Anyone else have a hard time finding others that share in your hobby?

[Dk0311USMC]

I have noticed that in my hobby of Ancient coin collecting, that it seems a bit difficult to find others around me (friends and family) who I can share my passion of collecting these historical items with.  I have friends and family whom if I showed what I think are my more interesting pieces, they might shrug and say thats neat and move on.   In order to really find anyone else who appreciates this kind of thing, I pretty much have to go online to a site like Forvm to find a like minded person.   You spend the time collecting, and you become proud of your collection like a parent wanting to show it off, but not many other people may seem to care.
Anyone else sometimes feel the same way?   I guess this is not so much of a common hobby, which also has its pluses in that too.  Depending the nature of your work that some collectors here might do, maybe some of you might have more like minded enthusiasts in your midst.

[Aarmale]

I am in the exact same situation.  I think the only people who really appreciate the coins are two of my friends who are also collectors, but less serious then me.

Aarmale

[Mat]

Im in the same boat, if it wasnt for the internet my interest in ancients would be nill & probably in coin collecting in general and I am going on strong for 2 years now after a 14 year break.

But whats cool is my mom looks at my ancients and will say if she likes it or its ugly. She can tell a difference between a Domna & Constantine too, which is cool.

[Brian L]

Same for me,my wife looks at what I show her and ooo, aaa, but that as far as that goes,she pacifies me as a good wife should, my brother,parents,kids,friends,I get the feeling don't even want to hear about my hobby. I have come to realize that my ancient coin community is right here on the Forvm. Thanks for being here everyone,without you all this would be a very lonely hobby!!

[aragon6]

It is very hard.  Like the others my family will say what nice coins and that they must be worth a fortune (I wish!).  But look at the coin trade shows that come up and there are two booths if you are lucky that have ancients.  I really do think that people believe ancients are so expensive which is a real perception problem.  Plus modern coins are more accessible at most coin shops that I visit.  Those shops may have a very small lot of ancients if any.  But I do try to spread the word and I do display my modest collection whenever I can so people can see, and hold, history.

Carl

[Dk0311USMC]

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one. My wife will let me show her some things sometimes, but she looks at them with the same enthusiasm as I would if she were showing me some craft item that she would want to get for the children's room. I think she mostly just tolerates my hobby with the time and money involved.

[Dino]

Ah, the blank glassy eyed stares of friends and family.

They're interested for about 30 seconds when you tell them how old something is.  After that....

[rover1.3]

I simply don't care about other's apathy on our hobby.
To put it better? I don't know how to explain it, but I sometimes think that other's coldness makes the hobby even more exciting for me ...

[Dk0311USMC]

I am a firefighter and brought a couple coins in that I wanted to attribute on some down time once. Seemed like some of the guys might as well have been looking at a hand full of dirt. Hardly anyone could have cared less.  Some people either really appreciate history and cultures I guess and some don't.

[Marti Vltori]

Well, on the bright side it helps keep the price lower and leaves more coins for us :-).

[Randygeki(h2)]

My niece thinks that my ancients are only 100 years old (which is quite a bit to her), my nephew likes to see them. Its fun to see peoples faces when they see my pocket piece and guess its from 1850 or something and I say thats the age not the date. I know there are a few local collectors, but some seem to not want to "advertise" they have a collection; that and I just havent been in the local shop at the same time as some of them. My firend talk about guitars all the time, so I use this as an excuse to talk about coins with him   .

[Randygeki(h2)]

Well, on the bright side it helps keep the price lower and leaves more coins for us :-).

True I can imagine an unstable market full of overpirced coins in plastic coffins

[Aarmale]

My niece thinks that my ancients are only 100 years old (which is quite a bit to her), my nephew likes to see them. Its fun to see peoples faces when they see my pocket piece and guess its from 1850 or something and I say thats the age not the date.

I must say, ancients seem to be more liked by kids then most adults (and teens) I know, though there are some exceptions.
I guess kids really know the finer things in life.

-Aarmale

[Jaimelai]

What gets me is when people say: "Well how do you know that it is that old?"  And then they roll their eyes in a disbelieving way when you try to explain.   I don't think that my mom believes that much existed before Jesus!  And all my kids care about is how much they can get for the coins after I'm gone. 

[Randygeki(h2)]

I almost posted that lol. People think your coins are fake and your and idiot for thinking they are real . Or better yet, when people give you a history lesson that's completely wrong XD

[Bud Stewart]

Great thread. 

As I’ve said on more than one occasion; my wife still pretends to care, but my 16-year-old daughter doesn’t even feign interest anymore. 

