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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;papersplz, post: 2994473, member: 91109&quot;]I&#039;ve been lurking a couple months but this is my first time posting anything.</p><p><br /></p><p>I got interested in the general hobby of coin and currency collecting last year.&nbsp; While visiting with my girlfriend&#039;s family, I heard her dad saying something about waiting on a coin book in the mail. That caught my interest and we struck up a conversation. He asked would I be interested in seeing some of his collection and I said I would even though I could see some other people at the table slouching back in their chairs as if to say, &quot;not again, Dad&quot;. A few minutes later he was pulling out the boxes and binders and albums and I began to realize that coins were a very big deal to him, obviously the work of many years. I was stunned at the beauty and variety of American coins including a very large number of designs I had never seen before.</p><p><br /></p><p>Afterwards I was kind of shy about letting anyone know how excited I was by the idea of starting my own collection. I began doing research online in earnest, looking at shops, eBay, vcoins, PCGS price charts, etc. Watching youtube videos. Reading this forum and others. I bought my first few books on American coins and currency and identified potential targets, then moved on to studying the market for some pieces I felt most interested in. </p><p><br /></p><p>I bought a few things, but the more I studied and learned, the more stressed out I felt about the whole process.&nbsp; I liked the idea of being able to hold the coins because of their connection to history, but I read a lot of fearmongering advice about the dangers of buying raw -- not because the coins might be fake (although they could be!) but because only an expert third party with the coin in hand can tell whether something should grade as MS65 or MS64, the kind of subtle distinction that can make a big difference in the market price of a modern coin. The general terror of cleaning also made me uneasy since I&#039;ve seen photos of many &quot;details&quot; coins that look A-OK to me. I realized you need to be quite the expert, or at least have the confidence of one, to purchase modern coins over the internet without fear of being ripped off in some way or another. And I felt alienated by the idea of buying dozens of nearly-identical pieces to complete sets the way &quot;real&quot; collectors do.</p><p><br /></p><p>After a while, I gave up on the idea of collecting American and shifted into world coins and currency. German coins with all their different interpretations of eagle motifs have been a favorite. Inflation currency was a fun black hole for a while. German material has checked a lot of boxes for me: interesting historical tie ins with WWI and WW2, cool eagle designs, interesting things available at beginner-level prices.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m not sure what coin-related thing I was searching at the time, but at some point serendipity took over and I stumbled across [USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER]&#039;s 99 and 1/2 favorite coins page. Just like that first night, I had a feeling of wonder at the amazing variety of things I never even knew existed. Soon after that I found the &quot;What Your Budget Buys&quot; series of threads and began to get very excited about the range of things that are attainable with a modest budget and patience. My main reason for writing down all these words is to say thanks to everyone who has put effort into these pages and threads. It&#039;s all invaluable to newcomers like me.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m working on &quot;doing it right&quot;, got some books on order coming in the mail, plan on spending some time digging into history and sticking mostly with the bargain bin while I get oriented. But my first coin was an impulse buy, a denarius of Marcus Aurelius, whose <i>Meditations</i> have enjoyed reading several times.</p><p><br /></p><p>Marcus Aurelius AD 139-180</p><p>Obverse: M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXVI - Laureate head right </p><p>Reverse: IMP VI COS III - Roma seated left, holding Victory and scepter, shield to right.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]739661[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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