My 3 new Ancients - opinions and info wanted!

I realize that you are kidding but still feel the need to defend my ancient buddies .

One of the best things about ancient coin collecting is the type of person it attracts. I agree with C-B-D. We all seem much more collegial than the modern collectors, perhaps because we don't have to look for trivial microscopic details to claim our coins are special nor do we quibble over MS69 vs. MS70. Someone with a monthly coin budget of $20 can still find, buy, and brag about owning a truly rare coin .

 

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Here is a fact you may not like. In every specialty there are those who love the coins and those who love the money they can make from them. Here, we have a preponderance of people who would collect these things even if they knew that they could never sell them even for what we paid. We enjoy the company of people like ourselves. This troll keeps telling himself that he will start ignoring any question about what a coin is worth but I still hate seeing beginners taken to the cleaners by dealers who charge $50 for $5 junkers. We gather coins to be sure but we also gather tidbits of information that some of us find at least as valuable as the coins themselves. Those who visit here only wanting to have their coins appraised don't stay long and leave convinced that we are all fools unwilling to answer their Red Book questions. I hope all new people will stay and learn enough to be accused of being pedantic trolls of the worst variety. It is more fun to know than not to know and more fun to share that knowledge than to sweep it under a rock.

 

If you had paid $77 that would have been a rip off. You got them for $35 and some think that $27 was nearer the mark. The difference isn't going to break the bank.

If you are attracted to the later coinage, I can thoroughly recommend the following book: "Late Roman Bronze Coinage an attribution guide for poorly preserved coins" written by the late Guido Bruck and translated by Alisdair Menzies. There is a thread on the forum somewhere. Use it and you will rack up your experience points in no time at all.

 

I like this fact.

 

Then you will fit in here just fine.

 

are you kidding me??? ... $35 for those three ancient coins?!! ...

=> c'mon man => you fricken nailed it, brother!!

Gawd => one large pizza vs. three good-enough ancient coins (take your pick)

 

It doesn't matter where you go, you will find people that annoy you. Ones that are messing with you to get a emotional reaction (trolls) and those that think they know everything. Just gotta deal with it and remember it is for your own personal fun and it doesn't belong to anyone else but you.

 

Are you referring to Brother Steve? (Only jokes brother. You know I love ya)

 

Haha, well, Bing. That's another story altogether. lol

I was actually referring to C-B-D and his encounter with trolls in some other forums.

 

Actually when you don't know much of anything (like me when it comes to ancients), you DO want people who know it all. The constant butting of heads on other forums happens because everyone is convinced that they already know it all, and have nothing to learn from others. That's why I've found this forum so refreshing!

 

Glad you are enjoying it here so far. It takes a long time to learn ancient coins. I've been collecting for 3 1/2 years and I have a long ways to go. I don't mind because I can consider it one of those lifetime hobbies.

 

Lots of good points here. Yes, I would say technically those coins would not bring $35 to ancient coin collectors. However, Steve makes a great point that it is not a lot of money either way, and now you own some ancient coins. All of us overpay some when we start out, it's kind of like tuition.

As for the other points I also agree. Most of us collect pieces of metal to facilitate our desire for learning. Most here really do not care that much about value or price appreciation or tiny little detail differences or very slight grade differences. We truly love the coins for what they ARE, not for what we can make off of them. So yeah, we are the oddballs in many ways in the global coin collecting hobby, and we like it that way.

 

I've seen more than a few dealers that would try to sell those coins for about $10-$15 each. Even though we here can get better ones, maybe even cheaper. I'd say $35 is about right on average, barring any exceptional haggling, getting lucky at an auction, etc.

I love most of my coins as well. I have no desire to sell them in the future nor treating the coins for investment purposes. I've also spent a reasonable amount of money within a few years. Closing in on $3000 for my collection and I think it's worth every cent.

I've heard Doug say that it all averages out. You overpay for some coins and get others for cheap. I think it's true. I've calculated the average and the average price I've paid per coin is a little over $15.

 

Lol, my wife wishes my collection total price was around $3000.

Eh, I don't drink, don't smoke, have no other hobbies and make a decent living. I think there are worst ways I could be spending my money.

Edit: I think this post came across wrong. How much money spends in ancients is meaningless. What matters is the pursuit of knowledge and comraderie here. I spend more than some, less than others, but was not trying to say it had anything to do with the hobby, only my wife's complaints, lol.

 

I think if I got a wife, she wouldn't complain much about me spending money for coins. lol

I smoke but I don't spend much, maybe $30 tops a month. I don't normally drink so there is no money spent on that.

 

You mean, "I don't smoke and I don't chew. I don't go out with girls that do?"

 

I've actually ran into a few women that chew tobacco. lol

 

I think it's important to me how much I've spent. I keep rather meticulous records of most of my coins as best as I can. I don't think it's totally meaningless because it can tell people how much you can spend on ancient coins. I told a few people that don't collect how much I spend on coins. More than a few were unaware that ancient coins are actually affordable for nearly anyone.

Yes, knowledge, history, camaraderie amongst us is one of the most important things, I agree with that.

 

I'm mostly an exonumia collector (not sure how many ancients it takes before I'm one of those too) and all the same things: knowledge, history, camaraderie are present in those threads. A collector can even buy some very rare pieces for small amounts of money. I have some tokens where only 500 were made and all were intended for destruction. I have tokens from Air Force bases that only existed for a few years and nothing remains or in some cases a solitary radar tower.

 

Eggs-ackley!! You did good brother!! Doug nailed it...some of us be coin lovers and not speculators!

Coins will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no coins!