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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2258495, member: 19463&quot;]Several of the questions asked above can be answered with a review of changes I see in the hobby over the last 50 years&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>1.&nbsp; The 50 cent Didius came out of a pick out box of 50 cent coins.&nbsp; Most were slick adoptive sestertii and LRB that I did not think were worth 50 cents.&nbsp; The box was on the counter of a small dealer (very old man) upstairs in an office building downtown.&nbsp; I knew three such dealers then in Indianapolis - all downtown withing easy walking distance of each other.&nbsp; The same dealer had a box of $2 denarii and even some better coins starting at $5.&nbsp; I was in high school and usually bought from the boxes.&nbsp; Most of his customers were above even looking in those boxes.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>2.&nbsp; In the mid 1960&#039;s relatively few people had a camera that could focus on a coin.&nbsp; Today everyone has a phone or a scanner or a $1000 digital with capabilities far beyond what they will ever use.&nbsp; Foil pressings were a lot cheaper than film so even if you had a camera, taking coin photos did not seem necessary.&nbsp; Today digital film is free and foil is not worth doing.&nbsp; Plaster casts still have their place, though.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>3.&nbsp; As I said before, I should have filled the voids on the back of the pressings with Elmer&#039;s glue.&nbsp; I was lazy and stupid then.&nbsp; Some things don&#039;t change but the way we show it might.&nbsp; A friend sent me a card with foils filled and glued in place that has survived better.&nbsp; He was an old man that bought denarii for melt in Europe and shipped them here in tins of oil to avoid the taxes.&nbsp; This was in the late 40&#039;s when GI&#039;s were sending back everything.&nbsp; By the time I met him in the early 70&#039;s his stories were all about the good old days that had long passed.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>4. Like Cucumbor said, you could buy nice coins for $50 but usually I did not have $50 to spend on coins so I bought junk.&nbsp; Today I could spend a Social Security check on a coin and get something nicer but my mind still says I should be able to get nice coins for $50.&nbsp; Today about 1/4 of my purchases are over $50;&nbsp; then perhaps that number was over $5.&nbsp; I figure coins have increased 10x in my time in the hobby but many of the ones I bought have not.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>5. If I saw my Caligula sestertius (I have no idea how much I paid back then) for $500, I might buy it because it was mine.&nbsp; If it were $1000, I&#039;d have a dilemma.&nbsp; I have never spent that much on one coin.&nbsp; There is much more a market now for worn coins with a few pits than there was then so I was able to get the defective coin.&nbsp; That is what happens when the number of collectors rises.&nbsp; Kids don&#039;t get Caligula as easily.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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