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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;physics-fan3.14, post: 3196734, member: 19165&quot;]Your description of a &quot;numismatist&quot; is actually an advanced collector. A numismatist is one who studies and researches (with the focus on new research - uncovering new things, answering unsolved questions, or explaining things in a way nobody has before), a collector is one who buys to complete a set or acquire more coins. A collector with more experience or more money may buy nicer things, but that does not make them a numismatist. An advanced collector will learn their series, learn the details, and even branch out to other series - but their focus is on learning so that they can be savvy buyers. It&#039;s like me reading Consumer Reports before I buy a car - you&#039;re not going to say I&#039;m a safety researcher because I read the report before buying the car. Same with collectors.</p><p><br /></p><p>Compare, for example, two of the greatest collectors of the 20th century: Eliasberg and Bass. You cannot argue that they built two of the finest collections ever assembled. However, Eliasberg was a pure collector - he made no study of his coins, published no research, had no numismatic tendencies at all. Bass, however, did some of the finest research in his area, publishing his studies and expanding the knowledge of numismatics. Both of them are the most advanced collectors, only one of them was a numismatist.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I disagree. Even the most advanced collectors may never be numismatists. It is not a sliding scale - they are two completely different things.</p><p><br /></p><p>The confusion comes because as collectors get more deeply involved in collecting, some of them start to study and research the things they are collecting. They become numismatists as well as collectors.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, you can argue where on the spectrum the line should be drawn to distinguish &quot;beginner,&quot; &quot;layman,&quot; &quot;advanced,&quot; and &quot;expert.&quot; That is definitely a sliding spectrum with opinions. But &quot;collectors&quot; and &quot;numismatists&quot; are two separate things.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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