Two Ancient coin collectors in their element

OK, so this picture post is mostly off-topic, but there are plenty of ancient coins in the picture.

This was taken in @Aethelred's library on Halloween- note the Halloween cupcakes in the silver bowl in the foreground. The cupcakes were brought by friend Terry (aka "Asheland" on Collectors Universe), and the bowl has a story of its own. I sold it to Terry, who collects silver in non-coin form.

Terry was the photographer here, so he did not make it into the picture. Also not seen is Greg C (aka "savoyspecial" on CU). Michael @Aethelred is in the red shirt at left. That's me in the blue shirt on the right, looking a wee bit older and fatter than in my circa-2004 avatar picture.

Michael's ancient coin collection is open in front of him. He keeps his sets in nicely customized Dansco albums with pocket pages. My "Eclectic Box of 20" lives in the aluminum box you see open between us. It's obvious that Michael is examining one of my coins, since the coin he's peering at through his loupe is in a plastic slab.

It was a fun gathering, albeit small, and I just thought y'all might enjoy the picture, is all.




Edit to add: it is rare that I like a picture that includes me in it. But I think this one has a Norman-Rockwellian quality to it.

 

I think he's looking at my Brocchus denarius in the picture above:



When the picture in the OP was snapped, I had just finished "visiting" one of my coins which he had wrested from my grasp the previous year. It is a huge posthumous Alexander the Great tetradrachm, which I affectionately called "Big Al". Michael says Big Al is happy in his collection and will not be leaving North Carolina to return to Georgia. Oh, well.

 

Believe me, that's only because I used to live in Michael's NC town 22 years ago, and met him then. Otherwise, I've spent all my years before and since in numismatic solitary consignment, like you. I only get up to NC once a year, so when we do the yearly Darkside Gathering, it's a big deal for me. I haven't attended a show in 10 years. Might have to do that again one day.

Otherwise, it's just y'all... my online peeps. Without the Internet, I'd be totally isolated. There hasn't been a brick-and-mortar coin dealer in my town in over a decade, and those were small when we had them. One was an antique dealer who was a nice enough guy but only dabbled in (overpriced, low grade) coins, and the other had some coin cases in his TV repair shop.

For a little while, I was the only dealer here in town. I briefly had a coin booth in the local antique mall but decided I'd rather be a collector than even a smalltime dealer.

 

They WERE pretty daggum good cupcakes, now that you mention it. I wish there was one in front of me right now. Might help me forget my nicotine withdrawal. (I'm in Day 3 now... hangin' on...)

 

They are, even though I only get to attend them once a year now.

Back when I met @Aethelred, we were both working in a blue-collar warehouse environment. In that decidedly redneck setting, meeting somebody else who was into medieval English coins (as we both were at the time) was a trip. We used to chat our lunch breaks away, and there was this foreman guy named Ray who did not like either of us very much. He always came to rain on our parade and make us go back to work. Quite the buzzkill, ol' Ray was.