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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Fugio1, post: 3327205, member: 89970&quot;]<b>- What metrics do you choose to add coins?</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Beyond fitting into my general collecting theme, my metrics are not profoundly admirable, nor are they really metrics because they are largely subjective, but&nbsp; I admit that condition/grade/eye appeal has always been a major factor when I choose to buy a coin unless the issue is simply not available in my price range, or at all.</p><p><br /></p><p>Early on I collected many themes (US Type coins, English coins, Roman Imperial and Republic) and had great expectations to be able to reach some level of cohesion of these themes within my lifetime.&nbsp; With my condition criteria, most years, my means allow me to buy only a few coins, generally 1-10.&nbsp; I finally realized that if I wanted to have a meaningful collection, I would need to narrow my focus to an area that I had deep interest in, but also limited enough to eventually reach a representative collection.&nbsp; So I chose to focus on the origin of the denarius. Generally this includes RR coins of the denarius system before 140 BC, but I also collect pre-denarius Roman silver and do not exclude later RR silver issues if they are interesting. They are all part of the story.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>- Do you have a rough size of a collection in mind (10, 100, 5000, 1000, 50,000 coins?)</b></p><p><br /></p><p>My collection now is perhaps 120 coins of my specialty area.&nbsp; Before I’m done I hope to have 200-250 examples.&nbsp; Even with my narrow focus, this will be nowhere near complete.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>- Do you work off of a &quot;wantlist&quot;? How has your wantlist changed over time? How rigid are you with following your wantlist and plans?</b></p><p><br /></p><p>I have a virtual want list, but generally its useless.&nbsp; I typically look at what is offered in a sale and decide if something roughly meets my thematic and condition criteria without being a duplicate.&nbsp; MANY of the coins on my virtual want list are common coins&nbsp; that rarely emerge in high grades or when they do, I’ve spent my funds going after another coin recently and haven’t enough to bid competitively. (This happens a lot)</p><p><br /></p><p><b>- What portion of purchases do you make privately vs from auctions?</b></p><p><br /></p><p>20% private, 80% auction.&nbsp; Increasingly more at auction.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>- How often do you handle your coins or look at your pictures?</b></p><p><br /></p><p>I look at photos often, but the coins are in a safe deposit box.&nbsp; I frequently bring a selection home to improve the photos that I have, or on the occasions where I meet with a fellow numismatist.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><b>- How much time do you spend searching for lost pedigrees?</b></p><p><br /></p><p>I have a fair selection of auction catalogs, many going back to the 70’s and 80’s.&nbsp; When I buy a new coin, I often do a manual search of my library and online auction history sites, but so far, I’ve found few sites that have much comprehensive history before 2000. I rarely visit numismatic libraries for more thorough searches but doing so is in my future.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>- How many books/catalogs do you own or have easy access to?</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Hundreds of catalogs, but only major references (Crawford, Sydenham, Grueber, RBW collection (Russo, et. al.) RIC, Seaby, Spink, Peck, Yeoman).&nbsp; I live about 2 hours drive from the ANA library but have not been there for a few years.&nbsp; When I was younger I sometimes would take a day off from work and drive down to spend the whole day in the library.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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