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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Milesofwho, post: 3052046, member: 91469&quot;]In my experience with collecting, I&#039;ve been doing it for as long as I can remember, but it picked up in the past three years. It was after I read about the history of these old countries or empires that I became interested in really collecting coins. The first culture that really fascinated me was the Byzantine Empire. I read many books about it, and, of course, coinage was mentioned. In fact, the whole reason that I became interested in Byzantium was a Year 10 follis of Justin II and Sophia made at the third oficina at Constantinople. Being able to figure out all of the markings and symbols on the coin made me interested in seeing what else they had done. I still have the sheet of paper I worked it out on. At first, I thought the oficina number was the regnal number of the Emperor! After that, the constant intermingling with other cultures mentioned in the book fascinated me as well, so I read about the Medieval West next. That somehow led into the Far East. I made a list of what I considered the best emperor from each dynasty of Byzantium, and one coin from each period China was unified. It worked as a checklist, and by definition I stuck to one denomination, with one or two exceptions. Overall, I still collect for the historical value. I find a 1/2 skilling from 1794 which was issued when the King of Sweden visited the mint much more interesting than one of the modern bullion coins. I collect a few coins for nice designs, but I don&#039;t find very many that I truly find beautiful. As a 16 year old collector, I still enjoy things such as video games. But I am able to also set aside time for researching things, because one of my favorite things to do is to identify coins for people, or for myself. Sorry about the whole essay, but that&#039;s sort of my story on how I started collecting coins. If I hadn&#039;t read about the cultures, I would&#039;ve taken no interest in Chinese coins. I think that the historical context of a coin is what makes it interesting to people. It certainly is the case with the Shekel of Tyre dated 33/34 AD.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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