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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Nathan B., post: 4574753, member: 112852&quot;]At the risk of alienating my new friends whom I admire and respect, I need to say that I feel some of the responses to this comment and sentiment were overwrought.&nbsp; The original poster asked what people thought, and this comment was a simple response to that. It wasn&#039;t an insult or an attack.&nbsp; Furthermore, it was good advice: whether a coin is two thousand years old, or only only two, it&#039;s best to handle it by its edges, not by its faces.</p><p><br /></p><p>The fact is that much of the ancient coinage in small-scale collections was dug up in the last two hundred years after being stored for two thousand years--give or take a few hundred--in extremely arid environments in which they were not exposed to moisture, oils, or physical wear through touching.&nbsp; Handling a coin by its faces exposes it to all three.&nbsp; If someone wants to handle a coin by its face, that&#039;s his or her right.&nbsp; But if others want to be more careful and handle their coins only by their rims, that&#039;s also their right.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for touching coins, one person wants to slab, another wants to hold the actual coin between his or her fingers: as far as <i>enjoyment </i>of the hobby goes, one isn&#039;t better than the other.&nbsp; For some, touching their ancient coin is absolutely essential; for others, it isn&#039;t.&nbsp; To each, their own.</p><p><br /></p><p>For myself, I&#039;m very glad that my owl is in a slab.&nbsp; It gives me a certain amount of peace of mind, on multiple counts.&nbsp; But the next coins I buy, which will be 5-20% of the cost of my owl, and with far lower relief, will be unslabbed--and I&#039;ll be fine with that.&nbsp; In fact, I&#039;ll be at least very fine with that. ;-)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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