Featured Your coins and other people

In this thread bcuda wrote

This is true for many of us. Collectors in big cities may belong to a coin club and find ancient-coin-collecting friends, but many of us have to collect alone.

Be glad you live in the 21st century. I collected utterly alone with ancient-coin books for my companions for many years prior to the internet. Ancient-coin dealers who sent out paper fixed-price lists would advertise (in Coin World and elsewhere) that you could get their lists if you would write and ask for them. I did. At the time I lived in Montana and mail was usually a day slower than to the coasts so the coins I wanted were often already sold. When a catalog came in the mail my wife would call my office and say one had come and bring it over on my lunch break so I could quick decide if I needed to call about some coin, hopefully before it was gone.

Local dealers had, of course, US coins and little else. I did meet one collector I really liked in a city only 140 miles away and we visited a few times a year. He is still a good friend even though I moved much further away. I put some ancient-coins for sale in the local coin shop and eventually cultivated a good friend in my own town (until he moved to Texas and has since died). Then I cultivated a second good friend the same way and I saw him frequently (until we both moved away). After many years of collecting I have found other good friends, but all in distant places so I see them rarely.

I think it is only natural that collectors would be more interested in their coins, or in coins they can buy, than in mine. You wrote, "they just don't have any interest." That sentence could be completed two ways:
"they just don't have any interest in ancient coins" which is true for almost everyone, or
"they just don't have any interest my ancient coins" which is true even for most ancient-coin collectors (unless they think they can buy them).

So, we can post coins here on CT and get "likes", but I strongly recommend you rely on yourself and what you know for your enjoyment of your coins. Collecting is unlike a sports event where the cheering of spectators adds immediate excitement and can make the players feel great. Make yourself feel great because you know enough to appreciate what you have. Books can help a lot. Websites can help a lot. CT can help a lot. When you get, or contemplate getting, a coin, search CT on key terms and see what has been written about the type before. Then you will appreciate it more even if no one else knows about it.

What is your impression of the role of other people in appreciating your coins? Does anyone you know who doesn't collect appreciate them nevertheless? Do your coin-collecting friends really want to see your coins, or just show your theirs?

 

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...me too Warren...i've never met another ancient coin collector in person to this day..thank goodness Peter Davis had a coin group on google...thats how i found you all...(thanks @Peter T Davis !)

 

The missus shows a passing interest, but it's more that she's interested about the fact that I'm so interested. I do ask her opinion on new purchases because she's good at making me question myself about whether I really want something or if I'm just jonesing out of idleness.

Unfortunately groups in person aren't something I can really do due to health problems, but I have found being able to chat about coins and history here make the hobby even more engaging. I really enjoy reading stories about why a person chose a particular coin, or about history or even an interesting provenance.

 

Why, yes @Valentinian. When I gave an ancient coin to a friend since prep school, he looked at it for a minute and then I could see, (as I told him how old it probably was and reminded him of how rustic the minting process was back in those days), his eyes widen and then he became very interested. I showed him websites he could visit to read more since he loves to read and adores history. I plan to give him another dose...er, I mean, ancient coin after the holidays. He is always looking for things to challenge one of his step daughter's natural inquisitiveness about everything.

My mother was interested, especially in my desire to become adept at tidying (cleaning is such a harsh word) ancients; but, we did not have time together to really get into it together by then.

Just my very limited experience so far!

LaC

 

I would love to start getting into ancients (I have a kid who's a classics major). But the learning curve is so steep! It seems very daunting.

 

I have met a few, but it is hard work to find folks nearby in our corner of collecting!

@Bing collects very similarily as I do. I REALLY enjoyed looking at some of his collection when we met for lunch. I envied / coveted many of his coins! We plan to meet again after the Holiday shuffle is all over.

And @ancientcoinguru and I have met a few times at coin shows. She focuses a LOT in my area, and has many coins that I do not, and I have many that complements her collection. She is a great younger sister!

I met @Carthago at a Chicago Show, and regret that I could not spend much more time with him. Great guy, and I really admire his collection.

