How Long Have You Been Collecting?

It occurred to me. How Long has the average CT member been collecting? I have been a dealer since the late 80's, I was one of the very first to sell coins on the web (does anyone remember BBS, e-mail auctions, etc????) and have maintained a site ever since. Obviously that doesnt mean squat. Obviously big sites with millions of $$ get the spotlight, but I wonder, does anyone remember those of us who actually made this all happen? I suspect not. Just some random thoughts. I do fondly remember the good old days. When we actually made things happen. Sadly, none of us made any money!!!!!!

 

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Since we're talking Ancients, I voted 1 year. Now my first ancient purchase was in 2013, with two more in 2014, then I got serious and abandoned all other collecting pursuits...except my beloved military trade tokens. In fact, I hit the one year mark of serious ancient collecting this month.

 

@ KD. Regrets..So few to mention. But we did it and we're keeping on.. Our way..

 

I started collecting coins in 1997, mostly U.S. coins. I stopped in 2004 when I went to college, and sold them all to buy silver bars as I caught on to the bull market early. Ended up selling my silver bars in 2008-2009 at a nice profit. I started collecting U.S. coins again in 2010, and sold it all off again in 2015 when I got into ancients.

As for ancients, I've been collecting since November 1, 2015 when i bought a slabbed ancient, and promptly returned it and bought a few non-slabbed from JA after I got the anti-slab pep talk from a bunch of you guys here.

Since November 1, 2015 I've bought 20 silver ancients, 7 bronze ancients, and a fake denarius (you can read about that last one on the forum).

 

I started collecting ancients in April 2015. I have since added 32 ancient coins to my collection. My focus is from the imperatorial period to about the first 100 years of the empire. Of the 30 I have 5 coins outside of that focus. My avatar coin was my first purchase.

 

I am somewhere between 15 and 20 years with ancients now. With all coin collecting I started young and its about 40 years.

I remember BBS', but wasn't into ancient coins then. My first online experience with ancient coins was the old Moneta-L group on Yahoo groups. I learned a lot of good stuff on that list, from you and others.

 

Collecting since I was 9yo in '68. Mainly US odd-denominations, CWT, HTT, Trade-Dollars, etc. Sold them in my late 30's (kids, business moves, a lot of international travel consumed my time), then returned to collecting during the early 90's. Was put off by Slabs, and casually began to be focused on Ancients due to my love for Ancient Histories. Became more serious as I became more educated due to this forum and other sites that I lurked and observed for a few years. Probably have close to 750 gently circulated Ancients betwixt my paws now. I am not as big on the perfect coin, as I feel coins are meant to be circulated... those transactions reflect a physical touch with the past as I hold the coin. The stories those coins could tell is a fascination to me. I collect based on History... I really am not as interested in the Numismatics...

 

US coins: 1999-2006 (low-level: just state quarters and old stuff in change)
2006-2012 (full-time)

Ancients/medievals: April 2011- present.

I'll go into further detail later tonight.

 

I started when my neighbor friend's grandpa gave a box of coins to share between him and me, we were both 10 years old. But the ancients came when I was 15, in 1969. I quit collecting in about 1979 and sold most of what I had in 1984. That makes 11 years, and then I started again three years ago. So I've been collecting ancients for 15 years.

 

Into collecting since my birth day (well, almost)
Got my first ancient in 1978 and actively started to collect them in 1982

Q

 

Ancient coins since 1992 when I was 13 years old

 

I started in 1981 when I was stationed at Ft Bliss, TX. I remember anxiously waiting for catalogs to thumb through. Yep, the good ole days (and not so good as well).

 

Started in u.s. coin in 1986 by my step grandfather. Stopped around 1995 and resumed in 2007 & got my first ancient in 2009 on here.

 

US coins from around '59 but ancients about 4 -5 years . I still collect US but I'm now collecting about 1-1 ratio . There's just so many cool coins . Guess since this is in the Ancient section I should change my vote to about 2-3 years . Signed Ancient Newb .

 

I noticed the OP mentioned BBS. How does that compare to selling coins online these days? From my understanding, and I could be wrong, wasn't BBS kind of like hooking a fax to your computer through a phone? How was the picture quality of the coin images on the BBS? Whas it black and white images? I don't know how you guys managed without the internet.

 

I collected old English and Roman coins as a kid (and anything else i could afford that was old - Chinese, Bohemian, Spanish cobs)... But i only came back to collecting about three years ago.

 

I've only been collecting ancients for two years myself. I was a "casual" collector of moderns previously(I.e. picked things out of my change occasionally) but never really tried to actively collect until I got into ancients.

 

I started collecting US and World coins about 5 years ago, I still pick up a few world coins a year though. Though that's only for design reasons or certain historical reasons.
It has been 3 years for Ancient coins, and the last two of those have been focused on Siliquae! Best decision I made as far as collecting goes!
Once you go ancient you cant go back!

 

LOL, like me, Cuke, we are both considered Ancient...

 

Est. 2014

lol