Ancients: Talk at coin club

I have been asked to give a 15 minute illustrated talk on ancients to a local coin club followed by a question session limited to another 15 minutes. Chances are good no member will be a collector and half present might not know there are ancient coins. Remembering I am the guy who can talk for 15 minutes about almost any coin in my collection, I need to decide what to show/say and what to hope they don't ask. So far I have nine slides, each showing a different group of ancients:
Greek
Roman
Provincials
Byzantine
Others
Popular Coins (Owl, Tribute Penny, Widow's Mite etc.)
Low Priced Coins
Technical collecting (errors, cuts, cm's etc.)
Fakes

I am unsure whether I want to show a slide of coins too new to be ancient but still not machine made or let that go due to time. I could also show a slide with books and discuss for 30 seconds how to learn about coins.

Ideas appreciated. Remember the 15 minutes part.

 

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I suggest that you take a similar approach as this video does. Get them in touch with some history that relates to coins and go on from there but don't let it get too complex unless they want to know.

 

I would first mention names almost anyone has heard of: Ancient Greece, Athens, Alexander the Great, Christ, Julius Caesar, Nero, the Roman empire, (maybe more) and show a timeline with those on it and say there were lots of coins made then that are still available in large numbers. Then I would show coins and say "You can own example of these. They are really old, but very collectable." After showing lots of interesting coins, I would mention vcoins.com and eBay, to show they they really are available. Then give a few links to your site and other beginners sites and a link to this forum.
The key for beginners is to say
they exist
in large numbers
are collectable
and the web has lot of info about them
and lots of places to buy them
and forums like this one to help beginners.

 

that should be fun DS, I bet it will be a hit.

maybe an intro slide with...

• what is an "ancient coin" exactly? cut off date/medieval gray area (maybe work in with to new for ancient but not modern manufactured idea).

fellow coin geeks may dig a grading ancients slide?

valentinians "big name" coins are a good idea, I'd work plenty of them in your example slides.

please post your presentation so we can see it!

 

First advice i would give is limit yourself. If you want to take the listeners away, you don't flush them away. In my professional life the standard is one slide per minute, no more.

 

The ideas presented are good, but I would reiterate what THC said. Don't kill them with a "death by powerpoint". It does sound like fun, and I would love to be there to watch.

 

Great suggestions by all so far. I would remember who your audience is. Probably not a lot of ancient experts. Tailor your brief accordingly.

I would hit them with the points that got me into ancient collecting:

--The history aspect, name famous historical figures depicted on ancient coins; Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar etc and how the coins are a window into the past, emphasize imagining who held the very coin you now have in hand over 1500 years ago. What was their life like?

--Affordability; many people automatically assume since the coins are so old, that they must be worth a fortune. When the reality is that many good quality Late Roman Bronzes can be had for under $40 a piece. Even under $20 for many.

--Tell a story: Pick a common coin like an Urbs Roma with she wolf and Romulus and Remus. Relate how that coin commemorates the legendary founding of Rome.

Good luck! I may PM you to see if I can make the drive up the peninsula. I'd love to hear your talk.

 

Hey Doug, are you going to take some nice examples of ancient coins to your presentation?

 

Wow, congratulations on being asked to give a talk (I'm positive that you'll do a great job => you always have my attention when I'm reading your posts!)

Ummm, but just in case you get rattled, here are a couple of fool-proof hints ...

1) you're nailin' your presentation and they are eatin' it up!! (flawless, good job Doug)




2) wow, you have somehow gotten way off-track and you're losin' 'em!! (this is when you start peppering the crowd with your lower-end give-away coins) ... or merely fake a heart attack



... just jokes ...

