Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;jamesicus, post: 4710443, member: 14873&quot;]Last year I announced here, with great fanfare, that I was downsizing my ancient coin collection to just twenty coins that I especially treasured - ones that I took great delight in fondling, admiring and researching above all others I owned. These would be the coins that I would keep until I depart “this mortal coil”. I did retain my favorite ancient coin reference books. I also disposed of my collections of antique flintlock firearms, vintage woodworking hand tools and Japanese Samurai swords. My intention was to spend the rest of my days writing - Calligraphy: Roman Majuscule {Capital} lettering &amp; Italian Renaissance Chancery cursive {italic} handwriting - fondling and researching my twenty ancient coins - visiting and nurturing my eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren - having occasional informal lunches with my “cronies” and romancing my wife/soulmate Beverly.</p><p><br /></p><p>I announced that I would not buy any more coins: twenty would be it! There were some skeptics here who said I could never exist with just twenty coins and I was determined to prove them wrong.</p><p><br /></p><p>Things went great for a while coin wise - I set out to re-read all of the introductory chapters of BMCRE, Volumes I and II - Harold Mattingly has always been my favorite author - and RIC Volumes VI and VII. That has been a great experience: I learned so very much from that. I came to the realization that my “true love” has always been Julio-Claudian&nbsp; Aes coinage: Sestertii, dupondii and asses - I was returning to my roots!</p><p><br /></p><p>I was also enjoying the stress-free, relaxed, lifestyle we were now living.</p><p><br /></p><p>Then the accursed coronavirus hit! That changed everything. Our doctor put us on home quarantine because of our ages and medical conditions: I am a 90 years old (soon to be 91) diabetic with advanced lower leg edema, neuropathy and diminished kidney function. Beverly is a double heart bypass surgery survivor with associated cardiac problems. For me, except for doctor visits, I have been essentially house-bound for many months now.</p><p><br /></p><p>Talk about being “stir-crazy”! And now I come to my “falling off the wagon”</p><p><br /></p><p>TIF first coined (pun intended) that label for me. She has helped me enormously by editing and re-formatting&nbsp; many of my archived coin photos - they were in various formats, sizes and with many different backgrounds and she used her enormous skills to make them all uniform for me. I had rashly set-out to try to do it myself by installing Photo Shop and trying to use it. I was overwhelmed by its complexity. In addition, I no longer have a photography set-up and sometimes I am unable to even walk across the room to test my efforts. So I turned to TIF for help. Of course, as always, she came to the rescue! I have said many times that she is a real treasure here on Coin Talk! She did not manipulate any of my photos (I hate that) but she did give them the uniform dense black backgrounds and size that I wanted. I have taken some pretty poor photographs in the past - most of the decent ones I took were a result of following Doug Smith’s advice that he frequently contributes here. TIF noticed there were now some newly purchased coins in my collection - “James”, she said, “ you have fallen off the wagon!”.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, I have now recently purchased 12 additional coins (all Julio-Claudian) and my “end-game” collection now consists of 32 coins. Why that number?</p><p><br /></p><p>Well, the original 20 filled the spaces in an old Abafil tray I had. The second tray in the case - not being used - was for 12 Sestertii, so now I am using the entire spaces in the case. (Group photo of my new collection to follow).</p><p><br /></p><p>So please excuse this long, rambling post - I just wanted to explain all this so everyone will understand my situation when I post and explain new coins in my collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>One thing for sure, I going to refrain from posting information relating to my “long ago, in the past” coin collecting activities, etc. - my memory is getting a lot worse these days and I am constantly mixing up dates and coin information and thus confusing myself - and others.</p><p><br /></p><p>Edit: just to keep it “coin-centric”:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1155752[/ATTACH][/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