Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 491041, member: 57463&quot;]<b>Knowledge</b></p><p><br /></p><p>When asked what <i>he</i> collected, numismatist Walter Breen replied, &quot;Knowledge.&quot;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>When I write, I acquire material in order to understand the subject.&nbsp; The new Whitman <i>Red Book Guide to Peace Dollars</i> has my Numismatist article cited in the bibliography.&nbsp; To write that, I got all the reading material, of course, but then I went out and looked at enough Peace Dollars to get to know the coin.&nbsp; I talked to dealers.&nbsp; Buying coins let me pay for their time, and gave me hands-on material to study. </p><p><br /></p><p>The past autumn I wrote an article for <i>The Celator</i> about medieval Champagne.&nbsp; I had been buying those little medieval denars and pennies for a couple of years, then I got the standard reference set from John Burn at an MSNS show -- paid way more for the books than for the coins.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Personally, my passion is not so much for a complete set, but for a wide range.&nbsp; I want to know money in all of its forms.&nbsp; I have trade beads and trade dollars and tokens good for 5cents in trade and everything in between.&nbsp; I went through the Morgan Dollar phase like everyone does.&nbsp; How can you not like those big bright coins?&nbsp; But as I learned more about US Numismatics, I found out more about the Greek and Roman coins that ours were modeled on and so I got into ancients.&nbsp; The two sets I actually pursued with any dedication worthy of a true collector were Mercury Dimes in a Whitman Folder and another of my own invention: small silver coins worth a day&#039;s wages from the towns and times of famous philosophers.&nbsp; I had about 25 of them from Aristotle to Zeno.&nbsp; It started with Eratosthenes of Cyrene, the librarian of Alexandia -- and again it was for an article, my first for The Celator.&nbsp; I actually got pretty deep into Cyrene and even bought a couple of museum pieces.</p><p><br /></p><p>What killed collecting for me was working for <i>Coin World</i>.&nbsp; Sort of like aversion therapy.&nbsp; I sold everything off in 2001.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I still collect books, but, again, mostly those I need for articles, as with the three-volume Poey d&#039;Avant that I bought so that I could write about Champagne.[/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