Would coin collecting be fun?

I like that. I agree that a part of good collecting is obtaining good examples of rare items - if finances permit. Sometimes, shear quantity is fun. I am having a good time going through 3 pounds of foreign coins I just received.

 

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Ya, this sounds really, really sad. We're back on the King Midas theme here. That scenario coppermania described reminds me of this:

[video=youtube;DgBN-ffjHeE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgBN-ffjHeE[/video]

 

You want to REALLY have fun? Go to a large show like CICF and go through ancient pick boxes. I went through a huge one last April, going through every coin. I can think of few things, (in collecting at least), as fun as that. I ended up buying 36 coins, and my hands were absolutely filthy.

One HECK of a good time! I am planning this year to go Thursday, pay the $50 early preview fee, and be the first with my hands in the pile. Of the 36 I got like 18 roman denari, 3 sestertii, a bunch of early Imperial bronzes, and a couple of sassanids. I have nightmares thinking of what I missed......

 

medoraman-
That sounds fascinating, an "addiction" I could enjoy LOL
Looking at a 'dirty' (crustal) coin, how do you know it's a keeper? That seems like a crap-shoot to me (not that I'm opposed, in this circumstance.)
Do you have a criteria and/or gut-sense what's underneath?
My worry would be the crusted-over planchet disintegrates once the necessary cleaning process starts.
Or is this analogous to the sarc farmer selling chicks to organic hipsters: "ya, you ALWAYS get some deadies" LOL

 

They aren't "crusties". They are already cleaned mainly, but piles of ancient coins, unless every single one of them is perfectly cleaned, will always be "dirty".

I was buying VF roman denari, early roman copper, etc at the price, all fully cleaned and identifiable. I posted a few pics around April last year.

Why they are in the box is the dealer doesn't have the time to identify every one. If he believes its a $40/50 coin potentially, but will need to spend $20 to identify and mark it, its just easier to throw it into a pick box. Plus, the pick box draws more visitors to their table. There used to be more of them at the larger shows, but they are slowly going away it seems.

 

Quite frankly, even if I had unlimited funds to spend on my hobbies, I doubt I'd change my collecting habits much, if at all. I might have a nicer home office in which to house them, but as far as my searching and studying, the aspects I enjoy the most, I can't see changing for the sake of money. Some people might use that to assemble sets of pristine, never used coinage, but to me there's no story behind those pieces that interest me. I'd rather use that money to change the parts of my life that aren't already enjoyable, like paying off everything and never owing money to anyone. Then I'd be happy.
Guy