Correcting/Updating My Tags

[imperialcoins]

Sorry to hear of your difficulties... I know how frustrating it is to not get a diagnosis and have to fight for one. It took doctors more than 20 years and them almost killing me by changing my medication (resulting in a 2 week "vacation" in the hospital) for them to take me seriously and give me a "partial" diagnosis. I hope that your condition improves. Lyme is horrible, although they have made great advances in treatment in the past few years.

Are you in New York by any chance? We have to take electronics to a recycling center now and get fined if it is put out with the trash, plus they won't take it.

Enjoy reading your updates. One day I will get to doing a thorough write up of every coin in my collection! About 50 "special" ancients (I sold my collection of barbarous coins) and coins of Puerto Rico and Cuba.

Best,

Alfred

Hi folks,

Here's another progress report:

I had more setbacks and distractions this past week. My sister's husband passed out at work a few days ago. He was taken to the emergency room. The hospital kept him overnight. My sister spent so much time at the hospital and helping him that she couldn't help my mother (who is in tremendous pain because of sciatica) for a few days. Consequently, my mother was forced to do things, like shopping, etc. Aside from an infection, my brother-in-law was fine. They couldn't find anything wrong with him. Gee, that statement sounds familiar to me.  As a chronic Lyme Disease patient, I "only" heard that statement ("We can't find anything wrong with him") from doctors and hospitals about 100 times.

In addition to that, the TV in my mother's bedroom broke last night. We initially thought that it was a cable problem. We had to waste all day today waiting for the Verizon guys to come here. It turned out that it wasn't a cable problem. The TV is broke. We can't even put it out for the garbage or recycling because that is illegal. Someone must bring it to a recycling center. I can't do it because I'm disabled. I hope my sister's husband can do it.

On top of all of that, a light fixture in our cellar broke a few days ago. We must change that also.

The last 2 days were a complete "washout" for me in terms of getting any coins done. I haven't "processed" any coins since Saturday.

Until yesterday, I was making good progress. I spent 3 days doing my Medieval Naples coins. I have about 60 of them. I finished processing about 2/3 of them.

Many of my Medieval Naples tags were severely lacking in information. Most of them were purchased form dealers in Italy/San Marino in my early years of collecting. I was forced to re-write just about every one of them from scratch. Fortunately, I have the MIR (Varesi) Naples volume, which wasn't yet published when I purchased my Medieval Naples coins. It was tremendously helpful for me. I don't know what I would have done without it.

I caught another serious error. A dealer attributed a small AE coin to Naples. It is actually a Sicily coin, reference Spahr 127. The strange thing is that the dealer provided the reference, which turned out to be correct. I don't have Spahr, but I do have the MIR (Varesi) Sicily volume. And he cross-references Spahr in it. It is a correct reference. But Spahr catalogs Sicily coins, not Naples. Yet, the dealer attributed the coin to Naples, with a dealer-provided Spahr number on the tag. I don't understand how a dealer can make an error like that.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

Sorry to hear of your difficulties... I know how frustrating it is to not get a diagnosis and have to fight for one. It took doctors more than 20 years and them almost killing me by changing my medication (resulting in a 2 week "vacation" in the hospital) for them to take me seriously and give me a "partial" diagnosis. I hope that your condition improves. Lyme is horrible, although they have made great advances in treatment in the past few years.

Best,

Alfred

Hi Al,

Wow!!! I can't believe that I encountered another Lyme patient here!

Apparently, you have a less severe case of it. You appear to be more functional than I am, although I don't know much about you. You may be familiar with the old saying: "There are different degrees of Lyme". I was bedridden when I was between the ages of 22 and 33. That's how bad my particular case of Lyme Disease is.

