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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;jamesicus, post: 3313613, member: 14873&quot;]<span style="color: #ff9999"><b>How I learned to stop worrying and love the things I collect.</b></span></p><p><br /></p><p>I collect Roman Imperial coins (mostly those with Britannic Association), Japanese Samurai swords (Nihontô - mostly with Edo period mountings) and martial flintlock firearms (Napoleonic wars and the war of 1812). Now those are expensive artifacts for a person with modest means - like me! So my monetary resources are spread thin. Even if I wanted too, I simply cannot afford very high quality, aesthetically pleasing examples such as Julio-Claudian aurei, Old sword period famous maker Katanas or Durs Egg Officer model pistols. Japanese swords in particular can be exorbitantly expensive. These days I am more of a $100-$500 buyer with an infrequent $1000 splurge. But that is not a great burden for me for I derive a great deal of pleasure from simply researching and reading about the items I buy. Most of all, I can handle and admire them (carefully and with diligence) with my bare hands - without experiencing guilt or worry. I do take precautions though - dry hands, no breathing on shiny metal (especially Japanese sword blades), no vigorous rubbing (gentle fondling and caressing is OK) and careful handling at all times. Because the artifacts I purchase are not pristine, I accept imperfections such as a little enhancing (ahem, smoothing/tooling, etc.) especially for antique firearms - but I don’t do any myself - or attempt to correct any of the existing faults. I look at this way: all of the blemishes, dings, and missing pieces are part of their history. My motto is “do no (more) harm”. Now where does this bring me? Ah, I know - why I don’t like slabbing Ancient coins. They are out of reach for me in their plastic coffins. I suppose their wide-spread use is inevitable - but, like Doug Smith, I don’t think I will be around to see it happen.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>BTW, if anyone is moved to visit my Nihontô Pages <a href="http://jp29.org/000nihonto.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://jp29.org/000nihonto.htm" rel="nofollow"><u>just click here please</u></a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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