Do you have a favorite quote? quip? bleat? Here's mine: "It is better to be a knowledgeable fish in a small pond than to dissipate your efforts in the numismatic ocean in an imprecise and unknown manner, spreading your 'investments' all over." John Kamin I first read that in 1979. Looking back now, I kind a wish I'd listened.
Three numismatic axioms to live by: Buy the book before the coin. Buy the best coin you can afford. Buy the coin, not the slab.
Ambition sigh'd: she found it vain to trust The faithless column, and the crumbling bust: Huge moles, whose shadow stretch'd from shore to shore, Their ruins perish'd, and their place no more! Convinced, she now contracts her vast design, And all her triumphs shrink into a coin. A narrow orb each crowded conquest keeps, Beneath her palm, here sad Judaea weeps. Now scantier limits the proud arch confine, And scarce are seen the prostrate Nile or Rhine; A small Euphrates through the piece is roll'd, And little eagles wave their wings in gold. - excerpt from "Occasioned by his Dialogue on Medals," Alexander Pope
Numismatic: "How much is this worth?" BULLion: "When (silver/gold) dips to $xx.xx I'll buy X amount." "If you seek a premium, then seek premium quality."
Just heard one today from a coin collector at a street corner as I was going to work "Gimmie a quarter!"
Here's my favorite, from 700 years ago - In the early 14th century the Abbot of Tournai, Gilles Li Muisis, made a rather astute comment. En monnoies est li cose moult obscure Elles vont haut et bas, se ne set-on que faire Quand on guide wagnier, on troeve le contraire. Translation - "Coins are the most obscure things. Their value rises and falls, and one does not know what to do. When one thinks that he has gained, he finds the contrary - that he has lost".
Don't refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase - that's what wild geese are for. (unknown) I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. ~Pablo Picasso Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first. ~Frederick B. Wilcox
It's a German motto: Wer den Pfennig nicht ehrt, des Talers ist nicht wert! Translation: Who not honor the penny, is not worthy of of the thaler! petronius
That is absolutely beautiful! And for those who don't know what moles are, they are piers or other long structures built into water (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_(architecture)). So the poem is saying that anything that society builds gets destroyed eventually, but coinage can last forever, and hold history for the future.
BUY A BOOK and READ and BE KNOWLEDGEABLE ONE in NUMISMATIST WORLD! BE SMARTER THAN ANYBODY AND NEVER EVER TRUST the TPG YOUR VERY SENTIMENTAL OR ANY VALUABLE COINS OF YOURs to Ship for Grading or authentication. It is better to keep your valuable ungraded coin rather than lose it or replace by another coin. My 1995 Penny On Dime survived without shipping it to any other place for authentication or to any coins magazines or auction house because I do not ship it to them. I only sharing my real experienced how to become smarter againts those trying to take advantage of your valuable possesion.
Thank you for the explanation. To me this is a mole And one who's shadow stretched from shore to shore would have to be pretty big.
Don't know if it's a specific quote, by along the lines of: Buy what makes you happy, and not what others tell you to buy.