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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 3696216, member: 19463&quot;]Fortunately, the &#039;better things&#039; TIF moved on to were better coins rather than some completely different activities.&nbsp; Many here on CT have benefited greatly from knowing TIF.&nbsp; This would not be the place it is without her. </p><p><br /></p><p>I fear more people victimized by the garbage merchants leave the hobby completely and have a bad taste in their mouth for coin collectors as a whole.&nbsp; This week we have had posts from more recent victims who have no idea that they are being victimized.&nbsp;&nbsp; Do we tell them they have been cheated?&nbsp; Often we talk around it and say something like they could have done better for the money but we are slow to tell it like it is.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I dispise fake sellers.&nbsp; I do not assign a higher station to those who tell beginners that all ancient coins need to look like they are 2000 years old or be decipherable only by experts such as the seller.&nbsp; We all must choose what grade coin we will add to our collections.&nbsp; Some, like myself, tolerate worn or otherwise imperfect coins while others will only consider things from the top levels of the mint state spectrum.&nbsp; Some actually convince themselves that they really like the worst coins and take pride in being able to identify coins with less than one percent of their original detail.&nbsp; I have no problem with any of these options BUT the choice needs to be made with full knowledge of what is available and what the same money would buy in coins of the other categories.&nbsp; When someone sells a fake, an intentionally misidentified coin or a piece of absolute trash representing it as something it is not, the seller is someone we need to remove from the hobby.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Yes! Tell it like it is!&nbsp; Many, maybe most, of us have been burned in the pursuit of the big score.&nbsp; One lesson we need to teach beginners is that the laws of the Universe apply here, too.&nbsp; In particular, &#039;Something for nothing&#039; usually turns out to be not much of a bargain.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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