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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 7854293, member: 19463&quot;]My parents divorced when I was eight (1953).&nbsp; Due to my mother&#039;s work schedule (nurse) I spent a lot of time in our apartment alone.&nbsp; To keep me occupied, she &#039;advanced&#039; me $50 to buy coins at face from a local vending machine company (loose in canvas bags) which I would sort and roll to cash in at the bank to retrieve the cash.&nbsp; I sold or traded &#039;better&#039; coins that I did not have at a local coin store.&nbsp; One day, I saw a dish of ancients on the counter and bought a few ancients of no merit.&nbsp; I considered it foolish to pay more than face value for a US coin but was willing to trade extra 1913&#039;s for a 1911 I lacked.&nbsp; I considered paying half a dollar for a decent bronze or low end denarius quite OK since they were not spendable.&nbsp; Soon, I stopped looking at US and funded ancient purchases from working in the local aquarium store.&nbsp; When in high school, I saw a coin that really spoke to me on a list from Joel Malter in California but it&nbsp; was $13.50 or twice what I had ever spent on a coin before.&nbsp; I bought it and have shown it here more times than you can count.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1353106[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I soon became especially interested in coins of Septimius Severus who was less popular and much cheaper than most rulers.&nbsp; I even wrote an article on the coin above for the &#039;Voice of the Turtle&#039; magazine (Feb. 1966).&nbsp; They would publish anything.</p><p><a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/124356743285?" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/124356743285?" rel="nofollow">https://www.ebay.com/itm/124356743285?</a></p><p>chn=ps&amp;norover=1&amp;mkevt=1&amp;mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&amp;mkcid=2&amp;itemid=124356743285&amp;targetid=1263433205694&amp;device=c&amp;mktype=pla&amp;googleloc=9008602&amp;poi=&amp;campaignid=10459841979&amp;mkgroupid=117435520970&amp;rlsatarget=pla-1263433205694&amp;abcId=2146002&amp;merchantid=113676975&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw4KyJBhAbEiwAaAQbE4dY15dXabvQ1G7v4su9jbm3ivJhxHK7Sczd7aaQSXLZj5JM32FBFBoCvXgQAvD_BwE</p><p><br /></p><p>In those days, I was also buying &#039;general&#039; ancients and living easy with my wife and I both working.&nbsp; Then came 1974 and the birth of our daughter.&nbsp; My&nbsp; wife stopped working and I stopped buying coins.&nbsp; Choosing financial security over coins, I sold about 150 coins to Joel Malter for $500.&nbsp; To this day I have never seen even one of those coins.&nbsp; Who bought them?&nbsp; I want some of them back; one even?</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1353121[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I kept three that I considered special to me (and Mr. Malter would not pay extra for) and bought no more coins for 12 years when I, once again, saw some offered in a shop.&nbsp; I continued collecting generally 50% and Septimius 50% as before the break.&nbsp; I wrote a letter to the British Museum asking a question on Septimius which they could not answer but they introduced me to Roger Bickford-Smith who was then the expert of note on such things.&nbsp; He offered me $250 for the coin in question.&nbsp; I refused and we became quite close.&nbsp; During that period, I pretty much stopped buying anything but Septimius.&nbsp; I never got over Roger&#039;s sudden death and still value his letters.&nbsp;&nbsp; I did get some of his coins from the CNG sale 47.&nbsp; The BM kept most of what they saw to be the better ones but I got a few that will stay here for the duration. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1353125[/ATTACH]</p><p>About that time, the late Victor Failmezger, a fellow member of the local coin club (Ancient Numismatic Society of Washington) tried with some success to get me interested in Late Roman bronzes.&nbsp; He was writing a book on the subject for which I did photos of his collection and my coins when my specimen was better than his.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1353126[/ATTACH]</p><p>About that time, for reasons I fail to understand, I conceived the desire to learn to write HTML code for web pages and decided to use free web space on Geocities for a website on coins.&nbsp; Later the site moved to Ancients.info and then to Forvm where I intend to let it die.&nbsp; In 1997, the web needed free information exchange on ancient coins.&nbsp; Today, there is a glut.</p><p><img src="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/banner.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>The first two pages were one on &#039;My Favorite Coin&#039; and one supporting Victor&#039;s belief that some Falling Horseman coins showed the use of stirrups (contrary to the belief that these were unknown to the Romans).</p><p><a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/notsev.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/notsev.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/notsev.html</a></p><p><a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/feac6.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/feac6.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/feac6.html</a></p><p>From 1997 to 2003, I posted a new page almost every week to the point that my wife was getting irritated at the time I was spending on coins.&nbsp; During this period I bought many coins I did not really want but that I &#039;needed&#039; to illustrate my webpage obsession. </p><p><br /></p><p>Those coins include most of what I have been selling through John Anthony and Severus Alexander&#039;s sales.&nbsp; A few were Severan duplicates.&nbsp; The 12 coins Evan referred to were what did not sell in AMCC 1.&nbsp; I decided it was better to give them to a promising YN than to sell then at even less than the start prices. </p><p><br /></p><p>I hope the people to whom I have given coins understand that they are to be nice to some YN someday.&nbsp; Nothing would make me happier than to find someone I encouraged in any way to take up this hobby became curator of the British Museum, wrote a standard reference book on coins or just developed a lifelong interest not unlike the one I have enjoyed. </p><p><br /></p><p>2003 saw a &#039;fear of poverty&#039; repeat of 1974 when I retired (for good!) and stopped buying coins and updating the web pages until we got acclimated to living on half pay.&nbsp; My collecting in this period moved away from so many Septimius coins and was more general with emphasis on what I considered to be technically interesting coins which most people find ugly. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1353122[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1353128[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Occasionally, I took a short side trip into the fad of the moment (Probus, Republican, Indian etc.) but usually returned to the technical (errors, interesting fabric) or whatever attracted my attention.&nbsp; Dealers at shows who asked what I was collecting were told, &quot;Coins I like at prices I can afford.&quot;&nbsp; They were hoping to hear, &quot;Coins you got stuck with for twice what they are worth.&quot; </p><p><br /></p><p>On respected expert told me I was the second cheapest person he knew.&nbsp; I was hurt.&nbsp; #2 has to try harder.&nbsp; I still wonder who was #1; he could have been fun to know.</p><p><br /></p><p>In 2009 I joined Coin Talk but found it a crashing bore with a World section described as for the discussion of the &#039;new Euro coins&#039; and other non-US.&nbsp; I was active on another venue when two of my friends were kicked off (as I recall, one posted a Priapus coin and the other complained when the first got the boot).&nbsp; I suggested we move to Coin Talk where some old members considered themselves invaded by the Mongol Hoard and Atilla the Hun all in one. I stopped updating the website altogether and spent too much time on Coin Talk.</p><p><br /></p><p>Then came Covid and cancellation of coin shows accompanied by frenzied spending online.&nbsp; I bought one coin this year and am not in love with it. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1353123[/ATTACH]</p><p>I may be done.&nbsp; There is a coin show scheduled for September 24-25 nearby but I expect it to be cancelled due to the rising Covid numbers.&nbsp; I may not go anyway since latest reports suggest I won&#039;t be booster eligible then. </p><p><br /></p><p>It was fun while it lasted.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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