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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 7988896, member: 42773&quot;]The underlying assumption behind much of this discussion is that it&#039;s erroneous to overpay for coins. But the truth be told, if big bucks were pocket change to me, I&#039;d drop it on coins I wanted, just to make sure I won them. And I&#039;d be happy if the coins had NGC&#039;s approval. I trust [USER=79368]@Barry Murphy[/USER] and David Vagi and their crew, and I&#039;d value their opinion as to authenticity, although I&#039;d disregard the grade if it were a coin that strongly appealed to me. (I would remove it from the slab, though.)</p><p><br /></p><p>We have some very well-heeled collectors on this forum, and they&#039;ve told us that they sometimes overpay for coins. Take [USER=44357]@AncientJoe[/USER] for example. When he says he overpaid, it probably doesn&#039;t mean by the value of a lunch, but by the value of a house. Yet we don&#039;t shake our heads and wag our fingers at him. Why is that? Likely because everything he posts reveals his sincere love of numismatics - his appreciation for the high art and history of coinage. In that sense (at the risk of sounding maudlin) the collectors who spend six figures on a coin and the collectors that spend two are united in the common bond which is the <i>spirituality of numismatics, </i>that renders the amount of money spent <i>non sequiter.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>As [USER=78244]@TypeCoin971793[/USER] points out, there&#039;s probably a fair share of bidding for social status. It happens in every milieu, and I&#039;m not sure it&#039;s a bad thing. Competition fuels much human achievement after all. But the real issue here is whether the collector that paid $10,000 for a $1000 coin got his <i>metaphysical</i> money&#039;s worth. Did he feel the same excitement we do when we acquire a new specimen for our collection and wish to share it with like-minded individuals? Did he feel the tangible connection to his ancestors that we do when we hold an ancient coin? Does he appreciate the beauty of the designs and the skill that went into engraving them? If so, then it was money well spent. If not, then the <i>profound</i> value of the coin is lost on him, regardless what he merely paid.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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