A Few Thoughts On This Forum

Same for me, Mat.

Some folks posted some coins here a while back, and they so wet my appetite that I know think I 'have' to have them!...

I won't say what they are...but they ain't bronzes. Ain't saying no mo'...

 

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I admit to not having the Krause World Coin books, so i'm sure I miss out on many appealing coins. So when I see one posted on here or some other sites and I liked it and it's affordable, I will gobble one up.

Same is true for ancients. Just the real nice ones, like the more obscure gods & animals can get expensive quick.

 

I will try to keep this short, but I will probably fail.

I too wish to register my appreciation for this site–its designer(s) and the persons who populate it.

I bought my first ancient on October 3, 2003. I collected pretty actively for about four years and then experienced a fallow period. Other matters demanded my time, attention, and money, and I would only buy maybe 2-3 coins a year. In late 2016 my interest in ancients was rekindled, and I’ve been actively collecting since that time. This Cointalk board has been an important part of that renewed interest.

In my early days of collecting, I participated in another board, and I will always be grateful for that resource and community. But I felt that the other board was for real experts, so I’d rarely post. And while the Cointalk system of “Likes” can skew the focus, the absence of such a system on the other board meant that one really had no idea if one’s post was of any interest, unless it happened to prompt a long thread.

I find Cointalk’s mixture of novice, intermediate, and experienced collectors to be much more inviting and invigorating. The “Likes” system and the ease of uploading photos makes this a very user-friendly board. Kudos to the tech designers.

After participating on this board for not quite 6 months, here are my three (admittedly impressionistic) main takeaways, besides a general appreciation for Cointalk and its members:

1. I had no idea how popular Roman Republican coins were. In my early years of collecting, RR coins were a kind of marginalized curiosity. Roman coinage, for me, began with the emperors. Perhaps it’s the influence of Greek collecting on this board, but I was surprised to see how vigorous the RR collecting was on this site, and I’ve learned to appreciate this aspect of Roman coinage that I had hitherto neglected.

2. I am now more inspired to privilege quality over quantity. I’m afraid this board has ruined me for ugly coins. Actually, I’m sure that’s a bit of an overstatement. I am a man of limited resources, so sometimes I have to opt for a desired coin in lower grades. But in general, I’m passing now on coins I would have pulled the trigger on earlier in order to have a coin in a better grade. This probably means I will collect fewer coins, but I’m ok with that. I go back to something I saw Doug Smith write. I paraphrase: “If you’re no longer interested in ancient coins in 10 years, will you have a coin that you can resell well? And if you are still interested in ancient coins in 10 years, will you be particularly pleased to have this coin in your collection?” Both scenarios argue for buying the best looking coin you can afford.

3. It's clear to me that I need to become more conversant with the auction world beyond eBay. I still have yet to enter that world, but it seems the next logical step for one who aspires to be a serious collector, even with limited resources.

Those are just three of many, many lessons learned in just a few months of reading Cointalk threads.

 

Good stuff!

 

Thanks so much, Aethelred!

Erin

 

great forum indeed great people, iff i make a topic
i dont drink anymore

 

Well I can only reiterate what everyone else has said, this is a comfortable place to be unlike some forums I have frequented.
I empathise with Gavin. I managed to pick up a copy of Michael Harlan's book on Republican Moneyers a couple of weeks ago and that opened my eyes to a whole new facet that I had never considered because my knowledge was limited to the schoolboy "big names" only. Then cross referencing through previous posts has given me plenty of food for thought, always supported by the generosity of folks here.
This is also a well engineered site and even I am beginning to navigate with ease, all credit to the founders.
Omnes homines ad primam fidem
No I'm no Latin Scholar that was Google translate and I hope I'm not insulting anyone!

 

I will keep it short, this forum is just the best
There is no-one near me that is interested in coins, I have made many friends here and I value the advice, humour and general cameradorie.

 

Same here. There is no one I know in my general area that collects coins, let alone ancient coins, or anyone that will have any genuine interest if I show them my coins+latest acquisitions, so CT is all I got (well, this and two other forums, but 99% of my coin socialization activity is here on CT). And even though it might come off as boring sometimes, I also enjoy sharing the knowledge and history I've learned from studying my coins. A big thanks CT Ancients!

Strangest photo I've seen all week!

 

Can we all move away from the "Like" feature?

It really means nothing. I might "Like" a post or a thread or a coin but I use it so superficially it should not matter for anything outside of understanding that I like what was posted.

 

Sometimes I will hit "like" and other times I won't out of laziness, even if I do happen to enjoy the post. And on top of that, sometimes I find it hard to keep track of new threads and posts, so I might miss some and end up not hiting "like" on those. Basically, I wouldn't miss this feature if it was gone.

 

"Likes" are so all over the place it makes no sense why a collector would use them for anything at all.

 

Another design feature that I like is being able to go to the first new post on a long thread that I've read most of.

 

I like the idea of likes because it enables us to express approval without bringing a thread to the top of the heap. It seems better than making a post that says, "I agree" or "Thank you for posting". What I don't like is the idea that likes should be counted and merit assigned based on how many you got. I would be happy to have a feature that I could hit on a post that was called +1 which also would avoid bumping the post. I know I am in the minority when I say I would prefer a way that meaningless and off topic posts would not reset a thread to the top. I'm as guilty as anyone in telling you what I had for supper or what I was thinking about instead of the topic of that thread but it seems some threads go on forever after no one remembers what they were about.

 

Yes! This is the value of likes.

 

This forum is one of the best homes for ancient coinage and one of the best forums overall in which I've participated. Kudos to the administrators for helping it thrive!

 

I think in a sense we are all a bit on the misfit side, Erin. I haven't spoken with you much but from what I read in your posts, you seem kind and smart. Most people in here probably fit into those categories pretty neatly. I think collectors in general have an overwhelming curiosity and desire to preserve things that strike their fancy in a way that allows them (me included) to be connected. Make sense of the world. Something like that. So what I am driving at is that I think all of us folks involved in numismatics are a little different than folks who do not collect anything on a few levels, so you should feel amongst your peers here in a good way. Like I tell my 13 year old daughter all of the time, "People you are stuck with can really suck. People who you choose to hang around can be the most wonderful thing on Earth." I appreciate my friends here and CU very much for that reason. It's a safe place like ValiantKnight said.