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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Terence Cheesman, post: 6274943, member: 86498&quot;]I moved into Edmonton when I was 4 years old In 1972 I started collecting ancient coins when I found a denarius of Geta at a local shop.&nbsp; paid $10 for it</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1248474[/ATTACH] long since gone. What I discovered very quickly was that there were very few ancient coins in this city and the shows were not much better. One time my friend beat me to the only ancient coin at one of the shows ( a denarius of Nerva)&nbsp; and that was it. I learned to very quickly develop sources outside my city to get anything. One time I took a trip to Calgary some 300 kilometers to the south because I heard they had a dealer that had some ancient coins. He did I blew every cent I had and spent the night sleeping in a parking garage. Another source of coins was from California where I dealt with the infamous Bruce McNall (this was before he founded NFA.) He would send me little packets of coins usually denarii and I would purchase them. These coins mostly in the F to VF range are gone. Back in those days I could order a group of coins on a Monday and the coins would arrive Registered Mail on a Friday. That was back in the day when the postal system actually worked.</p><p>&nbsp; I was not making a lot of money, mostly working minimum wage jobs until August of 1980 when I became a post man. By then ancient coins were a bit more common locally, but for something specific I would look through various coin magazines and newspapers looking for dealers specializing in ancient coins. It was always a treat to get one of these fixed price lists. When I was on the bus heading home I would look at all the coins offered and circle those&nbsp; that I was interested in, and then try to contact the vendor to see if anything was still there. (usually they weren&#039;t) So then I would go through the list trying to find something I could use all the while thinking... When was the last time I bought something from this guy? If I don&#039;t will he stop sending me his lists. Also long distance calls were something like a $1 a minute so there was an incentive to try to buy ...something.... anything. This proved again to be rather hit or miss. Though I did&nbsp; get this guy [ATTACH=full]1248473[/ATTACH]</p><p>Pertinax Ar Denarius Rome 193 AD Obv head right laureate Rv Emperor togate standing left sacrificing over altar. 3.32 grms&nbsp; 18 mm Photo by W. Hansen</p><p>Along with FPLs I had bought some coins from auctions. In those days there were at least to my knowledge no phone bids so what I would have to do was phone in my bids sometimes a few hours before the auction ( as that would be when I got the auction in the mail) . I usually bid estimate and often I would employ the &quot;shotgun&quot; approach which would mean I would do a lot of &quot;either or&quot; bids.&nbsp; Back in those days no one cared about pedigree so most coins did not have them.&nbsp; In 1988 I was able to attend my first major US coin show at Long Beach California. It was so cool to be able to actually look at great numbers of coins at one time. In 1989 and in 1991 I managed to go to Europe and took in some regional shows but was able to visit some of the major coin shops in London, Munich and in Rome. Finally probably about the same time as this happened a dealer in Calgary began to offer a lot of ancient coins. So between him and the contacts I made in Europe I spent most of the 90&#039;s in abject poverty.&nbsp; During this period I would consider myself fortunate to purchase something like 30 to 40 coins a year.</p><p>&nbsp; That changed with the internet with early eBay. (which I think I became aware of sometime around 1997 and I got my first internet capable computer in 1999 )&nbsp; When the on line dealers came in the price of most common ancient coins simply plummeted.&nbsp;&nbsp; The internet was so novel. I could actually buy something if I was the first to see it. So for a while I was averaging over 100 coins a year.</p><p>&nbsp; So in retrospect do I miss the &quot;olden days&quot; Not really. I wish I bought a little smarter back then but hindsight always has 20-20.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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