I have a cousin who is a nurse. She is the one who actually diagnosed me. Back in 1990, when I was 22 years old, and when my (numerous) doctors couldn't figure out what the hell was wrong with me, she half-jokingly suggested that I be checked/tested for Lyme Disease. It turned out that she was right. My Lyme blood tests came back positive, but that doesn't mean much because, to this day, Lyme Disease is still a "clinical diagnosis" (unfortunately). You have to take the Lyme blood test results with a grain of salt. The blood test results are just one piece in a giant jigsaw puzzle, and 98% of the pieces to that puzzle are missing. This is what it is like for a doctor to diagnose Lyme Disease. My family doctor at that time tentatively diagnosed me as having Lyme Disease. And he sent me to a rheumatologist who confirmed the diagnosis. That was 25 years ago. And the rest is history.

I see that you also had to deal with doctor ignorance, which is very common among Lyme patients. I had to deal with some of that. But, fortunately, in my case, the ignorance wasn't that bad. My family doctor at that time (who is now retired) was fairly open-minded. And he also had another Lyme patient then. We both got sick at the same time (Spring of 1990), and we both presented him with similar symptoms. He couldn't figure out what the hell was wrong with either one of us. We were his first Lyme patients. He had never seen a case of Lyme Disease before.

Unfortunately, most of the specialists I saw weren't as open-minded as my family doctor. I had to deal with an incomprehensible amount of ignorance from them. And many of them were openly hostile to me. They routinely hurled insults at me. I can't tell you how many fights I had with them (I lost count ). Many of my specialist visits often degenerated into screaming matches, with the doctor and myself literally yelling and screaming at each other.

I am not aware of any advances in Lyme treatment that were made recently. But I have been "out of the loop" for a while. I was a Lyme Disease Foundation (LDF) member, but they are now defunct, and they no longer send out newsletters.

I hope your condition improves too.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

Here's another progress report:

I just started "processing" my Sicily, Syracuse coins. I have about 30-40 of them, so it is going to take a long time to grind through them.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

Here's another progress report:

I just came across another serious/catastrophic dealer error.

I have a Corinthian type stater that I purchased about 15 years ago. The obverse depicts a pegasos flying right. The reverse depicts a helmeted head of Athena, with 3 symbols: club and  at left, dolphin at right.

The dealer attributed it to Sicily, Syracuse, reference BMC 9. I looked in SNG ANS, SNG Cop., and Hoover. I couldn't find a match. Doing an online search (Wildwinds, acsearch, etc.), I now realize that the dealer listed the wrong city on the tag. It is actually a coin of Illyria, Dyrrhachium. The correct reference numbers are Pegasi 31 and BMC Corinth 9/10.

I must now transfer it from my Magna Graecia boxes to my Greek boxes, which involves moving dozens of coins.

All this time, I thought it was a Sicily coin. But it isn't.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

Here's another progress report:

I finally finished grinding through my Sicily, Syracuse coins, all 30-40 of them. Many of my tags were lacking in information. And just about every one was missing the ethnic inscription. I had to re-write about 2/3 of the tags from scratch.

I also did my Tauromenium and Siculo-Punic coins. Some of them had no reference numbers on the tags. And I didn't see any Siculo-Punic coins in SNG ANS. That complicated things.

That means I am finally finished sorting through my Magna Graecia coins, all 6 boxes of them.

I am now about 90-95% of the way through my collection. All I have left to do now are my Roman Republic coins. I have 2 boxes of them.

Then, I can finally start taking my photos.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

Here's another progress report:

All I have left to do are my Roman Republic coins. About a week ago, I was ready to start "processing" them. For the past week, I've been very busy. I had about 100 things to do. I wanted to get all of that extraneous stuff out of the way. So, for the past 6-7 days, I have been unable to "process" even so much as one coin.

Tonight, I had about 2 free hours. So, I grinded through about 10 RR coins.

And, you guessed it, I came across yet another serious/catastrophic dealer error. I found another mis-attributed coin. A dealer attributed a RR AE As coin as "Crawford 56/2 var." (RBW 200-202). He also wrote on the tag that it has a plow at right, which I don't see.

