Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Marsyas Mike, post: 4670189, member: 85693&quot;]An interesting situation.&nbsp; Collecting is very personal, and personally, I take the opposite approach to mrbreeze&#039;s....which is not to say he is wrong, or I am wrong.&nbsp; Whatever brings you pleasure, I say.</p><p><br /></p><p>By opposite, I mean for years I bought junky world crowns whenever I found one cheap (near price of melt).&nbsp; Proof is here (these are just the ones lying around on my file cabinet - the more respectable ones are in flips):</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1151248[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Over the years, a few Ethiopian birrs from Menelik&#039;s era got scooped up the same way - worn, close to melt:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1151247[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The reason for this is sheer personal preference - I like the old stuff.&nbsp; Modern stuff does not, and never has interested me.&nbsp; Not just coins, but everything else - it kills me to have to buy something new - I&#039;d much rather have an old beat-up dresser from the &#039;30s than a new one from IKEA.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway, as for value.&nbsp; Spending a premium on a coin such as the Ethiopian birr is, again, a matter of preference.&nbsp; But I am very suspicious of &quot;value&quot; in these situations.&nbsp; My birr cost probably $20 tops.&nbsp; Paying $980.00 more for the same coin in a slab seems risky to me, in terms of value.&nbsp; Absolutely nothing is added in terms of rarity or historical interest, just an opinion on a slab for a coin that through an accident, never actually got spent, used, traveled or did anything but lurk in a vault or cabinet.&nbsp; Not my cup of tea.&nbsp; For the same price, I&#039;d much much much much rather have the Julius Caesar denarius - which is genuinely scarce, very much in demand, and pretty likely to keep its value. </p><p><br /></p><p>My switch over to ancients has been a 30 year process - in the old days I found low-grade cheap ancients hard to find in mail catalogs, which discouraged me.&nbsp; Once I started figuring out the Internet and eBay, a whole world of affordable stuff, and how to attribute it, opened up to me.&nbsp; The French 5 francs are historical, for sure, but there wasn&#039;t really much to research or discover after a while.</p><p><br /></p><p>Ancients, because of c. 3000 years of issue from a huge variety of places, seems to be an inexhaustible topic.&nbsp; And the prices...here is a batch of Greeks and Roman tetradrachms I paid around $25 for - I spent hours figuring them out.&nbsp; It was so much fun.&nbsp; A new Ethiopian Birr is just another Ethiopian birr to add to the six or so I already have.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1151249[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>As for &quot;value&quot; - none of those ancients is going to make my retirement days any easier - common, worn stuff.&nbsp; That pile of French 5 francs and my cruddy birr - well, I just checked the price of silver.&nbsp; Wow.</p><p><br /></p><p>Historical rise in silver prices from Kitco, just now (July 27, 2020) - the dollar figure is the change in price - the price right now is $24.23 per ounce:</p><p><br /></p><p>30 Days&nbsp; $6.42&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 36.08%</p><p>6 Months $6.14&nbsp; &nbsp; 33.97%</p><p>1 Year $7.86&nbsp; &nbsp; 48.10%</p><p>5 Years $9.68&nbsp; &nbsp; 66.54%</p><p>Since 2000 $18.81&nbsp; &nbsp; 347.60%</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.kitco.com/silver-price-today-usa/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.kitco.com/silver-price-today-usa/" rel="nofollow">https://www.kitco.com/silver-price-today-usa/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>So yeah, silver 5 francs bought around melt 20 years ago are looking like a real shrewd investment.&nbsp; 347.60% percent rise since 2000!&nbsp; But I&#039;m neither shrewd nor an investor - I just like old coins.&nbsp; And my junky sestertii are never going to appreciate like that silver does, if they appreciate at all.</p><p><br /></p><p>So in a value sense, collecting ancients is a mistake, the way I do it.&nbsp; But I&#039;m so much more engaged and happy with my collecting now (and have made so many electronic ancients friends on Coin Talk).&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>So what&#039;s the silver melt value of a Hadrian denarius weighing 3 grams....?&nbsp; Just kidding!&nbsp; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie101" alt=":woot:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in