I’ve been pretty much a “lone wolf” in my Numismatic Life and I didn’t realize what I was missing.  Until I discovered the FORUM, the thought of an online collecting community didn’t seem very attractive.  I didn’t understand how educational and entertaining a site such as Joe’s FORUM could be.  Fortunately, I gave it a try and, because of the good people here, I’ve had more fun in the roughly 13-months I’ve been collecting Ancients than my previous 40-years collecting coins of other eras.  I’ve learned so much since I’ve started participating here.  And now, because of the “Members’ Gallery”, the excitement of acquiring a new specimen is magnified.  I now have a vehicle to share the joy of my new find with people who can really appreciate my new addition.

[casata137ec]

The first question I get is always "So...what's that worth?". Socio-economically, I am not really in the proper demographic for ancient coin collecting...with that said...no, I never have problems finding people interested in talking about ancient coins...I have the FORVM!

Chris

[Dk0311USMC]

Chris I saw you are from St. Louis.  Im across the river in Belleville. IL   Know of any places locally to check out ancient coins, or any shows that come?

[Dk0311USMC]

Aarmale,  I think kids are able to look at things with a fresh perspective, before becoming jaded later in life.  Everything is bigger, greener and just all around more fascinating when your a child.  Maybe if we could all just view the world more through a child's eyes we just might be able to appreciate more things.

[Danny S. Jones]

I must say, ancients seem to be more liked by kids then most adults (and teens) I know, though there are some exceptions.
I guess kids really know the finer things in life.

-Aarmale

It would be interesting to know the age ranges of ancient coin collectors, though it seems that all ages are represented here, from Aarmale (I believe in your teens?) who has contributed greatly to the study of Judean coins, to Helvetica (Dane), whose numismatic exploits are renown and is listed as turning 111 today. (If you're wondering, I'm fairly certain she's MUCH younger than that.)

[Randygeki(h2)]

I've noticed a bit of a connection between ancient and mordern coin collectors, and some are very interested in ancients. I have a few brand new "100 y/o coins" my self 

[Andrew McCabe]

If you think coins are low on the interest rating when it comes to friends, try rocks and minerals and watch them quickly knock back half a bottle of whiskey to relieve their pain! So don't collect coins (or rocks) to try to impress your friends, its purely a personal individual interest and nothing else.

Many of my colleagues like rocks. They are a mix of geologists, petroleum engineers and mountain climbers and include clog-wearers from holland (there are no rocks in holland let alone mountains. Just mud hence the clogs and the rock-fetishes). In my expereince, those most obsessed with rocks come from either Switzerland (rocky) or the Netherlands (muddy). It's quite normal for friends to show off their rocks.

What I find helps with friends and family is to describe your interest as being "archaeology and ancient history" and introuce the coins as being a window to these interests. Archaeology is a subject that fascinates many people, at one end in the scientific techniques and methodologies and at the other extreme in the buried treasure aspect. I've generated a more than passing interest by producing Christmas books which are a mix of family photos, history, mediterranean visits and coinage:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/sets/72157622938254759/detail/

[mcbyrne21]

There are a couple coin shows held every couple months near me. Although there are no ancient dealers at them, I always ask all the dealers if they have any ancients.  Occasionally some will have one or two or a box of byz/Constantine slugs (and once in a while an obvious modern replica) but beyond finding something to buy, it usually leads to nice conversations about their private collections of ancients or interesting pieces they've had/have.  I'm also amazed by how often the person standing next to me will start talking about how they collect or want to collect ancients.

It's helped make the hobby a little less individualistic for me   

On the flipside, I've noticed some dealers get very angry when I ask about ancients and I will get a 15 minute lecture about how they can't make everyone happy. I've learned to avoid those but it still strikes me as odd that someone in sales would treat a potential customer that way.

What I find helps with friends and family is to describe your interest as being "archaeology and ancient history" and introuce the coins as being a window to these interests. Archaeology is a subject that fascinates many people, at one end in the scientific techniques and methodologies and at the other extreme in the buried treasure aspect. I've generated a more than passing interest by producing Christmas books which are a mix of family photos, history, mediterranean visits and coinage:

Also, Mr. McCabe, I just wanted to say you described exactly how/why I got interested in ancients.  Thanks!

[mwilson603]

to Helvetica (Dane), whose numismatic exploits are renown and is listed as turning 111 today. (If you're wondering, I'm fairly certain she's MUCH younger than that.)

She certainly was in this picture
(I believe that this was taken before she got totally interested in ancient coins, although maybe she used to do so well racing because she was told the first prize was a nice Aureus!)
regards
Mark

[Mark Z]

Actually, it's not difficult at all. I just log on to FORVM

I do have one friend who used to collect US coins (he had to sell them to get his kids through college!). When I showed him my collection he was quite awed to be holding a 2000-year-old artifact.

I would have to say that the percentage of people who collect coins has got to be quite low, so it's no wonder that it might be hard to find fellow coin collectors in your area, or anywhere for that matter.

mz