After examining my coin for a while and looking through my RBW book, I finally realized that this coin is mis-attributed. The correct references are: Crawford 117B/1, Sydenham 292, and RBW 532. It was minted in circa 206-195 B.C. My example weighs 39.4 grams. It is 37 mm in diameter. The "plow" that the dealer saw on the right is actually the value mark (I). Above the prow, there are a bird and rudder. I can see only about 5-10% of the bird (beak/wing area). About 90-95% of it is missing. I can also see about 30-40% of the rudder (right side only).

The style of the prow exactly matches Crawford 117B/1 and RBW 532. In fact, it may be a reverse die match to RBW 532.

I don'y understand how the dealer made this error. The right side of the rudder is clearly visible above the prow. He is usually very reliable. I guess even the best make mistakes occasionally.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

Here's another progress report:

Today, I "processed" about 20 RR coins. I didn't come across any major dealer errors on my tags, but I did encounter numerous minor errors.

Many of my RR AE As coin tags were missing quite a bit of important information. So, I had to re-write just about every one of them from scratch.

I have a RR AE As coin with a star symbol above the prow on the reverse. The dealer attributed it as Cr. 113/2, but I think it looks (style-wise) more like Cr. 196/1, which is a later issue. Also the weight and size are more in line with Cr. 196/1.

I am now about 45% of the way through my RR box #1.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

Here's another progress report:

Today, I "processed" about 30-40 RR coins. I am now about 90-95% of the way through my RR box #1.

I came across another serious dealer error. A dealer confused L. Albinus and A. Albinus. He attributed a coin to L. Albinus, circa 131 B.C. It is actually a coin of A. Albinus, circa 96 B.C. The correct reference is Cr. 335/10a. It's a rare coin.

So far, about 90-95% of all my serious dealer errors have actually worked in my favor. When I finally figure out what the coin really is, it usually turns out to be a much rarer coin than what the dealer thought it was. Of course, the downside is that it costs me my time (researching it, re-writing the tags from scratch, etc.).

A coin is conspicuously missing from RBW's collection (and book). It is a AR denarius of Mn. Aquilius (Cr. 303/1). I had to use Wildwinds to get information about my own example. I wonder why RBW didn't have an example of this issue? He had just about every other RR coin. This coin is somewhat scarce/rare, but it isn't that much of a rarity.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

Here's another progress report:

Today, I "processed" about 20 or so RR coins. I finished my RR box #1. I am now well into my RR box #2 (my last box). I just completed the tags for my 4 different Malleolus/Albinus/Metellus coins (96 B.C., Cr. 335). Those were the last tags I did. I am now up to 92 B.C. (Bala).

Meepzorp

[carthago]

So far, about 90-95% of all my serious dealer errors have actually worked in my favor. When I finally figure out what the coin really is, it usually turns out to be a much rarer coin than what the dealer thought it was. Of course, the downside is that it costs me my time (researching it, re-writing the tags from scratch, etc.).

You should be happy that your sweat equity has improved the rarity and probably value of your collection.  I love it when I find errors like that. 

[Carausius]

So far, about 90-95% of all my serious dealer errors have actually worked in my favor. When I finally figure out what the coin really is, it usually turns out to be a much rarer coin than what the dealer thought it was. Of course, the downside is that it costs me my time (researching it, re-writing the tags from scratch, etc.).

You should be happy that your sweat equity has improved the rarity and probably value of your collection.  I love it when I find errors like that. 

For those familiar with the board game "Monopoly", I propose a new Community Chest  card: "Dealer misattribution error in your favor.  Collect $50." Sounds like your nearly done, Meep.  Now the real fun begins.

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

Here's another progress report:

Today, I "processed" about 15 RR coins. I am now up to 82 B.C. (Limetanus).

I am also about 1/3 of the way through my RR box #2, which is my last box to sort through.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

For those familiar with the board game "Monopoly", I propose a new Community Chest  card: "Dealer misattribution error in your favor.  Collect $50."

 

[Meepzorp]

Sounds like your nearly done, Meep.  Now the real fun begins.

