Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 3743404, member: 19463&quot;]We each must make a decision as to how much our resources to assign to any particular part of our hobby.&nbsp; For those who choose Alexander the Great as their prime focus, the Price book (a big, big book) covers the subject in great depth and points out that not everything is known with certainty.&nbsp; Ancient coins may not be a great subject for those who require everything to be known with absolute certainty. </p><p><br /></p><p>I am not a specialist in the coins of Alexander but enjoy knowing tidbits of the details like &#039;lifetime&#039; and mint names but the space available in my head has been designated for other specialties that may not be known as well as Price knew Alexander.&nbsp; I know I will not be advancing the knowledge base of these coins.&nbsp; I did not see the need to buy the book. </p><p><br /></p><p>How do we each decide on what interests us enough to buy the book (if one exists for your subject) or to try to figure out what we can given the materials available (books, periodicals, online information and the coins themselves).&nbsp; Do we prefer a well studied subject with a definitive book or one that has vastly more questions than answers?&nbsp; Do we specialize in more or less one coin?&nbsp; There are many single coins, certainly including Alexander tetradrachms, that can be more than one person might be able to study fully considering that that &#039;one&#039; coin is actually several thousand varieties each with a story to tell.</p><p><br /></p><p>I wonder how many people who did buy the Price book actually read it and tried to see the overall &#039;Big Picture&#039; of the subject.&nbsp; Did most of us just use it to look up and assign a number to the few examples in our possession?&nbsp; How many not only read the book for information but tried to follow the discussion and, perhaps find fallacies in the decisions presented?</p><p><br /></p><p>That sums up my level of ability and interest in 95% of the specialties that mean so much to other collectors.&nbsp; Being a general collector and knowing 1% about 100 subjects is easier for me than knowing anything close to 100% about one.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in