No way ancients coins are real!

Yesterday, I was at school and somehow got into a conversation about ancient coins with my nursing professor. I showed him my coin from Argos:



He exclaimed that no way could a coin that old be in that good of condition and that I was "gullible." The funny thing being that it's kinda nice but definitely very far from the best example. We argued somewhat but I got the impression he thinks I buy coins from some guy in a trench coat with promises of authenticity and what not. Though I made some pretty valid points, he seems to maintain his point of view that I should be more "skeptical" about ancient coins, even mentioning during in class.

Part of me wants to prove him wrong but the other part says "why bother."


How do some of you handle similar situations?

 

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My family thought I was getting ripped off and wasting my money when i began collecting moderns till 4 months in and I sell 1 i got in a ebay lot for 7k

 

I know people who regularly share news or health remedies from questionable sources like it's the whole unvarnished truth.

It's very tempting to prove someone wrong when you KNOW he's wrong... but I've found it's generally not worth the effort. For me it's frustrating sometimes, but tiring all the time.

It's hard, but for myself I just smile and try to hold my tongue. It makes every day much happier. My two cents.

 

I find this attitude on the part of an educator to be quite disturbing. Most of the educators I work with are sure that they know nothing or close to it. I do not trust anyone who is that sure of their own opinion. How are you supposed to teach students to be open to new information when you yourself are not?

 

My favorite quote from The Devils Dictionary.

EDUCATION, n. That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.

 

Mostly peoples eyes glaze over with boredom and then they attempt to edge away from me.

 

A big +1. You appear to be working with wonderful educators. From my perspective, reasonable self-doubt constitutes a fundament of good teaching and research.

 

Socrates was right, the thing that made him wise was that he knew that he knew very little to nothing.

 

There is a cure for ignorance, it's called knowledge, but there is no cure for stupidity.

 

You might try showing them a volume of the British Museum catalog or something published by a school they have heard of (Cambridge?).

 

First thing first. All those Roman emperors, did they really exist ? Did you ever talk to one of them? Or did you know only one person who knew them personally ? Only a gang of gullible collectors here..

 

... something about falsifiability.

 

Few people know I collect coins - an acquaintance of mine from elementary through high school got carted off to juvy when we were in the 11th grade - he was breaking into people's cars in our neighborhood at night to fund his growing drug addiction. I had no clue until he was caught.

Been paranoid ever since. Only some of my family and my most trusted friends know I collect coins, and you all have a better idea of what is in my collection than even my wife does...

 

Hand the prof a piece of paper with the URLs for CNG and the ancients sections of British Museum, Smithsonian and ANS. Then say, "If you have any real interest in ancient history, you'll take a take a look at these websites. We can talk more about it after you do."

Good chance that will be the end of it. Past a certain point, there is nothing but frustration in trying to convince some people to abandon preconceived ideas.

Cal

 

Most people have no interest in ancient coins or say something such as "Oh, that's nice" when shown a coin. I haven't run into anyone so far who was sure that ancient coins could not be real.

 

I agree with most of the saying here and it could convince the person in question. However, there are also people who see things like ancient coins as a conspiracy of some scammers against the 'stupid' consumer, I fear that there then is little to be convinced.

 

You are gullible if you are taking numismatic authenticity feedback from a nursing professor.

This professor, or a relative, may have been burned by tourist fakes. We don't know his or her story.

It is surprising that a 2000 year old silver coin can be in good shape, yet I have gardening tools I in my basement -- that I bought new -- but are rusty and cracking just because I didn't wipe them down with oil at the end of the season.

The professor blabbed about your valuable coin in a room full of students without asking your permission. Security nightmare. With these kind of folks, the best response is "aw, shucks, you must be right."

Most people will believe anything they see in a book. If there is someone you need to convince of your numismatic wisdom, a prospective father-in-law or something, be ready with an auction catalog, preferably hard-cover. "Well, I bought it in Geneva. Bidding was fierce. There was a rumor it came from the collection of a disgraced Baron. Here, check out page 72 in this catalog."

 

I'm of two minds on this. First, it is rarely worth the effort to try an educate a Mr. Know-It-All. There's always the probability that he'll think you're trying to make him look stupid. It all depends on his pride and ego.

On the other hand he may have a point. I think I probably should be more skeptical about my ancient coins. If you're an American like me you know that many of the places our favorite coins come from are inhabited by people who hate our guts. I hope it's not true but I read recently that 51% of Canadians don't like us. I suspect that greed might not be the sole motive for coin forgers.

 

That might explain https://www.mint.ca/store/coins/spooky-canada-hi-ottawa-jail-hostel-2019-prod3580026

 

As a Canadian I can say that I do not judge a person based on nationality. To paraphrase an American I think the content of one’s character is far more important.