=> Good luck on your presentation (I am positive that you'll be able to read the crowd and knock it outta the park ... again, congrats on that great honour)

My only recommendation is to keep it a wee bit on the 'lighter-side' rather than hitting them with 150 variations of Sep-Sev (however, I'm sure that there will be a couple of dudes after the big-show that will be asking you more in-depth questions => and that's when you wow 'em with your Sep-Sev info)

 

Don't encourage new collectors, Doug. We want the coins for ourselves. I recommend an extremely arcane topic. Make sure you throw in every erudite numismatic term, and abundant quotes in Greek and Latin.

 

I have given such talks, but never over all ancients and in 15 minutes. Tough challenge.

The one piece of advice I would give would be know your audience. If they are coin collectors from other fields, they are used to having books covering every coin, with prices in every grade. We kind of have that with Sear books, so maybe touch on how there is no redbook or krause catalog for ancients, but we do have Sear books, (though prices are old). Most collectors from other fields usually like to start with something like that. Then touch on rarity in ancients. Lots of collectors like hearing its possible to find coins that maybe only 100 exist for cheap.

 

It would be great if you could cookie-cutter this thing. Prepare the talk one time and give the same talk over & over to different groups.

Did you get Dr. Goodword's word of the day today? The word was "maieutic". Keep the talk maieutic & it will be great. Ask the group questions & get them involved.

The meaning of MAIEUTIC: Related to the Socratic teaching method, assisting students
to become aware of an idea by asking a logical sequence of questions leading to that idea. Today's word has four vowels in succession-all the vowels except O.

 

Yeah Doug, give them one of your quizzes.

 

YOU THERE! I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU COULD TELL ME HOW MANY ROMAN MINTS USED MORE THAN ONE LETTER OF THE MINT CITY IN THEIR MINT MARKS. SPEAK UP NOW!

 

Hoo boy. :O I've done half a dozen talks at my club, but none on such a large topic. That being said, I'd recommend covering three or four areas (Greek, Imperial, LR, etc.) and a favorite or two from each.

I also agree with the others, don't kill then with power point.

 

LOL. XD

 

When I think back to the things that piqued my interest in ancient coins, the list above is a really good summary of those items.

In the history point, I would emphasize that ancient Roman coins were blatantly political in their design. You could put 4 - 6 such coins on one slide to illustrate how this was done.

I would briefly illustrate the electrum coins of Croesus to show how the value of coins was originally related to the value of the precious metals they contained. This of course changes with the advent of bronze and brass coinage, and modern coinage has essentially no relationship with the underlying value of the metal.

One other thing that I remember particularly liking (although I don't know how to work it into such a short presentation): Doug's "trip reports" to coin shows, and his "competitions" to pick the best coin within a specific budget. I always found these to be fascinating reads, even a little bit suspenseful in wondering how the trip would end. You might want tell your audience that they can learn a lot by taking virtual coin-show trips via online auctions and tracking what the final prices of those coins that they found interesting.

 

I'd start out with a couple of cool archaic coins and then I'd merely turn-on the ol' dougsmit charisma ...




... you've got this (you're money, brother)

 

Pick one coin like Constantine I from the London Mint and put it in the context of the ancient world and ancient history. Unlike US coins, although wear and centering are important, the history can be far more important than the nominal "grade" of a coin that could be unique or uncatalogued. (What was the last Roman coin issued from the London Mint? -- now there's a story...)

 

Hmmm? ... yah, I totally disagree ... I would aim at a far more generic, lighter look at our hobby ...

=> maybe "a journey through coins" ... basically, giving a cool overview of ancient coins, starting with archaic Greek, through the good ol' classic Greek stuff, through all of the Romans, through Byz, through medieval, up through those "other decades", finishing with a couple of cool modern examples ...

Ummm, not unlike that cool thread that showed a coin or two from each century (500BC => through 2000 AD) ... that's 25 slides, through 15 mins => 48 seconds per slide/century ... you can do that, my friend!! (money)

... man, I'm such a fantastic public speaker, that I feel like I should fly-down and be your colour-guy!! (but again, I think you have this => you are the King ... they are gonna love whatever you're feeding them!!)