Are you a "Hole filling" collector?

It was in my case.

 

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I am unashamedly a hole-filler ... I take a strategic approach to collecting. The remaining coins to buy in my one-per-emperor collection are expensive, as is upgrading my existing portraits to gold - so I very rarely spend my money on coins outside my focus ... because it works against my goal.

 

I'd like to see that Pink Floyd Animals set of coins, TIF!

Coins bring one hither and thither, and I let it happen with pleasure. You CoinTalkers brought me to Roman Provincials, that I didn't know much about. You helped me to understand a leetle bit better how that great Roman empire worked. Roman Provincials is such a large area, you can't do anything else in it but dabble and buy now this, now that.

Still, in my sixty-odd years old body, deep inside still resides that nerdy boyhood collector, who learned all the emperors and their dates from 27 BC to 476 AD by heart, all those Latin and Greek and Russian scripts on coins and exactly how many coins were minted in the year 1964, their diameter, weight and alloy. That young collector inside provides all the holes, that must be filled with emperors and denominations and Greek poleis, now I can afford it (better).

 

My collection goals are strategically designed (Hole filler). I long ago started a North American copper type coin collection, which I've accepted will never be "complete" due to the sheer number needed. This pursuit was overly ambitious and should have been more focused, lesson learned. In the meantime, I started a $1 US currency collection, which was a bit more manageable in scope. I've been poking away at it here and there, and as of a few weeks ago, it was about 75% complete (Needed 4 more).

My problem is that I tend to be easily distracted by other collectibles that I happen to find interesting at any given moment. For instance, I watched Roman Empire: Reign of Blood on Netflix a few weeks ago. This got me interested in the story, so I started researching the history of Commodus and Marcus Aurelius, which led to reading up on the history of Imperial Rome in general. Naturally, I started investigating coins associated with the emperors and Bam! I'm hooked! Now I can't help but focus my attention primarily on building this collection.

So, long story short, the desire to start this new collection had me feeling guilty about "abandoning" the currency collection that was so close to completion. The way that I've handled this has been to go on a spending spree over the last few weeks in an attempt to complete that collection. I'm down to 1 more note that I need to buy (the 1869 of course), but the next acceptable example that comes available will be mine!!!!

Anyway, this whole "hole filler" discussion had me thinking about this scenario. Some might say that I let my hole filling obsessions get the better of me.

 

This thread is wonderful, with many posters offering excellent advice that I could only second. For example, @TIF has defined a mini-collection she can enjoy. I bet there are not more than three or four other collectors in the world she needs to compete with. (I'm joking--there are probably no other collectors competing to fill the "Pink Floyd" part, but many for the "animals" part.). You can't say there are only a few trying to complete a set of Indian head cents!

In 2001 I wrote a rant about rarity and value, noting the role of hole-filling:

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/numis/rarity.html

If you wish to understand a difference between US-coin collecting and ancient-coin collecting, read it.

 

The problem I see here is that having been exposed to 10x or 100x as many coins would only make us more aware of how far we were from achieving what we have imagined. The more we learn, the more we realize how little we know. Today our John Anthony and a hundred other collectors of ancients went to a big coin show and bought a few. Unless wearing blinders, they should have seen 10x as many types of coins they never knew existed but did not bring home. Some they left because they wanted a better one; some they left for lack of money; some they left because the coins were not interesting. At that rate the thousand coins you can't have turn into the ten thousand and author John Anthony is shown to be as right as ever.

 

Spring is here and that made me remember that I had been considering submitting something on my collection of Medusa coins to @Nicholas Molinari 's KOINON journal. I went through my notes on how I decided what was possible for a Perseus and Medusa collection.

Last year I gave a talk for my club on ancient coins depicting Perseus and Gorgons/Medusa. My database has 78+288 types in it, so for a collector of this series (I know of about half a dozen present and former) those are the "holes".


No human could fill all the holes as there are uniques and also types that only exist in museums. As I gathered that list I found types that were unpublished. That is the best kind of hole to fill: a hole you dig yourself. I ended up buying several unpublished types and about a dozen unpublished denominations.

 

Excellent article, Warren!

