OT: After 3+ years...
DesertRat
Posts: 1,791 ✭
I changed my icon. This will take some getting used to for me since I'm familiar with scrolling down a thread and seeing my bright red "DesertRat" icon to find where I left off, but I felt it time for a change.
I see our own esteemed Lordmarcovan has changed his as well. That will also take some getting used to.
I see our own esteemed Lordmarcovan has changed his as well. That will also take some getting used to.
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I periodically upload a new one when the mood strikes and I happen to be on during the 15th.
But I always go back to my default "HoleyHatIcon". I just like to take a break from it now and then.
I'm really starting to like these Darkside coins more and more.
The little Ceylon quarter-cent in my latest icon is a favorite. I bought it as a raw UNC off eBay, for about ten bucks, which is about right for an UNC. The seller had a small, poor-quality picture on the auction. When I received the coin, I was totally knocked out... it looked nothing like his pictures. It was gorgeous, with amazing toning and prooflike fields! In fact, I have a very strong suspicion that it actually IS a proof, which means that I paid $10 UNC price for a coin that is actually worth $100 in the catalog as a proof (and possibly more than that, thanks to the toning).
Here is how it looks with my cheapo scanner. A scanner captures none of the toning. The original seller's picture looked like this, only even smaller.
Here is an idea of its scale. It is a tiny little thing.
Now here it is again, shot with a digital camera. The toning shows, but this photo STILL does not do the coin justice. The shot was taken with the camera handheld and I didn't white-balance it beforehand. But it gives you some idea of how lovely this little piece is. Some of the pinks in the center of the coin didn't come out in the picture.
<< <i>I'm really starting to like these Darkside coins more and more.
That's just your wisdom showing. The "Darkside" (world coins) is the place to go if you want to appreciate the beauty and history of the coins (and what better reason is there?). There is nothing wrong with US coins but people who collect those have different motives sometimes. US coin collectors have some of the same appreciation of history and beauty, no doubt, but dollar signs also come into peoples' eyes with US coins.
On the Darkside, you can get a lot more bang for your buck, and you can buy coins that are hundreds (or even thousands) of years old, often for less than what a simple US Kennedy half or Ike dollar would cost you.
I love older US coins, too, but when you ask me if I would prefer a certified Ike dollar of equal value or this little Ceylon quarter-cent, that's a no-brainer.
Similarly, the World & Ancient Coin Forum here is a nice, civilized, friendly place to hang out, even if it's a little sleepier than its bigger neighbor forum. (One might say the same thing about this MD Forum, actually- a little sleepy sometimes, but definitely a nice, friendly little community). Darksiders tend not to be as quarrelsome as the Litesiders can be.
That is indeed a sweet coin.
My taste in coins has always been more from a historic standpoint than an investment/profit one which is why I think the world coins appeal more to me as well as the whole metal detecting end of the coin world. I want to hold history in my hand and contemplate the path that coin took to get to my hand. Especially with the very old coins, which would explain my interest in Biblical era coins.
It's just not the same feeling when I'm holding a slabbed gem U.S. coin in my hand. Not much wondering about the history of how it got from the mint to a slab unless it is a 18th or 19th century coin. Now digging up a worn out old coin from 8 inches down in the dirt sparks the historian in me for sure!
The old was good but the new is better!
<< <i>Change is good.
Especially change found in the ground
I wants me some eighteenth-century change.