Ancientnoob and Ancient Coins in the Newspaper

Great article A-Noob! Nice of them to recognize you and the work you did for the library. I really enjoyed the read. As far as I'm concerned any press is good press for this niche of the hobby.

If I lived up in your neck of the woods you can bet I'd be there for your presentation. Good Luck!

 

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There were only a couple empty seats in the auditorium. I didn't do a head count but the room would hold something between 75 & 100 people. Fifty people turned-in their written evaluations. They all apparently liked our presentations and fun was definitely had by all.

 

I'd agree with this except for the tendency of the press to sensationalize the rarity and value of such items. The estimate of the overall value divided by the number of items suggests that this was the kind of collection anyone might aspire to own rather than have to drive to a museum to see. It is not like the collection were the X6 or TIF hoard. I hope people came away with the idea that the hobby is accessible to folks like them. Perhaps some of them will follow up when they retire and are looking for a hobby.

Was there a Q&A session? What was asked. When I did a similar program a few years back, questions were asked how we know they are real and where could they go to find such things (since their local coin shops were not sources).

 

atta-brother, Noob ... yah, I knew that one of us would escape gravity and become a God!! (good on ya, brother)

 

Yes, there was Q&A after each presentation. Also, before things got started several people had questions so it was an excellent forum for information exchange. Some had brought coins with them & they all got their answers on the spot. Other folks wanted to know more information about the coins they did not bring with them. (You know the little coin with the old Greek or Roman head on one side & what looks like a dancing lady on the other side ). Everyone was coin-talking from about 6 to 9 pm. Just about everyone attending walked away with our contact information to follow-up on their specific applications. There will undoubtedly be follow-up meetings & probably some good interactions with the existing local coin club and detectorist club.

The best questions IMO came from the youngest guy in the audience. I'm guessing he was about 7 years old. I suspect he is the one that brought his father to the meeting rather than the other way around. He asked ancientnoob how he knew the denomination of the ancient coin example & wanted to know how much buying-power the particular ancient coin had. Anoob wowed them with his answer(s).

 

That's exactly the sort of question that interested me when I started collecting recently, at a much older age. And it still fascinates me. What exactly would this coin buy? A loaf of bread? A cask of wine? A horse?

 

That can be the hardest question since most people forget that Roman coins were in use for almost a thousand years and things changed almost as often as the gas stations change the pump prices. Harl's Coinage in the Roman Economy is a good book but most will come away from it wondering why we have so little concrete information.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Coinage_in_the_Roman_Economy_300_B_C_to.html?id=5yPDL0EykeAC

The answer I use most is to ask how much a 2000 sq. ft. house costs in New York City or in some small town in Arkansas. How much is an orange in Florida or in Alaska? How much did a small hamburger cost at McDonalds in 1954 and how much today? I once was asked by a Latin class making a class newspaper how much made sense to print as the price on the masthead. They realized the printing press was a few years off but we discussed the matter a bit and decided on a quadrans.

 

I wasn't aware of that book, Doug. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

Become a god, maybe...but if I am...I am in the company of many others.

Thanks all for supporting collect89 and I.

I wish I had more time to spend here..I have just been so whipped out.

I'm just glad I don't have to sell any more coins...

I have been messing around with new non-coin addition to my collection...

...anyone know anything about Kamakura Period ko-dachi?

 

Thanks TIF! Your the best!