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I dont have that problem..My job is to get as many coins out of the ground, to enrich your hobby and your area of interest..At end of the day, you collect coins for YOUR pleasure..

 

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I love it! Many of us would give anything to have a child who grew up to be even a little interested in Classics and, heaven forbid, maybe even adopting out collection of ancient coins. You are hesitant to make the step into the coins but already have built in help in reading the legends and someone who has heard of even a few famous Greeks and Romans. I hope you will take advantage of your family connection and learn more about Greece and Rome than they teach undergraduate Classics majors and have something to talk about at family gatherings that will mystify all the aunts and uncles.

A coin to make this post legitimate:
Kids who are Classics or Math majors know about Pythagoras. He moved to Southern Italy about the time they started striking the coin below and either the man himself or members of his followers are credited with the concept of making the reverse an incuse of the obverse (helps strength without adding thickness not to mention, perhaps, stacking).

Sybaris, Late 6th century BC AR nomos

 

I don't tweet at all Andrew, but even I know that the verb form is tweet, not twitter. Oh, and ps: Merry Xmas!

and pps: Happy Holidays to everyone here!

It is indeed a real-life foggy Xmas eve here and all of Chicago is out looking for Rudolph!

Phil Davis

 

Noun. "I tweet. I do twitter".

Merry Christmas in Europe.

 

Welcome to the Ancients Forum, @Chasinva69 . If you stick with reputable dealers in Ancient Coins you can be confident that the coins you purchase will be authentic. The dealers on VCoins are reputable and will stand by the authenticity of their coins for life.

 

A thought-provoking thread indeed. Like virtually everybody else, apparently, I collect in isolation, but so many years have gone be I am quite used to it.

That being said, a couple years ago I was at work, at my cubicle, and a co-worker walked by - a guy I'd know for about 8 years or so - and said to me "Is that a sestertius of Commodus?" (I had one sitting on my desk - I always carry my new ones around with me, as I've done since childhood - maturity never really "took" with me). I couldn't've been more surprised if he'd rabbit punched me! Turns out he is a pretty serious collector of Roman Imperial AE and silver, although he'd gone dormant in order to spend money on unessential stuff like raising children (ha ha). His stuff is locked in a bank vault, where smart people keep their collections, while my coins are lying around all over the place. I always bring new stuff in to show him and I have had some very enjoyable talks with him. How lucky is that?

An lady in her 80s that I know collects Canadian coins - I gave her an 1850s Toronto Bank Token the other day she didn't have. She always tears out advertisements from Parade Magazine for me - All 50 USA State Quarters for only $39.99 While Supplies Last! I am rather touched that she does this - I show her my ancients with horses on them because she likes horses - and that is fun too.

But beyond these unexpected workplace exceptions, all my coin friends are on Coin Talk. I've always avoided social media, but as I told my significant other the other night, I can see how addictive, and pleasurable it can be. So thank you all.

 

I think, the members of this forum have been in past lives in the same roman legion, but I dont know who had any job in the legion..Thats why I found this CT forum interesting and wonderful..

 

Aside from some friends who I've successfully encouraged to pull silver and other interesting coins from circulation only 1 has started actively collecting, and his specialty is uncirculated Morgan Dollar varieties. I've given him some Greek and Roman silver and bronze but we'll see if anything germinates. We're all in our early 30s though so there is plenty of time for them to catch up.

My father and grandfather got me into collecting US coins, and while my father finds the ancient coins and antiquities fascinating he prefers to call me up and enjoy the hobby vicariously through my tales of conquest and lucky good deals, only actively collecting a few pieces of aesthetic or historical interest with the primary focus being on completing or improving the US collections. I still like modern stuff though so we have a blast scrutinizing rolls/bags for oddball older coins or errors/varieties together.

With age and observation I've come to tolerate the attention-seeking collectors who seem to live for the opportunity to share their acquisitions with the whole world and who would almost undoubtedly not collect anything if they had no audience. No one in particular here comes to mind but I've seen it in other hobbies and forums I participate in. I didn't understand how vastly different people are when younger but now know that it is a function of hardwired personality differences, with those goofy touchy-feely extrovert types just being normal examples of a personality type instead of exhibiting some kind of malignant interpersonal pathology unique to the individual. That said, some archetypal personality types are themselves malignant and just naturally excruciating to interact with! It's not necessarily the case that an individual is "bad" and personally responsible for being unbearable, often they unfortunately were just "born that way". It's not really their fault that they totally suck to be around, but that doesn't mean I have to like them!