 

Kidding aside....I just bid on coins that I can AFFORD. It would take 100 billion euros + to fill the holes in my collection. Since I am in the 99 percent.....I only have funds to add coins, one here, one there. Today, I added a MS-63 France/ Louis XVI /1786-K Double Louis d'or/ Bordeaux Mint (WGI AUCTION) I got skunked in Kunker Auctions 0-4

 

Doug's comment that "the more we learn, the more we realize how little we know", along with some other comments above reminded me of what Henry Clay Lindgren wrote in his preface to the "Lindgren III" reference:

 

Oops, I never meant “hole filler” in a negative way @Deacon Ray . To me hole filler is synonymous with “organized and disciplined” of which I am neither. Your Judean collection inspired me to pickup Hendin many months ago and collect similarly. I’m jealous of your style and wish I had that kind of direction and specialization.

I do know I’m going to fill the holes on a Five Good Emperor set eventually after seeing your other post on the subject.

 

On the other hand, I know an author who wrote a good book about his specialty which he had collected for many years. Then he sold his collection and did other things.

 

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Have no fear, sir! I didn't take it as anything negative. Being a hole filler in life is very necessary at times. When, as collectors, we are striving to create a legacy with our collections, it forces us to stay on track and stay disciplined with the selections we make. I am striving to create a collection of Judaean coins that cover all of powers who occupied, lived, and died in the city of Jerusalem during Biblical times. That may be a goal that will be difficult to achieve if I don't stay somewhat focused.

I don't know what will happen to my collection after I'm gone but I do plan to bequeath it to either a member of my family or to a member of my extended family, which includes Ancients Forum friends.

 

I don't know if you are thinking of either of two I am in this respect but both lost my respect in the process. They don't care and should not. They sold all their books. Someone else will write the updates correcting their shortcomings, I hope. They will not.

 

I really like Valentinian's rant and agree with everything save one paragraph:

"Julius Caesar is interesting. Nero is interesting. Claudius is interesting (at least to people who have seen the great PBS series "I, Claudius," or who have read the book by Robert Graves). Constantine, the first emperor to support Christianity, and the subject of a dozen biographies, is interesting. Get the picture?"

This implies that 'interest' is the same as 'well known' or 'fodder for publishers and producers'. There are many Roman Emperors every bit as interesting as the ones mentioned. These benefited from starring in well known books or movies. I'm a little surprised the Gladiator and Decline and Fall exposure has not promoted Commodus to this level but perhaps his coins are just too common to allow them to be popular. They certainly are more interesting than 99% of the coins of Constantine who would certainly be as boring as Licinius were it not for the Christian connection.

Here on CT we discuss Elagabalus with regularity and I am certain that a movie about his family would promote him to Nero level notoriety (I have proposed the mini-series be called 'Maesa' and cover everything his grandmother saw). Unfortunately it is hard to make a PG rated film about a guy like Elagabalus so it would be up to HBO to do this one and that would limit the exposure greatly. We proved this point to a degree when the story of Caligula was produced as a somewhat pornographic film which people would not admit to liking even if they saw truth in the tale.

I believe there is great interest in the story of Probus who showed us what happens to a ruler that tells his army that the time is near they won't be needed and puts them to work draining swamps.

Coins can be too rare for their own good. When there are so few coins available that no one expects to be able to have one, the price is not promoted by interest. The EID MAR denarii of Brutus are a good example of fortunate balance. Were there only two rather than a hundred, most of us would have given up long ago and move our dreams to another venue.

 

You could try and pitch that to netflix too

 

I’m an holes filler, I target and acquire only specific coins for my studies or my collection. It is very rare I buy something not related but sometime it happens.

 

[QUOTE = "Valentinian, yazı: 3032904, üye: 44316"] Bu iş parçacığı harika, pek çok posterde mükemmel tavsiyede bulunabiliyordum. Ayrıca, [USER = 56859] [USER = 56859] @TIF [/ USER] [/ USER], bir mini koleksiyon tanımladı. Bahse girerim dünya rekabetiyle ilgili üç tane ya da bir koleksiyoncu değil. (Şaka yapıyorum - internet "Pink Floyd" parçasının doldurmak için kullanılması gereken toplayıcı yok, ama "hayvanlar" bölümü için pek çok kişi var.). Sadece bir Hintli kafa sentezini tamamlamaya çalışan birkaç kişi söyleyemezsin!

2001 yılında, bir tane yazdım ve delik doldurmanın rolünü belirttim:

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/numis/rarity.html

ABD para biriktirme ve antik para biriktirme riski ile ilgili. [/ ALINTI]

Selam. bu senin veritabanında mı? Dönem hakkında bilgi verir misiniz? Bu bir gümüş gümüş. [/ ATTACH]

 

..i ain't sure wot yore sayin'.. but the coins looks kool!

 

All I understood was "Pink Floyd."