I met @Brian Bucklan who has great coins and super humor. Big fun.

I JUST missed meeting @Volodya - Phil Davis, at a show, and regret it deeply. He covers a lot of my area, but at a much higher plane!

@Aidan_() is a great new Ancient Collector... Great guy! I enjoyed his enthusiasm and trusts that he will keep it for a lifetime!

I really enjoyed meeting John, @Theodosius and his wife at FUN. He is a Kindred soul in development and manufacturing! He is in a VERY cool field, and has a GREAT collection!

And beau coup Sellers at various Shows I have enjoyed from WI to Chicago to NC to FL, etc etc.... Very good people in the Ancients Collecting Hobby!

ALSO, I MUST add... there are SO many folks HERE on CT that, though I have not met PERSONALLY, that have been wonderful friends! Sharing thoughts, REALLY helping me, friends on private PM's etc. Just great friendships. THANKS to all who have helped me in my Journey! I can only hope that I can help folks in THEIR Journey!

 

You make some really interesting observations @Valentinian . I don’t have any friends outside CT that collect ancient coins and I have only ever met one CT friend in person.

I actually enjoy activities that don’t require me to interact with other people which might be one of the reasons I took to studying history, math and physics, reading and coin collecting. Time in a library alone with a book, a coffee and a little round piece of metal for company seems like a perfectly pleasant way to spend free time. I am actually surprised I enjoy talking about coins on CT as much as I do. I have no other online presence.

So why do I spend so much time here? To a remarkable degree the people on this site are a great mix of friendly, educational and interesting. I’ve learned a lot from this site. If enough of the people I enjoy talking to left CT and the crowd became more stuffy I would probably leave too. I wouldn’t be friends with someone just because they collect coins but if a group I like being friends with collects coins then great.

I do find it interesting to know which of the coins I enjoy are also enjoyed by my friends. The “like” system on CT can be misleading if you’re trying to use it as a gauge of coin desirability. People tend to hit the like button on expensive coins that are well photographed, threads they can contribute to or else it is also common for some to just follow and like specific members. Some great coin threads with desirable examples fall inexplicably into oblivion sometimes if they don’t conform to one of the three above categories. I think the like system is still useful and fun though and I use it often to give feedback when I have little to add. It’s just not a good metric for assuming anything substantive. Well thought out comments from members you trust is a much better metric IMO.

Which brings me back to the questions posed in the OP:

I have surprisingly enjoyed the coin interaction here on this site with other collectors. With as much as I travel CT is the perfect place for getting the social component of collecting that I didn’t even know I would want before I joined.

My wife appreciates my collection. She asks me to tell her about some of my new coins when she is having trouble sleeping because she says it helps her pass out (not even kidding ). Other friends seem to appreciate how old the coins are but don’t care much for distinctions that make a $100 coin a $1,000 coin unless it is a figure they know... “oh this is Julius Caesar!”

I honestly don’t know. I imagine there are probably plenty of the latter but I know on CT there are at least a few of the former. I try to be the former kind of friend and I spend a lot of time reading old threads on this site that have fallen down the list and I have tried to be better about commenting more. There are others on this site that I know are like me and just generally like coins and learning whether we own the coin or not.

 

I know I am part of the problem and not part of the solution. When I go to a coin show that has an exhibition section, I have to force myself to look over the displays. I am at the show for one reason - to buy coins. I enjoy seeing other people's coins but part of that enjoyment is seeing coin types I need to seek out for future purchase if the person who has the coin is not selling. I have always said that the #1 coin on my want list is a coin I did not know to exist and looking at other people's coins is one way to be exposed to coins new to me. You would think that after so many years in the hobby I would be running out of 'new to me coins' but that is not the case. Running out of things I might want and can afford is more of a problem.

