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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 61949, member: 57463&quot;]<b>Collecting Knowledge</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I am with BZCollektor, GDSTMP, Midas and the others, in that I collect history.&nbsp; Coins (money, generally) are just one kind of artifact.&nbsp; I have Roman toga pins (fibula) and oil lamps, etc. When we moved into our new place, I pulled all of the &quot;old&quot; books from their categories and put them in one case in the living rooms.&nbsp; I have Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr.&#039;s biography of Alexander Hamilton and William Graham Sumner&#039;s history of US banking.&nbsp; For me, numismatics is history.&nbsp; It is also art. When I was about 25, I ditched a lot of excess &quot;stuff&quot; -- but I kept Jansen&#039;s History of Art.&nbsp; Numismatics fits well into that.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>There is no fanatic like a convert, however.</p><p><br /></p><p>I got into numismatics through bullion.&nbsp; Old coins with Miss Liberty were nice, but I would not spend money for &quot;numismatic value&quot; over bullion. I still like silver bars and rounds for that reason.&nbsp; I have six or eight from banks.&nbsp; I have several with aviation themes.&nbsp; But, always, it was the bullion.&nbsp; Eventually, I got interested in coins, and dabbled at Barber Dimes and Mercury Dimes, but I was in the situation of <u>wanting</u> to believe, but not really believing.&nbsp; Then, I discovered <u>ancients</u>.&nbsp; I became a believer.</p><p><br /></p><p>But it did not last.</p><p><br /></p><p>After a few years of collecting, I came to see things totally differently than everyone else around me.&nbsp; I kept a few pieces, maybe 25 or so, not for &quot;value&quot; but for <u>history</u>.&nbsp; (Good For One Beer at Scuff&#039;s Saloon, Tomahawk, Wisconsin.)&nbsp; Now, I buy coins (or whatever) only as subject matter for writing.&nbsp; However, that means that of necessity, I collect for the knowledge and history, not the &quot;value&quot; present or future.</p><p><br /></p><p>Besides, what gives a coin <u>value </u> but the <u>writing</u>?&nbsp; Without <i>The Fantastic 1804 Dollar</i>, the coins would just be $10,000 novodels, at best.&nbsp; Without auction catalogs touting their histories, they would not be even that.&nbsp; If not for the Red Book, even a 1909-S VDB would have very little value.&nbsp; <b>Information creates markets.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>When asked what he collected, Walter Breen said, &quot;Knowledge.&quot;[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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