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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Gavin Richardson, post: 2712858, member: 83956&quot;]I will try to keep this short, but I will probably fail.</p><p><br /></p><p>I too wish to register my appreciation for this site–its designer(s) and the persons who populate it.</p><p><br /></p><p>I bought my first ancient on October 3, 2003. I collected pretty actively for about four years and then experienced a fallow period. Other matters demanded my time, attention, and money, and I would only buy maybe 2-3 coins a year. In late 2016 my interest in ancients was rekindled, and I’ve been actively collecting since that time. This Cointalk board has been an important part of that renewed interest.</p><p><br /></p><p>In my early days of collecting, I participated in another board, and I will always be grateful for that resource and community. But I felt that the other board was for real experts, so I’d rarely post. And while the Cointalk system of “Likes” can skew the focus, the absence of such a system on the other board meant that one really had no idea if one’s post was of any interest, unless it happened to prompt a long thread.</p><p><br /></p><p>I find Cointalk’s mixture of novice, intermediate, and experienced collectors to be much more inviting and invigorating. The “Likes” system and the ease of uploading photos makes this a very user-friendly board. Kudos to the tech designers.</p><p><br /></p><p>After participating on this board for not quite 6 months, here are my three (admittedly impressionistic) main takeaways, besides a general appreciation for Cointalk and its members:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. I had no idea how popular Roman Republican coins were. In my early years of collecting, RR coins were a kind of marginalized curiosity. Roman coinage, for me, began with the emperors. Perhaps it’s the influence of Greek collecting on this board, but I was surprised to see how vigorous the RR collecting was on this site, and I’ve learned to appreciate this aspect of Roman coinage that I had hitherto neglected.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. I am now more inspired to privilege quality over quantity. I’m afraid this board has ruined me for ugly coins. Actually, I’m sure that’s a bit of an overstatement. I am a man of limited resources, so sometimes I have to opt for a desired coin in lower grades. But in general, I’m passing now on coins I would have pulled the trigger on earlier in order to have a coin in a better grade. This probably means I will collect fewer coins, but I’m ok with that. I go back to something I saw Doug Smith write. I paraphrase: “If you’re no longer interested in ancient coins in 10 years, will you have a coin that you can resell well? And if you are still interested in ancient coins in 10 years, will you be particularly pleased to have this coin in your collection?” Both scenarios argue for buying the best looking coin you can afford.</p><p><br /></p><p>3. It&#039;s clear to me that I need to become more conversant with the auction world beyond eBay. I still have yet to enter that world, but it seems the next logical step for one who aspires to be a serious collector, even with limited resources.</p><p><br /></p><p>Those are just three of many, many lessons learned in just a few months of reading Cointalk threads.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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