Hundreds of coins and antiquities have been acquired since last sharing anything here, some quite noteworthy in my opinion including rarities (scarcities?) from Phlius in Phliasia and a sweet sling bullet inscribed with the name of Athenion of 2nd Servile War fame bought for a song. No need to plaster pics everywhere and let the world know about it all to thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the stuff though.

 

I consider myself extremely lucky to have met all the people I've met along the way as I've collected coins. There aren't that many collectors near me, but I've managed to meet 4 collectors and 3 small time dealers in about an hour radius so far. I was extremely excited when I realized that @Fugio1 lives nearby since our collecting interests are aligned. I'd been using his reference website and reading his papers for years, so it was nice to finally meet him in person. He always provides excellent coins and conversation when we meet up, and his small collection of non-RR coins has tempted me to stray from my specialty just a little. I've also traveled to NYINC once and plan to go again in January, primarily to meet up with other collectors, and I hope to see some of you there. If you've considered going to such a show and are on the fence about it, I strongly recommend it if you can swing the costs. Most of the coins are the usual retail prices, so don't expect to fine great deals, but it's a great way to meet collectors and dealers face to face and being able to see and handle hundreds of coins in a single day is a pretty magical experience in its own right.

As far as noncollectors I've actually met a handful of people really interested in history who enjoy seeing my coins. I've actually met most of these people through work. Engineers seem to be one of the most represented professions in our fraternity, and I've often found that engineers interested in history are very excited to actually see and handle a few coins and occasionally go on to buy a few coins for themselves after seeing mine.

 

Welcome to CoinTalk!!

 

Great post, @Valentinian ! When I first became interested (obsessed is actually more like it ) in collecting ancient Judaean coins, I couldn’t imagine anyone not being equally excited about my collection. Well, after 4 or 5 years now, I’ve come to realize that most folks fall into one of three categories. 1. They are skeptical about authenticity; 2. They feel sorry for me because they think I’m gullible and throwing my money away; or 3. They’re not the least bit interested and don’t care to see or hear about them.

This forum keeps me connected with the only folks I’m aware of who share my interests. I hold memberships and regularly communicate with various online numismatic organizations such as the American Israel Numismatic Association and the NGC Collector’s Society.

Reading about ancient coins inspires me. Books by David Hendin, Ya’akov Meshorer, and Wayne Sayles have been very motivating.

Joie de vivre
Added thoughts—Christmas 2019

I read the words that I posted last night and I’m ashamed to admit that they sounded rather negative. I want to state that collecting ancient coins and sharing them with other collectors is an absolute joy for me

 

..well, all being said, i feel great commadery with most peeps here in CT with our passion for ancient coins and history...you've all inspired me to get coins that otherwise i most probably would never had an interest in nor knowledge of and that's a good thing..thank you all..now i'll post my lastest CT peeps inspired purchase which i got this evening in the mail......'POOF!!"...

 

Christmas time has special meaning for me and my personal history of collecting ancient coins. My dad was the only person who went out of his way to take an interest in my Roman coin collecting. In retrospect, it was probably more of his way of bonding with me than an interest in numismatics. He went out of his way to surprise me with a Roman coin each Christmas morning during my high school and college years (with the help of Alex Malloy).
Others have asked me why I bother wasting money on "old , rusty bits of metal".
CT has been a godsend for me.

 

If those people only knew how we would go nuts to have the opportunity to sit down with you, Deacon Ray, as you go through your coins and perhaps hear stories about how you acquired a particular coin; what was going on in history at the time and place the coin was minted; and, or if the coin holds some extra special meaning for you.

Hmm...sounds like a video series.

Deacon Ray, have you considered shooting videos about you and your coins? I can imagine a relaxed interview style with serious undertones and your photographs woven in. The interviews could be done remotely. Maybe it would be even more fun if your face were never shown!! Just hands, coins, voice, photos?

More and extra Blessings upon you this holiday and always.

LaC

 

That’s a super cool idea! I know for a FACT that an interview / video series would be pretty successful online. People love listening to podcast-style videos about various subjects. Try it!

I might do the same with my paper...

 

As many others, when I started collecting ancients in the late 70'-early 80', I used to think (naïve young lad) everybody would be interested in seeing them, thus I would show them to the entire world everytime I was given the chance. Of course they weren't. Reason why I now only show my coins online to people willing to look at them, or, in real life, exclusively on request : I have a "box of 40" with french coins from the middle ages to the euro, mostly featuring portraits, as it's what talks to people (is that the actual portrait of Henri IV or Louis XIV ?). When they don't look fed up and ask for more I pull out the big guns

Apart from that, my wife shows a very selective interest for some greek classical coins (remember she gifted me with an athenian owl three years ago), a few romans (she finds all emperors to look the same, but she eventually owns one roman republlc denarius featuring the hound dog she's had for 15 years). Although she's not at all a collector, she would be able to collect about the french revolution, as it's a period of History she particularily likes.

