I'm glad I downloaded all of his videos since many of them are no longer up on YouTube. He also has done a neat introductory course on Roman coins at Massolit. https://www.massolit.io/courses/184
I can't speak to ancient coins in particular, because that's not my niche, but there are several really good coin podcasts. One is The Coin Show by CT members Mike Nottelmann (@mikenoodle) and the owner of CT sponsor Lost Dutchman Rare Coins, Matt Dinger. Then Charles Morgan has the Coinweek Podcast. Charles has a less "entertaining" vocal style than Mike and Matt, but his shtick is interviews. Both are on my subscription list. There are a few others, too.
Unless I am missing something here, the link to Massolit is Kevin Butcher giving a short ad for the lectures you can purchase bu subscribing to Massolit. This is, I fear, the major difference between amateurs and professionals. Professionals expect to be paid for their work whether or not their work is of a level above what is freely available. Much of what is available on ancient coins is professional supported by coin dealers with individual web sites providing both education and the opportunity to buy coins from them. This would include CNG Coins. Other material is ad supported. This would include Coin Talk. My web pages are free and have no ads except for mention of the fact that they exist on web space provided by Forvm Ancient Coins. What are you proposing here? Amateur can mean free as well as non-commercial. The material presented by amateurs on Coin Talk may or may not be better or worse than that of academics who can not be expected to know everything about every specialty of ancient coins. There is also the question whether PhD's in Classics are best suited to produce material on a Kindergarten level for the benefit of those who just discovered that there are actually coins older than they are. You may have sensed it but I am regularly troubled by those who sell repackaged free material unless they have added some value, perhaps editing, that makes that material more useful to the people paying for their product. Far too many books I see offered for sale fall in one of two categories. One is something I could have written; the other is something I am unable to comprehend. I believe that a video service of mid level material aimed at the target audience could be useful to the ancient coin community. This might even be almost as useful as would be those same people participating in Coin Talk itself where customized and interactive free education is a daily occurrence.
Just because something is free, does not mean it’s no good, and some amateurs are extremely knowledgeable. Matt is a professional numismatist and brings a lot of knowledge to our podcasts. I am a total amateur, however, and don’t lay claim to vast knowledge. The fact that we offer it free of charge (and always have) to anyone who wants to listen says nothing about the quality of the show or the content. To us it’s a labor of love in an effort to grow our hobby and help insure its future.
While they haven't done much with ancients, Mike and Matt have struck that rare and fine balance between useful information and entertainment. And lately, they've stopped stressing about technical perfection (such as re-doing every verbal flub) and created a much more "real" experience. For those who have never had the pleasure of arriving at a coin club meeting 45 minutes early just to "rap about" what's happening in coins, you really ought to give "The Coin Show" a listen. You'll become hooked, like I am. Matt, for example, is a world class expert on geography, who instantly knows in which state each and every ATB quarter honoree is located. *** Nope, not even I can sell a whooper that big. And I work for a legislature and "selling" lies is almost what they pay me to do. It actually IS what they pay the guy in the next office over to do. He has the law degree.
