This conversation actually happened

Yesterday, my 22-year-old nephew stopped by, and during our chat I brought out two recent purchases I have yet to put in my album - a Ptolemy "Alexander Elephant-Headdress" tetradrachm, and a Philip II of Macedon tetradrachm. The following was our conversation.

Him: So, these look like real coins.
Me: They are.
Him: I'm not getting it. Why not just buy crypto or an NFT?
Me: Because those aren't actual coins.
Him: But why would you buy an actual coin? Crypto is so much better.
Me: Because crypto isn't an artifact with 2,300 years of history.
Him: So, they're not an investment. You just like looking at them?
Me: Yes.
Him: Seems weird, but whatever...

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Well there’s one family member who deserves a * in the final will.....

One can only hope that the «the only thing that matters is ME right NOW»-generation gets some perspectives and education with time.

 

Because in 2300 years nobody will care less about cryptos but this will always be a piece of history

 

...The scary part is that historical literacy isn't unrelated to literacy in civics. And, generationally, they have a way of tanking at the same time.
...The 'perfect storm' is when people vote in ways which are 'informed' --well, 'animated' is a better word-- by grievously distorted views of history.

 

Yeah, they stopped teaching ancient history a long time ago. They have less interest or ties to it. They always taught it poorly, but at least I was exposed to the cultures and names.

 

I think we should remember that most of us "older" members passed through the computer revolution years ('70-90s) and understand and expect more may go wrong than goes right. Recent edition of young people developed in the "Cellphone,Facebook , and Youtube" version where everything electronic works correctly and all goes correctly. Its a different thought process of " What could possibly go wrong". Jim

 

It's a shame, isn't it? The culture isn't directed towards the greatness of humanity. Now teens aspire for... fleshly pleasures. Unfortunate.

others in my family are nice. My uncle recently became a video game action figure painter. By hand. His new hobby, I guess it's basically like gundam but rare. Idk. Either way, it's not for me but I really love the enthusiasm he has.

My younger brother has rejected my coin lessons. He says it's stupid and other things. He has no comparable passion, so in my mind I'm the winner here.

Elementary and middle school - my coins were the coolest thing at the class gatherings, the parents thought it was amazing. High school, it made me a joke.

 

I recently came to think of how hard liqueur was used in the 19th century, when parents would give their children a cup of watered down moonshine for breakfast, so that they would feel less hungry.
My generation has repeated this, just with another form of hunger; attention. Instead of moonshine we used another form of dope: The cell phone/tablet.

The short comings of this generation of young adults, reflect our errors and self-serving parenting practices, I’m afraid. I’m glad this 22-year old had an uncle who could show him something old and different.

 

Very well put, @medoraman. Where there used to be junk, with the occasional glimmer of fact peeping through underneath it, now there's a mere vacuum.

 

I wonder if he collected Pokémon cards. Every generation has its preferred collectibles.

- Broucheion

 

In 2300 years, that coin will potentially be around still. Filled with history. Crypto will be gone into the ether.
I would love to own either of the coins you presented your nephew!
That being said, I dipped my toe into crypto today...I bought bitcoin and dogecoin. A whopping $5 total

 

Yes, @svessien, you nailed it. I get nervous about assigning wholesale blame to the younger generation, without any acknowledgement of what the older one did to put them where they are. ...It's worth emphasizing that in some parts of the world, the erosion of historical literacy has been going on for A Long Time.

 

The thing is, most of us here never collected when younger. I collected while young, took a little break for cars/girls, then came back. most collectors start 30+.

 

Ask people in Turkey about that these days.

- Broucheion

 

Hi @furryfrog02,

I think you bought a representation of a Bitcoin (a token). As of right now, 1 Bitcoin = 55,012.70 United States Dollars. If you got $5 worth of a Bitcoin you have 0.0091 Bitcoin.

- Broucheion

 

All I got to say is

 

In fairness to my nephew, he's only 22 and he makes about $500k a year trading sneakers, so he's not an idiot. He's just so wrapped up in the whole crypto craze (where he hasn't made money), that it's inconceivable to him to own an actual coin.

Also, to be fair, although I love my ancient coins, they're probably not the best of investments. I'm sure they'll go up in value over the years, but many other things will go up more. So, my nephew may have been correct in stating that crypto is a better investment than ancients, even though the latter exists and the former doesn't. For me, though, the history more than makes up for it.

Lastly, I do invest my money, just not in ancients and not in crypto.

 

I bought $2 worth of bitcoin via Robinhood (0.00003628 as of right now) and then the rest in dogecoin.
I was just messing around with it to see what it does. I don't have the money needed to actually make money on this stuff

 

I know the feeling.

My sister is convinced that all my ancients are fakes. Convinced isn't the right word; she knows. She feels no need to justify her claim, she just knows. And even if they would be real, they'd be a waste of time and money.

It's a recurring theme. Last time we had this conversation, (pre-covid), we were standing next to her cabinet with an (inherited) collection of Roman glass and Etruscan pottery. Needless to say, those were all real. And precious, of course...
Funny person, my sister...A bit competitive perhaps, but funny.