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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1731721, member: 19463&quot;]After careful consideration, I believe you went too far with the line assuming you are not crazy.&nbsp;&nbsp; I certainly would not pay $330 for that chi-rho coin but that just means I am crazy in a slightly different way making me pay $330 for something you would value at $12.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>In the time since the article first aired, I see a few changes but mostly in degree rather than direction.&nbsp; &#039;What is it worth?&#039; has always been the driving force behind 90% of coin collectors and 99% of non-collectors viewing coins.&nbsp; Those numbers seem to be growing.&nbsp; When I started collecting, shops selling coins had signs in the window naming the store.&nbsp; Today, the biggest letters in the window read &#039;We Buy Gold!&#039;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>When I started collecting ancient coins, I had trouble with the concept of paying a dollar (or a nickel, for that matter) for a Lincoln cent.&nbsp; I was able to rationalize paying a dollar for an ancient (many were 50 cents then) and even spent $13.50 on one denarius in 1963.&nbsp; They were somehow different and immune from my feelings that cents should be a cent.&nbsp; Today, as then, I would be happy if the bottom fell out of the market and I could buy tetradrachms for melt value.&nbsp; My collection would grow in size as it diminished in value.&nbsp; Unfortunately, such a crash would cause the elimination of 99% of the coin dealers/sources I rely upon so it is in my best interest for my collection and yours to retain their inflated values supported by thousands of people interested in <b>what</b> coins are worth not <b>why</b>.&nbsp;&nbsp; Why is your $330 coin worth more that its cheap brother?&nbsp; Rarity?&nbsp; Maybe, but more likely it is that there are more Christian collectors than botanists interested in whatever that is in the middle of the other coin.&nbsp;&nbsp; Why am I willing to pay more for a coin that I will never sell and could never sell without an exhaustive search for a collector that agrees with me that the coin is a keeper.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; Because I really am crazy.&nbsp; Why are some Lincoln cents worth (several times) $330?&nbsp; It is because owners know there will be no problem finding a thousand people with $330 willing to pay for it even if they do not have the slightest idea why?&nbsp; How many owners of 1909s VDB know where to find the VDB on a 1917s?&nbsp; How many care?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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