I have enough coins that I bought for the wrong reasons. First on that list would be things I bought for the purpose of illustrating my web pages (no longer being updated) and things I thought I needed because I did not have one rather than I really wanted one. This works well on CT since I get to see other people's treasures and ask myself if I found them interesting or boring. I like to think I am a general collector but the fact remains that 90% of the coins I see at shows or in sale catalogs are not something I would buy for 10% of the going rate. Similarly, I do not expect the majority of Coin Talk member, serious collectors of ancient coins to have any sincere interest in my favorite coins. There are a million different ancient coins and at least half of those bore all collectors except for a few real oddballs like me who like coins out of the mainstream --- way out. It is nice to see coins I can check off the list of things I want to experience and the things I don't. Is this the Naughty and Nice list Coin Talk version?

I was amazed that we had so many year end top lists this year. I saw a few coins I really would love to have and a few entire lists that suggested that I really would enjoy the opportunity of seeing those collections and meeting in person the collector. I will not name them all but one Z, one Q and one M live in places I might have trouble finding on a map let alone places I might ever visit. My ability to correspond with them certainly makes me glad that the sun never sets on a Coin Talk ancient collector.

 

I have the same problem with my paper money collection.
I've showed:
my dad
my mom
my roomate
my exgirlfriend
my other exgirlfriend

and NONE of them have expressed any interest beyond "oh, cool...."

It's kind of frustrating because I've spent a lot of time and money building up a collection that I'm proud of, but nobody seems to care AT ALL.

SO I end up just pulling out the binder every now and again and spending maybe 20 minutes going through and admiring them, and lamenting that I can't show anybody else. I love explaining history and usages, but it doesn't really work talking to myself

 

Like I mentioned in my Tacitus thread family really has no interest, but that's OK because I don't see them all the time (sister, mother, etc.) I do greatly enjoy the fellowship on this site and I really appreciate most of the coins shown here, so I am generous with the like button. I actually have yet to meet a CTer in person. Prior to CT I was collecting off and on sporadically.

I was a voracious ancients collector when I was a kid (up to about age 18) then I tapered off for a long time, until my kids had grown up for the most part. (My son took Latin and has some interest in coins as a result). I started up in earnest in 2014 buying lots of late roman bronze coins.

After I found CT as a result of a google search I was overjoyed - so much good and practical information. I hope CT continues in its present direction. I also am a member of two ancient coin groups on facebook and sometimes I post new coins over there as well, but I prefer CT as it is a bit more numismatic and scholarly...

 

I'm like just about everyone here. No one in my immediate circle of friends and family have any interest. Once in a blue moon I'll take a coin with me to bowling and show to a select few. Most of the times they look like they are about to yawn.

Other than that, I have my CT collecting friends. CT is a fine gathering place for us nerds. However, we all talk about how great CT is, so I think we are like a self licking ice cream cone.

 

I just joined a local coin club 3 years ago. We have 45 active members, who I now know quite well. Half, collect only Canadian coins/ banknotes. The rest are into World coinage/ banknotes. Of these 5 collect ancients.....but they are the most knowledgeable and prepared to put money into their collections. Over past ten years, I have gotten over 20 friends/ family members into classic coinage. All it took, I showed them some of my coins/ auction catalogues/ sixbid site....they where hooked. Definately, nobody ever said they where boring/ they where fascinated. Ancient coin collecting must be popular, I have already been outbid on all three coins in Triton event/ way past estimate/ three weeks before auction.
John

 

I agree with much of what Valentinian said, except for this:

Perhaps Valentinian is simply noting that interest is a matter of degree. But I’m still pretty darn interested in other people’s coins. The Top 10 list parade is my favorite coin talk time of year.

I’m blessed to be a teacher and can inflict my coins on my students whenever I choose. And they are forced to pay attention. I try not to abuse that situation too much.

The only social media I do is Facebook. Every couple of weeks I will post one of my coins and a short write up. I used to do it more frequently than I do now. You might be surprised how many folks in your circle of friends might take an interest, or ask a question, or throw it a like. Those of you on Facebook or Twitter might experiment with posting a coin now and again. This year, that strategy prompted my sister to buy me an ancient coin for my birthday!

