What is your collection aim for 2019? Do you sit back and evaluate where you are at the moment and plan out your next moves short term or long term? Or do you choose to react as deals/interesting coins come available? .. do you have a plan? If so what is it? I have only been collecting for under a year .. so I have had a scatter gun approach so far (to say the least). I would like to focus a bit more. Looking to see what more experienced collectors have in mind.. All responses are appreciated!! Adding a really green coin!
Never have a plan. I have a want list that I keep an eye out for the right example at a good price. It always comes down to budget. Sometimes I'll be looking on the web or at an auction and see something that speaks to me and buy or bid on it. This year was a year that I found such a coin from my want list and I could hardly find a better one at the price. KINGS of MACEDON. Alexander III ‘the Great’. 336-323 BC. AR Drachm (15.5mm, 4.32 g, 1h). Lampsakos mint. Struck under Kalas or Demarchos, circa 328/5-323 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; in left field, Artemis Phosphoros standing facing, holding two torches; Δ below throne. Price 1354; ADM II Series V. Near EF And I am currently bidding and hopeful on another coin on my want list. I also just purchased another want list coin from a fellow CT member.
I have to add, it took me a while to find a focus I think its the same for all of us. I am still somewhat all over the place but I have many interests, so for me its hard to focus on just 1 or 2 areas. Find what area/s you like the most and concentrate on that and see were your collection takes you. You will learn more as you go, its all about how you enjoy the hobby and your collection thats all that matters.
Wonderful coin Smojo - it's great!!!.... so it seems you do have a list.. so a plan? Do you update the list regularly or is it just a general guide you use? EDIT - Sorry - just saw your second reply... but still want to know more about your list - haha
I have a number of plans and I hope i can stick to them but I am always mindful of one of the sayings of the elder Moltke Chief of the German General Staff in the late 19th century He said " No plan survives first contact with the enemy".
Some things on my want list I may never have because of those I don't want just any example I want "the" example, such as the Corinth stater and Athena owl either of those can run near and over $1,000. But some realistic wants like Ptolemy hockey puck, several Trajan denari and As on my list, a Gordie III Pax reverse was on my list until earlier today again on that one I didnt want just any and I knew who had one that fit my needs. (Thanks my friend). I could go on and on really. But as you can see just by few listed I have like 4-6 areas of interest.
I've been collecting bronze coins of Constantine the Great for many years, but I'm beginning to lose interest in him. I just haven't come up with a new collecting focus yet. Hopefully I'll figure something out for the new year. Maybe Greek bronzes? It's just that the area is so huge; I need to pin it down a little bit, either by time or location.
I always have a list of coins I'd like to have but in practice I just buy interesting coins which are available. My only real "plan" is to continue adding interesting Provincials... and whatever else is appealing at any given moment in time, budget allowing .
To systematically collect Flavian silver and representatively collect Flavian bronze. And finally catch up on my numismatic reading list!
Probably 50% planning, 50% discovering coins I did not know I wanted until I did. Areas of interest: Constantine the Great. (Next up: Captives with trophy?) Severan denarii: I still feel these are relatively underpriced in the market. Maybe that's silly. The market is what it is. But my point is that you can still find VF-EF examples from $20-50 if you're patient, as AMCC 1 demonstrated. I'd like to get a coin of every major Severan player. Finish / upgrade my Twelve Caesars set. I'm an Otho away from completion, but a few coins could be upgraded. Trying to get it in middle imperial bronze for all possible emperors (so no Otho, really). Roman Judaean procurators: Pontius Pilate up next.
I'm a magpie collector and simply browse auction catalogs and go "Ooooh! I'm going to bid on that! "Ooooh, Look at that! I'm going to bid on that!" No plans!
My 12 Caesars is just about where I want it. I will of course be open to upgrades, but I am happy with the collection of 2 sets as they are. I would like to add a few more coins to my other pursuits: Coins of people dramatized by Shakespeare and the family of Eleanor of Aquitaine. In addition I will always be open to adding interesting coins that tell stories. I am primarily interested in the coins for their history.
Anything I like that comes to my attention within budget constraints. In other words, just about anything that comes along.
Not a person, really, but whenever I teach THE TEMPEST I show this "doit" from the time of Shakespeare. In 2.2., when Stephano and Trinculo find Caliban, one says of Englishmen “…when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian…”
2018 is going to be hard to top, and to be honest, it would be fiscally irresponsible for me to even try. So, I guess my collecting goal for 2019 ought to be to try to buy as few coins as possible, and to make each one count. I am working on my second Twelve Caesars set, though, and wouldn't mind finishing it next year, though whether or not I manage to is going to come down to luck more than anything else. It's presently still full of holes...
Neat coin @Gavin Richardson I need to find one of those. The doit is mentioned in the book "Coins in Shakespeare" by J Eric Engstrom. In it he gives several quotes including the one you used which use the word "doit". He also mentions that it has come to mean something of little value. He also mentions that this usage is similar to 'sou' in the states where "not worth a sou" was at one time a common expression. Thanks for posting this interesting coin.
They're fairly inexpensive. Maybe $20? A good show and tell piece for a Shakespeare class or any enthusiast.
I rarely ever set any goals in coin collecting. I just buy what I like and continue to hunt for potential bargains. I have a couple of medieval coins high on my want list, but for ancients, whatever grabs me.