Thanks! Of course I will stick around, I have a small collection that I need help with in the near future. I am glad I found this forum and you and the couple others that helped me, I see all of you posting in many other forums I specialize in german states coins, pre 20th century british, and as of recently Roman coins. I will go to a dealer next week and get my second roman coin, but before I buy it I will post it on here for opinions. The dealer is very nice and patient and lets me take photos. I spent 4 hours in his shop researching with my Elagabalus coin before buying it with no issues.
I'm not a professional either. I think the only professional numismatist on this forum, as far as ancients go, is Ardatirion. I suppose it depends on how you define "professional." Is it simply someone who gets paid to be a numismatist?
A professional to me is a person with a lot of specific knowledge over a broad but precise subject, such as details of provincial roman coinage or varieties of such coins in general. It is a very broad term. English is my second language (German first) so to me someone who speaks english and has good knowledge and terminology over Roman coins is a professional. There is also nobody here in the Southern US I know who has any knowledge about these coins, so any knowledge to me feels very precise and much. I have just finished reading threads with collectors metal detecting along Hadrians Wall..very interesting. I am sure it is a great feeling to be the first one to dig up a coin after all this time. The history of coins awakens a feeling of existential yearning towards the past that is hard to explain to non-collectors.