Your Friends and Family perspective of ancient coins

Well, I definitely won't judge anyone for loving the yellow stuff, because I feel the same way about silver's mystique. I've always seen silver as the honest hardworking man's metal.

Let's face it, most Roman would have never touched an Aureus as it was a tremendous amount of money, but even the most humble of Romans would have had a denarius or two in their money pouch. When I collect silver I feel like I'm touching something that everyone rich and poor got their hands on, and not just something that only the very wealthy would have touched.

I've always loved silver because it's precious, yet attainable. I also like the color of silver. Which is why when I buy gold jewelry, I always buy white gold as it looks like silver.

 

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I also love silver, and as I stated earlier, even my wedding rings are White Gold because we enjoy silver color.

I am sure you have seen my postings of several silver coins and bronze.

Gold, though, is one of the heavy elements left over from star supernovae... It is not formed in or on Earth. It is formed in the heart of a star, but the star must be super-huge, much larger than our sun, and to supernova to create gold. It is almost as old as the universe... So, as the Ancients felt, it truly is metal given by (the) God(s)... Pretty cool stuff.

 

If I'm not mistaken, every element except maybe the first few were all forged in the heart of stars. Metals do not form naturally by themselves by atoms combining, but are the process of stellar fusion. Basically, all of our coins are technically 5+ Billion years old, forged in the star(s) whose material eventually spewed out into a nebula after going supernova, and then combined to form our solar syetem. And most of the items in our houses probably have matter/elements that were also forged in the center of ancient stars, and well as most of the elements that make up our bodies. It's mind blowing when you think about it. We are all in essence children of stars.

 

Agreed to all. Just gold is a heavier element taking a much larger star and supernava to produce. Many of the lesser weight elements did not need this type of condition to have been formed.

 

Joni Mitchell was correct "We are stardust"

 

My wife collects antique books, so she understands why I like collecting coins ... but she thinks that I'm a wee bit obsessive and that doesn't seem to be too attractive, so I usually try to play-down my new coin additions (*sigh*)

I've tried showing a few of my friends, but almost immediately the conversation turns to authenticity and how they think I'm being scammed .... and even if I eventually convince one of them that the coins are real, once they find out that I've spent $500 on a tiny silver coin that is 5 mm in diameter the conversation quickly turns ugly again!!

... so I don't usually talk coins with "real humans" ...



=> you dudes are by far my favourite audience

 

Almost the same as Steve here

In my 20' I used to be very proud of what I collected then (even though most of it now looks as crap) and tended to show my coins to everyone entering the house, either family or friends. I quickly understood people would get bored within minutes.

Having become probably a bit wiser, I now wait for people to ask, which rarely happens, to tell the truth. When it occurs I will show a single tray of 40 coins browsing french History from 14th to 21st century. They usually "talk" to people as they can regognize french rulers as Henri IV, Louis XIV or Napoleon, whose portraits are known of everyone.
There are then two attitudes about how people show their interest in coins : "what is it ?" or "how much did that set you back ?"
The first group will generaly want to see more, and I can then show some ancients , the second will find those too expensive and, with no perspective of investment premium, quickly distract from them.

As for my wife, she's always been very liberal and supportive towards my passion/addiction to coins (see the thread on how she treated me with an owl tet very recently) even though she doesn't have much interest in them. She will occasionnally applause to an acquisition such as an Augustus denarius or a french royal portrait coin.

Q

 

Thankfully so! I wouldn't want to spend "Tribute Penny" prices for common Vespasian denarii.

 

My wife has a few historical interests, so I can very infrequently get her a little interested - mostly WWI or Regency era, where her main literary interests lie. Apparently, she does have a soft spot for Anglo-Saxon sceats from Domburg and Frisia. She says she likes the abstract designs.

In general, my interests are so obscure and specialized that I can barely even talk to fellow collectors about them. I don't really like to talk about my flair.

 

Your wife is Jennifer Aniston?

 

Omg he's just been outed as Justin Theroux!

 

wha? => I thought she was married to Brad Pitt?

 

That was a long time ago Gol. Get with the times

 

Really? ... yah, I'd better try to keep-up, eh? (oops, my elderly is showing)

Oh well, at least J-Lo and Ben are solid

 

I think I was implying that I'm Jennifer Aniston?

 

One of my sons has stated that he is only interested in inheriting the coins that will fit into a gumball machine!

 

I told him that I'll be back if he did such a thing.

 

Yea, they dont get the reference (which I assumed they would). Sadly, I worked for a company that truly did have TPS Reports!!!!

 

My best years in the hobby were when I was a member of the Ancient Numismatic Society of Washington (DC) and could meet face to face with people more or less like this bunch. We ranged from rank beginners to Elvira Clain-Steffanelli.
https://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n:283155,p_27:Elvira Clain-Stefanelli
(I recommend the first one on this list at $5)
I was the only one who thought Septimius Severus was interesting but one guy was equally into Marcus Aurelius so we understood each other. Perhaps it was a day of greater civility and perhaps being face to face helped but we had a good time. We met at members' homes on a rotating basis and sent out meeting notices with no address beyond 'Doug's Place' so trash did not attract people who might be there to steal. As a result some would bring a thousand coins for sale or a dekadrachm to show off. "You dudes are by far my favourite audience" and "I can barely even talk to fellow collectors about" many of my interests but what we have is what we have and it isn't the 80's anymore. I took photos for members on occassion when the meeting was at my house and now wish I had saved them to show you now. I only have one (the aureus on my denominations page) but seeing coins in person was a bit nicer than the photos (however great) we post.