trapped in some gulag or being burned to death. I'll stay in Chicago, methinks.

[UncleBobo]

I probably wouldn't survive it, but I'd love to see the big bang.

[ikaros]

Never pose a question like this to a Doctor Who fan.

 

I got too many stops on my itinerary to list 'em!

[tommyd]

San Francisco, beginning of August, 1909...

[just carl]

When I was growing up my grandmother would often say that the "good old days" were really not that good, in fact they were bad. So with that as a basis I think I will stay in the current time and collect coins from the past.

I've seen this type of story many, many times. Even a visit back then could prove to be a disaster. Many Diseaces were present everywhere and you could pick up something and bring it back with you. Back then a simple Hurnia, Tonsilitis, etc. was your end. Yes the good old days were lousy. I'm not that old but when I was a kid there was this thing called WW2 going on and things were really bad. Growing up I saw many friends die of things that today are almost like the common cold. Crime was everywhere.

And too think of how you would get money to spend of that time, clothing of that time, shots and medicine to protect yourself from everything.

To chance all that again for a few dollars is just not something I'd ever want to go through again.

[thedeadpoint]

Primarily for the coinage: 1860's and 1870's in America. The proofs, the patterns, the Barbers, the Morgans, the copper, silver, and gold, the bills, the sizes, the denominations, the mints, the availability AND rarities.

 

For the coinage and living: 1900s in America. Gorgeous coins. Great notes. An exciting time to be an American with a great president. America was rising to power as the Bismarckian Germany started rumbling. Science and baseball were having great ages. Plenty of land to explore but livable cities to wander.