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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 16153, member: 57463&quot;]You have given us another thought-provoking post, thanks.&nbsp; If I may range about a bit... I am not sure what &quot;most&quot; collectors do because we have so few accurate measures.&nbsp; People who answer polls are themselves a limited set.&nbsp; COIN WORLD actually hires a firm to poll its readers and part of that is the inclusion of a dollar bill for your time.&nbsp; So, they tend to get good, statistical results.&nbsp; Short of that, we are all guessing.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Part of the problem is KNOWING what is out there.&nbsp; I had been collecting for about five years, probably won my first Heath by then, before I saw a large Chinese copper 10 or 20 cash from 1900 or so in a dealer&#039;s junk box.&nbsp; The dragon really surprised me. I had no idea such a coin existed.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I was always a gold bug, a rightwing monetist, a longtime admirer of Ayn Rand, and therefore never interested in paper money.&nbsp; Then I learned more.&nbsp; My political views have not changed, but my understanding of paper money has and I like it for what it is.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I would have collected ancient Greek coins right away, if I had thought they were affordable.&nbsp; I started with Mercury Dimes and Barber Dimes as modern analogs.&nbsp; Then, at a coin show (MSNS), I saw some ancients and saw that I could afford them for the same price as the knock-offs.&nbsp; Too many newbies do not make the time or effort to travel to a major coin show, true, but I find self-defined &quot;experienced&quot; collectors who also never go to shows.&nbsp; It is a shame, really.&nbsp; I save my money for shows and seldom shop between times, though I do visit and buy when I am in a new town on business or whatever.&nbsp; And when I am in that shop, I take my time to look at everything.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Again, the point is that people come to the hobby and start buying stuff right away without understanding.&nbsp; So, new collectors must wander about a bit until they discover what they really like.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This gets into whole other area where eventually the moderator will kill the discussion.&nbsp; Most of that pioneer stuff is questionable.&nbsp; People get silly over it and stop asking questions.&nbsp; Again, sometimes it is just ignorance, true lack of knowledge.&nbsp; I bought a fractional gold from California from a reputable dealer.&nbsp; I attributed it myself against five references from Adams in 1913 up to Breen/Gillio.&nbsp; It never occurred to me that one of the authors of those books might own the dies.</p><p><br /></p><p>(Your avatar, that &quot;Blake&quot; coin, was condemned by Richard Doty and removed from the Smithsonian, is that not true?&nbsp; It is no longer listed in the Red Book, or am I mistaken on both counts?)</p><p><br /></p><p>Newbies are trusting, way too trusting.&nbsp; &quot;Buy the book before you buy the coin.&quot;??&nbsp; Heck!&nbsp; Buy the book INSTEAD of the coin.&nbsp; The book is really a book.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Well, I think that this reveals a basic issue at a very deep personal level.&nbsp; People become &quot;coin collectors.&quot;&nbsp; It is a culture, a society, in and of itself, with a language, customs, rituals, myths, tools, etc. It takes time for a newbie to learn all &quot;the ways of the people.&quot;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>At that deeper level, I find the most interesting people in our hobby are those who have a life outside the hobby.&nbsp; I fly.&nbsp; Numismatics opened the door to some interesting collectibles (aviation on banknotes), but, really, I am more interested in a numismatist who flies (such as Dave Harper) than yet another pilot who has some silver dollars at home.</p><p><br /></p><p>Michael[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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