Other than that, I've been lucky to meet some ancient coins collectors at the local club when I was 20, some of them have become and still are friends, and we have some annual coin shows of some interest in the hundred miles around. In the pre-internet era it has allowed me to interact with people about ancients, and I didn't feel that alone in my hobby.

Internet has changed a lot of things, as everybody has already written about. But France isn't a big country. So some people I've met online, I've had the opportunity to meet in the real world, and some have become very good friends too.

I would very much like to meet some of you CT folks, as I have some good feelings with many people here, but travelling to the USA or to Singapore isn't something I do every week . That said, a few years back, after we've met online, I visited a fellow collector living in Connecticut (for some reason he's an avid collector of Dombes coinage, and we've been challenging each other on some occasions at auction). His Dombes collection (and other fields aswell) is huge and amazing. I was glad to meet him, see his collection and share some good time. Of course I couln't show him mine, traveling abroad with a coin collection being impossible.

Another thing, which might look secondary, but important for me, is that reading and writing some english everyday, has dramatically improved my understanding and skills at using what was before nothing but a foreign language.

We're not alone !



Q

 

I have not met any other collectors I know in person, I have met dealers at the coin shows and that is always interesting but other collectors, no.

My family members do not have an interest in my collecting, my wife asks about my newest coins durring pillow talk when she wants to fall asleep. My friends don’t collect coins, I have one who collects icons so I apreciate her hobby and I can show her my latest aquisistion and she apreciaces the imagery.

I have given coins to friends, I use to get large sestertius that had one side in poor condition and get them framed. People always apreciated them but no one directly got involved with the hobby, they became showpieces for their desks or their homes walls, I am always curious if one young person saw one and perhaps the passion to find out more had been ignited. I will never know that.

This was once a very solitaty hobby.For myself, before the internet my knowledge was limited to what I found in book stores, normally used book stores. I still have my first book a 1964 edition of Roman Coin and their Values by David R Sear. I paid $7.50 per the scribbled price on the opening page. It had the legend and a description, perhaps a line drawing or two. Your imagination had to fill in the blanks.

The internet greatly expanded my knowledge and passion for the hobby. I have learned so much from collectors on various forums throughout the years. Yahoo lists , Forum Ancient coins and now Coin talk. I sincerely apreciate the postings of other members , I remember when dealers used the expression Good for Type, what they really ment is they had not seen better. Now with sites that allow us to post coins sometimes search entire collections that expression is used a lot less.

We are seeing more and if we choose to, we are learning more.

Keep posting your treasures, it might not be the majoritys nitch but you will never know who you enlighten.

 

I was surprised and disappointed, Doug. I would have thought you to have been attracted to the exhibits for all the reasons you cited in the post. When I go to a convention, buying coins is low on my list. I used to go there for that, when I was new to the hobby. But for 20 years now, I have been an exhibitor, judge, and speaker. I go to learn about numismatics and a consequence of that is buying numismatic items that I did not know about.

For instance, in Dallas a couple of years ago, I bought the ANA Periodic Table. It is a true elemental chart. The knock-off from PCGS CoinFacts is just a bunch of shiny new coins, with no correlation to the elements. Anyway, I bought two on the recommendation of a physicist friend who was also there to buy coins. But I have been as likely to buy paper money or a numismatic coffee cup.

I would have thought you more of a scholar and less of an accumulator, but I guess that just speaks to your being complicated, as many bright people are.

 

I show ancients and other issues at work for reasons associated with work. And yet I have the same experience of people hardly touching them despite my insistence and then with a glance, handing them back.

Right now, I work in a engineering and manufacturing environment and coins (especially ancients) speak to that. But even working in information systems, money objects are semata. And I have notes and coins that celebrate scientists, mathematicians, and computing. And still I could get far more interest in a cellphone selfie of myself with a 14-lb bass or a dead deer.

I am pretty good at telling stories and explaining things. It is what I do as a technical writer. And see above to Doug: I often speak at conventions. But when it comes to coins, I cannot hold an audience.

 

So, the only thing you collect is 2009-P Lincoln Cents because you can understand those? I find that hard to believe... I think that you know a lot about numismatics that would translate to any new area, whether ancients or Polish Bank Drafts.

Ancients would be a way for you to share an interest with your kid (son?). Just go to a show or go online, say to VCoins, and browse... You'll find something and even if you do not, you might learn something...