Ah, US coin collectors....

Very nice Napoleon(s), @Ryro !

One of my 6 daughters is named Josephine! And, now she has 4 kids herself.

My Napoleon:


France
Napoleon Emperor
2 Francs
1808-I
Limoges mint
Republic Rev
AU55
Ex: @Cucumbor The Great!

 

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In your opinion, slabs are a scourge on numismatics. But in mine, they can be a blessing. You like to open your slabs up, and that's your right. But similarly, if I choose to buy a slabbed coin, that's my right.

 

Wow, that is an interesting observation. I had never thought of it that way. Rather, I always understood them as the Fasces of Roman Consuls. But, given the historical time period... wow, very interesting observation!

 

Naw, I agree with @CoinCorgi . I bust out all of my coins...Ancient, World, US, and Gold. Purdy simple.
(besides, he has a dog avatar, so he will always be right. )

 

I buy American and Canadian coins never ancient or others. rare coins don't impress me as most coins being sold are way over priced I buy only what I want and what I can afford do I have low low mintages coins yes lots of them but I got them in the 50s and yes I did get a lot of the older certified ones the coins today are way over graded in my opinion and priced so high I don't even look at them pay say 1000.00 for a graded coin from a dealer now try selling it 99 % of the time you will loose . you can enjoy collecting as I have in the past 60years and not invest money you will never get back even the high prices the us mint charges the money you spend will never be gotten back take it from a very experienced collector the only ones who make out with mine will be the kids as they get them for free and sell them for what ever they will make out

 

Um yeah, there at times have been remarks on the other forums. Like I said, I don't get mad, preferring to see humor in hobby banter, but I have wide interests and read most sections here. I have read some stuff occasionally about paper collectors, ancients, ASEs, world coins, etc. It simply went off my back and was hoping my post would do the same.

 

If a few others had this attitude this thread would not be 5 pages long...

 

Sorry! I just realized I made a typo: NGC Ancients DOES guarantee their grades; what they do not guarantee is the authenticity of the coin being slabbed.

 

I know they do everything in good faith and I don’t think they would slab anything they don’t believe genuine but I would rather it be the other way around for ancients.

 

I agree with you very much. That said, I can understand why NGC Ancients would want to refrain from guaranteeing authenticity for ancients. But I do think they should do what ICCS in Canada does, and have a label that says, "this is, in our opinion, a genuine item" or some such thing.

 

And then again there are many different criteria that collectors apply to their coins that often vary widely. For instance, as a general rule I use the following “desireability and value to me” (most important to least important) properties for my Ancient coins:

No. 1: Historical Association (based on depictions and inscriptions)

No. 2: Centering on full flan (lettering and depictions visible and readable)

No. 3: Quality of lettering (I am a calligrapher)

No. 4: Overall “beauty” of coin (depictions and smoothness of surfaces)

Those are the values I assign to Ancient coins when buying or trading. I am sure they would not serve most other Ancient coin collectors (or collectors of “modern” coins).

Edited to change tabulation.

 

It's definitely very different for none ancient coins which isn't a bad thing, I do completely agree that the grading aspect for ancients seems to be an exercise in futility.

I liked your point a lot earlier about grading which could be applied to all aspects of coins. The authenticity aspect for ancients and the grades and everything else for more moderns allows collectors to expand out into areas they may have otherwise ignored if they have to go it on their own. Like you I do understand why the authenticity isn't backed up for ancients, but I still can't help be feel that would be the biggest asset to it if it was in that area of collecting

 

That is my understanding too, and that the symbol has a kind of “one for all, all for one” meaning. It’s only later, after Mussolini, that it has become a sign for political fascism. But how does a modern day person perceive the Mercury dime? I think this is where learning and understanding history becomes so important.

 

Looks like nearly the same criteria I and many collectors of Ancients use when deciding on an example to add to our collections.

 

I get coins that speak to me across the gulf of space and time. Sometimes it is an historical angle, sometimes it is the portrait or reverse. Other times it is something that I cannot quite identify. But I don't feel the same attraction to modern coins.

 

Agreed. I, personally, love History as a Hobby. From Ancient to Present. I have areas that I enjoy more, but like to have an overall understanding, even in areas that I am not as inspired.

I am usually reasonably perceptive of different symbols, within history, etc., but I totally missed it, until your interesting comment about the fasces. Thanks for the observation.

 

I knew I should have used a smiley face! My comment didn't apply to one particular coin denomination, but any coin, ancient or domestic, that I can't afford.

I guess the humor didn't work without the smiley face.

 

I guess so

The reason why I didn’t catch the humor, is that quite a lot of collectors equal price with rarity.
I have coins that are R6 and R7 that were quite cheap, and extremely common coins that were pretty expensive.
Sorry for being the guy that took you too seriously, then.

 

De nada.
(The only phrase I remember from Spanish class some 50 years ago)

 

Rare is often something that reflects both supply and demand. Thus, the 1916-D dime is relatively rare compared with the numbers of collecters and a limited universe of dates and mint-marks.

I like rarity and US coins. In fact, I have little interest in coins with over 100 known. I have chosen to specialize in Early Large Cents with a R4+ or higher rating. The thing is, while both older and rarer from an absolute number in existence, they are still relatively affordable due to the smaller demand from collectors of the series. But this is achieved by breaking down the dates into varieties, which reduces the supply (1 year with ten varieties makes the average variety 10 times as rare) and increases the total number of items (varieties.)

When that isn't enough, you can divide each variety into die states.

With ancients, there are excesses of a similar nature where thousands of varieties produce hundreds of rarities of 100 or less. Again, price keeps the less pristine rarities affordable.

So Ancients are not unlike many US variety collections when it comes to rarity.