 

No brick and mortar stores in the area with a decent ancient inventory; just US coins and bullion. One coin club for world collectors but only one other collector there interested in ancients. The club meets on Friday evenings but I work late and can't typically attend.

You guys are my coin friends! I appreciate each and every one of you. It's a blast playing show and tell here every day!

 

This is a thoughtful thread, as many are with Valentinian. I think most of us wish we had a bit of deeper pool of opportunities to enjoy our collection with others but his observation of living in the digitally connected age is a good one. Before the internet, it was even a more solitary pursuit.

I've made some interesting friends with this hobby and it has extended the enjoyment. We share our coins together so it's not one sided. Still, I have a pretty low need for approval in general so I'm just as content on my own at the end of the day.

Merry Christmas!

 

I know folks get frustrated others are bored or will not share interest in your collection. I feel the opposite. I really do not care if someone is or is not interested. It is a personal hobby of mine. It is for my personal enjoyment as a haven or get away from everything else. I approach it like a good book: I am in my own world enjoying the Journey.

All that being said, I truly embrace those that SHARE in my interests and hobby. Because THEY enjoy similarly as I do. It may not be the same coins or history, but they share the same passion for Ancients.

I learned a long time ago not to worry if people do not seek the same paths or passions that I do. However, enjoy my Journey, pursue my passions and hobbies, and those folks that feel the same will accrete to you. I enjoy todays internet environment that allow kindred folks to come together from worldwide to share Ancient Coin passion. I never feel alone, rather I have discovered a wider path for my passions.

Thanks to everyone whom shares this Ancient Coins AND History passion of mine.

 

Nailed it!

 

Sometimes I wish no one had an interest in classical coinage, and just went after the modern era mint proof sets/ coinage. Then maybe the ones I like would be not so darn $$$$$ to win in auctions. But to reality, I find what puzzles non collectors the most, is how can these coins, struck thousands of years ago, still look like they came from the Rome mint yesterday.

 

I do twitter; it allows me to interact with experts and keen amateurs in the whole range of my personal interests which extend way beyond coins.

My twitter bio gives barely a glimpse:
"science, art, history, environment, numismatics, transatlantic politics, ancient times, books and world culture: London, Lagos and New York"
but is wide enough to allow me to veer off into stuff that REALLY interests me such as Roman Republican coinage, 1950s-60s aviation, African colonial and post-colonial history, hip-hop music, incunabulae, New York nightlife and dozens of other subjects.

When I throw a very wide net, it seems to catch all sorts of people interested in one or other interest. Especially helps when I reply and add info to another wise post. Next thing I'm having beers with real life humans that share at least something I enjoy. Including Roman Republican coins.

 

When I started collecting ancient coins back in the early 1970's it was a very solitary pursuit. Nobody collected Roman coins locally nor did the local coin shows nor dealers ever have more than a few. At least the local university library had a good selection of books on ancient coins. By necessity I had to look to U.S. and European dealers to find coins that I was interested in. The problem was by the time the FPLs reached me most of the coins were gone. By the late 1980's things began to change. A dealer who was really interested in ancient coins set up in a city about 200 miles away and would go to the major shows and so when he came back I would drive down to see what he had. With the advent of the digital age, the whole world changed. I maintain a number of friends that have similar interests to me. I have a few that are local, a few that I have met on line, some at shows( U.S. and Europe), and some that I have met because of my lectures on ancient coins here in western Canada and in New York. So far I have met 4 CT members and I hope to meet some more at the NYINC.
However at the end of the day I have to say that my collection is a personal journey constrained by my knowledge ( or lack of it) financial considerations and opportunity. I know that when I am given the opportunity to look at other collections, i always find coins that are interesting, some that I would really like to own and then others.... well not so much I assume when others look at mine there is much the same pattern.
My very first Greek coin Metapontion stater 330-290 B.C. Obv. Head of Demeter right. Rv. grain ear. Johnson C 8 12. 7.66 grms 20 mm Photo by W. Hansen