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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Guy Owen, post: 3986986, member: 109768&quot;]I am one of those people suffering with the dreaded disease known as &quot;Collecting&quot;, and I concentrate mostly on artistic avenues. Cameos. Wood carvings. Carvings from Bali in bone, antler and fossilized whale bone. Etc. I am new here, and seeking advice. This seemed like an active Forum with a lot of helpful people, so here goes...</p><p><br /></p><p>Coins frustrate me because I can never seem to find the right educational sources. I get caught-up in watching those &quot;Coin Shows&quot; on TV and then I check prices online - only to discover the shows seem to be way over-priced on every single coin they offer. Except maybe their sets which you can&#039;t often duplicate easily. So I do not understand the value of coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>This brings me back to my Number One Rule on buying anything &quot;collectible&quot;: Buy what you like because you may have to live with it a long time. Indeed, most of what I&#039;ve collected may never appeal to another family member if/when I try to hand them down. Selling anything is hard for me - like giving up a child! So I am always more attracted to the artistic value (to me) rather than any perceived &quot;investment&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>But I know there&#039;s a limit to everything - and having sold art in a past life - I am well aware of &quot;The Greater Fool Syndrome&quot; of collecting. An item typically has a value only when you find someone else willing to give you that amount to obtain it. Which brings me to a series of questions I hope the members here can answer. Forgive me if I&#039;m repeating ages-old questions that you may be tired of hearing. I have no desire to irritate anyone.</p><p><br /></p><p>1) I stumbled upon several series of Mint of Poland / Niue coins, such as the new &quot;Artemis&quot; from their Goddesses Series. Love the artwork! But do these coins ever appreciate in real value? Buying them near Issue Price - can one assume they will rise over time?</p><p><br /></p><p>2) In concert with that question, the one I really fell for was their earlier &quot;Poseidon&quot; issue. But I see it at $1400 to over $2000. Is this typical of these types of coins? I see it more as a &quot;carving&quot; or &quot;collectible&quot; - and not so much as a coin. But I don&#039;t know if Coin Collectors regard them, otherwise.</p><p><br /></p><p>3) Do all of these &quot;art&quot; coins - I&#039;m not sure what the collectors actually call them (Rounds?) - get laughed at by the Coin Community? An example might be Marriage Watches being sold on eBay. They look absolutely gorgeous, and are very expensive. But the true Watch Collectors scoff at them, while the people buying them pay crazy amounts to obtain one. Ten years from now, I wonder if these items might be laughed at as a nuisance niche market.</p><p><br /></p><p>4) One big question - How often do coins match the crisp details shown in what I believe are renderings of an upcoming coin? All the art seems doctored. And when I can find an image of the actual coin, itself, I am often disappointed. Details just are not there. Facial expressions may not be as beautiful. Do those of you more experienced at this agree? I mean, it&#039;s a bit like looking at the graphics used in advertising the latest PC or X-Box Game - only to be frustrated that the actual game looks nothing like that.</p><p><br /></p><p>5) Of course, I discovered these as I was pursuing information on Hobo Nickels, Hobo Dollars, etc. Wow! I&#039;m amazed at the variety, but there are only a few artists that I prefer - Roman Booteen, Aleksey Soburov, and Howard Thomas (so far). But does the Coin Community write these off as &quot;novelties&quot;?</p><p><br /></p><p>6) Finally, there are reproductions of some of Roman Booteen&#039;s work (The Trap, and Gold Bug, as examples). Does the Community feel that reproductions - even though they use real coins to try and match his details - are mostly worthless, in the end? I am a bit surprised that the individuals buying the true original even agree to such reproductions, but if they receive compensation it might be a way to actually pay for that original if all items in that series are sold.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks for any insight you can offer. I do realize I may have answered all my own questions with my reference to &quot;The Greater Fool Syndrome&quot;.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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