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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ambr0zie, post: 5360201, member: 80952&quot;]I started collecting at the venerable age of 5 (1990). My parents and grandparents gave me some modern foreign coins (no market value) to play with and I was fascinated, I gathered them in a box so every time they got a coin or banknote, especially foreign, I took it carefully, studied it and &quot;archived&quot; it.</p><p>I kept the habit and swapped with other kids until I was 12-13 and gave up.</p><p>15 years after this I went to a small numismatic fare by accident and I just remember I had some coins at home (I wasn&#039;t living in my home town for years). So I just restarted the hobby, this time a serious approach, learning about grading, catalogues, market value and having a clear goal - what I want in my collection.</p><p>I remember I was speaking with an arrogant seller from the fare, and I told him my goal is to have an almost complete collection of my country (I knew a <b>complete</b> collection is impossible as there are some examples one can never have). He thought it was funny.</p><p>After 7 years I reached my goal. Much faster than I was expecting, and with great financial efforts, but it made me really proud and happy.</p><p>When I made a wish list with what I want, there were some coins marked in red (my notes were - unlikely to find one and even if I do, it will be out of my budget). There were 11 coins listed. The list remained at 5 coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>So I reached the end of my modern numismatic activity (of course there are still some missing from my goal, but those were never an option) and I decided to start on a new road.</p><p>And yes, I still have (and really cherish) my first coins and banknotes, the ones that made me a collector.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>So in September 2020 I was discussing with a gentleman who sold me a lot of valuable modern coins during these years. He knew I like history and once or twice I mentioned I would love a Trajan coin so he showed me an auction and advised me to go for it. In fact it was Hadrian and I spotted this (he wasn&#039;t into ancients) but a very decent coin, with clear details, some luster, very attractive. I told him I don&#039;t think I can afford this.</p><p>I knew this is a totally different subject and requires lots of documentation. My only contact with the ancient coins world was a handful of LRBs (very bad conservation) - I got them out of curiosity. I thought better ancients, where you can read the legends and see the portraits clear, were quite expensive, not under 100$&nbsp; for an example in F grade.</p><p>I experienced something I hadn&#039;t felt in years - a big desire to own a new coin, to study it, to learn about the background of the ruler. I found myself spending hours everyday reading about ancient coins. I knew what the coins are before I bid, even if I never saw a Denarius before. And I was never interested until that time. So I went for the auction and, to my surprise, won it. It was a lot of 3 Denarii and 1 Antoninianus, all in excellent condition, I didn&#039;t believe the price. </p><p>In the same auction I won another 2 lots - one consisting in 8 Denarii, in worse condition but still easy to attribute (I did it myself and just checked these days, I was correct). I was amazed. Vespasian, Julia Domna, Faustina I, Lucius Verus, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus ... I remembered some names from history but having those was giving me goosebumps.</p><p>The 3rd lot was a batch of 34 coins, the hammer price was quite low, the picture was not OK, but I thought it would be an excellent way for me to learn how to attribute worn coins, to see if I can determine the period, the emperor... to my surprise the coins were all decent, some of them in excellent condition, some of them scarce or rare. It was the best numismatic surprise I ever had.</p><p>It was the first time I saw a Sestertius (it was a Titus) and I understood why the collectors like them.</p><p>So I continued. Not sure what was the situation with that auction house, the coins were just incredibly cheap that time, but this didn&#039;t happen in the future with them.</p><p>I found another auction house and since them (Oct-Dec 2020) took part in 3 auctions, adding another 64 coins in my album. All of them because they had <b>something</b>- I think you all&nbsp; know the feeling when you just stare at a coin and admire it.</p><p>It was a little overwhelming at first - my ambition is to attribute correctly and to recognize the emperor and the reverse type, this is sometimes difficult for a provincial coin (especially) but study and practice sure helps.</p><p>I wanted to expand my horizon to Greek coins, I also bought some I find iconic but I am a little discouraged of the large number of forgeries (and I am well aware this goes for Roman coins too...) I know many collectors sometimes buy a forgery just for academic purposes, but I personally hate them and I wouldn&#039;t spend 1 $ on one. For me, they just spoil the excitement.</p><p><br /></p><p>For the future, my goal is to expand the collection and keep adding the same &quot;type of coin&quot; - the one I admire when seeing it available, so I check it 250 times a day to see if the bid increased, I set an alarm on my phone 5 minutes before the auction and, of course, the one I love studying when it finally arrives.</p><p><br /></p><p>Most likely, I will buy less than in these 3 months, as my budget can&#039;t afford this rate, but you can&#039;t make an omelette without breaking eggs.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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