Neither have I, but I've never read a great one either. I'm sure he is, but he does contribute to the content as well. His name isn't the only thing he adds. And I actually suspect he is better at the more esoteric topics because they are more his work and less a rehash of others.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Here we have a person with opinions arguing with a person who has facts. One group has met Bowers once or never met him and are complaining about another person who has known him for decades and did not like how he was treated by him recently. I don't have a dog in this fight but the credibility lies with the decades experience man. OP asked what we thought of QDB. He did not ask whether we thought it was worthwhile to read or own his books.
Yeah, the original post asked explicitly for opinions. We all know what opinions are like (although I can't repeat it here), and if you're shocked and offended that someone else's is different (and smells bad), perhaps this was the wrong thread to open...?
My opinion is that the OP needs to step off....as it seems his post start nothing but trouble around here......"an 18 year old" self proclaimed... expert" who needs to stop posting every 3 minuites about a topic that have been beat to death time and time again. Perhasp if he read some threads and learned something , instead of posting ever 3 minuites it wouldn't "WAIST " time and he may learn something !
Ha.. That would be like a new cook calling themself a Chef after just a few months working in a kitchen!
Yeah I've been a collector since 1963 and still not an expert ....still a student with a passion to learn . Better to sit quietly, look dumb....then to open your pie hole and remove all doupt!
I met him once and spoke briefly to him a couple years ago that was it. He was nice enough. I will say a lot of his writings in 70s and early 80s auction catalogs and sales catalogs that were given to me in the mid 80s did a lot to inspire a 9-10 year old coin collector but as far as what Larry has said I can believe that too. I’ve experienced it more than once myself in the antique business with people that used to be friendly and got way too important for their former associates and friends. I have no reason to doubt what he’s said
I am in disbelief on the amount of chaos this simple post has caused. Oh well, as for me Q. David Bowers has had an enormous and profound impact on Numismatics. He has been doing this since the 1950's when he was a teenager running a coin both at coin shows throughout the country. Not too long ago, I wrote directly to him and ask his personal help on posting a coin giveaway and needed some moderate to hard questions to ask the forum members. Guess what he did? He sent me his personal word document of questions that he has been collecting since the 1970's. I printed the word document out and it came out to be 86 pages (12 font.) of every numismatic question known under the sun with the ANSWERS to boot. It was a tremendous help and I used many of his questions (and gave him credit the credit he deserved) during my coin giveaway. I learned that posting a coin giveaway is not as easy it sounds. It is a lot of work. I had a lot of help from Doug (GDJMSP) and it would not have been a success without him. Q. David Bowers discussed what type of questions to post and we exchanged about 5 e-mails together with suggestions. I thanked him for his help and he told me that even if it takes him a long time he tries to answer each and every email or message sent to him by fellow numismatics. So as for me he showed me that he was willing to help even little ole' me. It was a great experience and I think I have bought every book he has every written. Well that's all from me folks. Enjoy what remains of your day. ** Oh I forgot to tell everyone that if anyone needs me to send them this word document that has the questions and answers from Q. David Bowers please just PM your e-mail and I will be happy to send them to you. Peace
I was wrong in posting my opinion. I was also wrong about the rules here. A member should not feel insulted when someone calls what you have to say, stupid. I'm told that it's ok to do that here.
No, you weren't. Not in any way shape or form. I would say you misinterpreted them. If any member directly calls any other member names, that's always edited and when warranted there are consequences for the offender. But to say something like what was said in this case - that's a horse of a different color - because they are not directly calling you names. A fine line perhaps but a line that needs to be there. Nobody ever said that, least of all me. What I said people should do is to try and understand why such a thing would be said. Yeah, you can, but it's definitely something I would recommend. I agree 100%. Now let me make a point about that. I believe most of the problem here is the use of the word stupid, had that word not been used, and other words or phrases used instead, I doubt there would have been much fuss. Could be wrong of course. That said, let's talk about stupid for a minute. An this is not directed at you Larry but at everybody. How about the word idiot ? Does it have less of a negative connotation than stupid ? I'd have to say no. As a matter of fact both stupid and idiot are used on this forum, and everywhere else, on a pretty regular basis by just about everybody. Including myself. We, and I do mean all of us, have even gone so far as to coin a new word - bidiots - and it used in our conversations very often ! And we use other words, including stupid, like fools, or foolish, or ridiculous, or unbelievable, and they all mean pretty much the same thing. And absolutely nobody cares when these words are used - and I do mean nobody - because they all use them themselves. The thing that makes the difference, bidiots for example is used to describe what the ignorant, uneducated, inexperienced, choose your word including stupid, people on ebay or in other auction venues do. And nobody cares because it is directed at a class or group of people as opposed to a single individual, most of the time anyway. But there are times when any and all of those words are used and directed at a specific individual. And again nobody cares. Why ? Because they can say it's not being directed at them, or anybody they know. It is directed at some unknown individual - so it doesn't matter and nobody takes offense. But if someone uses any of those words and directs them you personally, and you personally covers everybody here not just 1 specific person, and you will be offended, insulted, injured even. The point I'm trying to get across here is it's OK when it's done to somebody else unknown, even when you yourself do it to somebody else unknown, but it's never OK when it's done to you. I'll say one other thing and then I'm gonna drop it. You'd be hard pressed to find any derogatory word or name that I personally have not been directly called here on this forum more times than you can count. And in pretty much every other forum there is. And yet I have not taken offense a single time. Nor has anything ever been done about it by a moderator - not ever ! Why not ? It's pretty simple, for me, - I'm not 6 years old and on the playground anymore.
Nobody is wrong posting their opinion. If they didn't then forums such as this wouldn't be worth much. Each one of us express our opinions in our own way and the most important thing is not to take other opinions personally. Unfortunately, social media has replaced a lot of face to face interactions which leads to misunderstanding. Please continue to express your opinion here. I find much of what you've contributed valuable.
ldhair, posted: "I used to like the guy and bought most everything he wrote. Bought about a hundred great coins from him years ago. Met him several times over the years. Don't ever care to meet him again." An opinion is one thing. People who post an opinion and back it up to inform or educate all of us are not "stupid." IMO this type of comment: "Don't ever care to meet him again" should not be posted! I've met, talked, and interacted in business with Mr. Bowers over the years. I can agree with just about everything (playing it safe ) posted about him in this thread. I can back up any of the good and bad comments about the man should I choose to post them. @Idhair's comment left me both cold and curious. IMO, only one sentence needs to be edited in this entire thread and it is quoted here in red. Hopefully in the future, if someone posts a derogatory statement about another numismatist, especially a well-known professional, they will have the "class" to back it up.