I mentioned earlier giving a 15 minute talk on ancients for people who collect modern at a local club. I survived but am glad its over. Nevermore. At the start I mentioned that I placed a US cent in each group to provide size reference. During the question session that followed, one man asked if that coin was copper. He was impressed by how similar it was to a US coin. That pretty much defined the audience. One man was able to date that cent from the reverse; more than one did not recognize a coin as old as a wheat cent. I attach the images used. On each, I selected a coin or two to explain in a little detail but spent no more than one minute on any slide except for the popular ancients group which got 2 minutes. You can write your own text and pretend you were there (it will be better than what I said). Feel free to use these groups if you are asked to speak to a local club and you don't have the sense to decline. I believe most people here have seen all of these and will recognize the types just from being on CT.
And those were the people in the coin club. Imagine joe-sixpack off the street. Extremely nice photos and slides. Well done Sir. Even if no one at the presentation appreciated your effort and time, you'll always have the freaks on CT.
We've all had occasion to cast our pearls before swine. Your experience and insight is NOT lost on those of us who care to listen and learn.
Excellent pictures and message dougsmit! I wish I'd have been there to soak up some of your knowledge.
Wow ... it sounds like a good ol' honky-tonk coin get-together!! "Hey Jimmy, this 'ere fella says he's got a coin called an antoninianus!!" "A wha?" "An antoninianus!!" => "Let's get 'em, boys!!"
It is in an Italian restaurant. I saw one guy eat more than my whole family could eat in a setting. I seriously believe the food is a greater interest to half of them. The VDB is not an S and came out of circulation in the 50's. The reverse is its better side. Back then it was not uncommon to find decent grade older coins in circulation. The theory was that kids raided dad's coin collection for money for gum and soda. That is how I got started in ancients. I used to sell duplicates I found at a coin shop. I never could bring myself to pay over face for coins in circulation but did buy a couple oldies (2 cent, large cent) and started getting ancients the shop had in a 50 cent pick out dish on the counter. I don't still have any from that dish but they were nicer than you get for 50 cents today.
well, that's to bad. slides are very nice at least. i'm surprised it didn't go well really. so it sounds like club members were US coin specialist and novices to coin collecting in general. were any of the novices kids? i thought there would at least be some young ones there that saw all those cool animals and weird symbols and would be interested. did you at least get some "what could a roman buy with that coin?" or "would Jesus have used any of these types of coins?" or anything like that?
Its kind of par for the course Doug. I was giving lectures on numismatic literature, Ancient chinese cash, ancient roman coins, at the Iowa Numismatic Show for a few years. My biggest turnout? 6 people, and I think 2 of them just wanted a chair to sit on. Our little group here, with our positive reinforcement, makes us forget who truly odd we are even to most other coin collectors, let alone the general public. That is ok, though, I don't mind charting my own course. Even if you lit a tiny flicker of a flame in one collector it was worth it though, right? I remember a few people here on CT who were new to ancients, we took some time to get them up to speed, and now they are full on ancient collectors.
That's funny. Maybe you sound like the teacher from Ferris Bueller? The quality photos most of you guys present are really enjoyable to look at. Of course, the quality of the coins doesn't hurt the quality of the photos. There may not be many of your types, even among my coin contacts, but, as soon as I see this type of quality, I quickly forward the links to my friends with ancient interests. The link to this thread has already been sent. I think, on photos alone, this thread should make that dreaded, so called "Featured", home page.
All of us "old timers", (and not age but years of collecting), work with new collectors selfishly. We simply want someone else to talk to about our geeky little hobby.
At least there is some new blood on these forums. Excellent photos Doug, did take any of those coins in the pictures to your presentation?
Btw Aidan, Doug is an excellent coin photographer. He has photographed coins for books. He has a large section of his website dedicated to helping collectors take good photos. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/