Hi Cara,

Yes, I am nearly done. I'm so close I can taste it. I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. For a while there, I didn't think I'd ever be done correcting/updating my tags.

Optimistically, I may be done in less than 1-2 weeks. That's assuming my niece doesn't ask me to help her. She didn't need my help last week, but she did the 2 weeks before that.

I have a doctor's appointment on Monday 9/28. That will kill some time. It's time to see my family doctor for my annual check-up. He will probably order blood tests and my annual bone density test (to track my osteoporosis). That will kill even more time.

Meezporp

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

Here's another progress report:

In the past 2 days, I "processed" about 12 RR coins. I am now up to 75 B.C. The last coin I did was L. Farsuleius Mensor (Cr. 392/1b).

I really got bogged down yesterday and today, which is the reason why I only did 12 coins in 2 days. For some reason, these tags were a mess. I had to re-write just about every one of them from scratch. And quite a few of them were very lengthy write-ups, like my A. Postumius Albinus AR denarius (81 B.C., Cr. 372/1) and my C. Egnatius AR denarius (75 B.C., Cr. 391/3), for example.

By the way, my C. Egnatius AR denarius was purchased from Mr. Lindgren. It's a pedigreed coin from the Lindgren collection. Ans it's very high grade too (aXF condition). It's also a scarce/rare coin.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

Here's another progress report:

Today, I "processed" about 15-20 RR coins. I am now up to 57 B.C. The last coin I did was C. Considius Nonianus (57 B.C., Cr. 424/1).

I am now about 2/3 of the way through my RR box #2 (my last box).

As I experienced in my previous 2 days, many of my tags were a mess, and I had to re-write them form scratch. And again, quite a few were very lengthy write-ups, including the following issues:

Mn. Aquillius, 71 B.C., Cr. 401/1
Q. Fufius Calenus and Mucius Cordus, 70 B.C., Cr. 403/1
L. Cassius Longinus, 63 B.C., Cr. 413/1
M Aemilius Scaurus and P. Plautius Hypsaeus, 58 B.C., Cr. 422/1b

These coins have a lot of "action" on them. And they require long write-ups. The last one in particular (Cr. 422/1b) was grueling. I actually filled 4 sheets of paper. Usually, for most of my coins, my tags consist of 2 sheets of paper per coin. Every now and then, I need 3 sheets. But that one coin required 4 sheets of paper to fit all of the information. By the way, that is a record for me. In all the time I've been correcting/updating my tags, I never needed 4 sheets of paper. The most I ever needed was 3 sheets. It's kind of strange that it is a RR coin that required that. You wouldn't think that, right? And, here I am now, I'm almost done. I'm about 98-99% done. And now I needed to do that for the first time. Strange, huh?

My Mn. Aquillius coin (Cr. 401/1) was very draining too. That coin has a lot of "action" on it. In addition to that, it has 2 countermarks: one on the obverse (an "O"), and one on the reverse (a star). Plus, it also has numerous (approximately 6) banker's marks on the obverse. It's an interesting example of an already interesting coin. This is the serrate denarius that has Virtus on the obverse and a reverse depicting a Roman soldier raising a kneeling and fallen Sicily. It reads "SICIL" in exergue.

Meepzorp

[cmcdon0923]

These coins have a lot of "action" on them. And they require long write-ups. The last one in particular (Cr. 422/1b) was grueling. I actually filled 4 sheets of paper. Usually, for most of my coins, my tags consist of 2 sheets of paper per coin. Every now and then, I need 3 sheets. But that one coin required 4 sheets of paper to fit all of the information. By the way, that is a record for me. In all the time I've been correcting/updating my tags, I never needed 4 sheets of paper. The most I ever needed was 3 sheets. It's kind of strange that it is a RR coin that required that. You wouldn't think that, right? And, here I am now, I'm almost done. I'm about 98-99% done. And now I needed to do that for the first time. Strange, huh?

Meep....if I may call you Meep......

Throughout this whole process I have constantly asked myself how it could possibly take this long to rewrite the tags for your coins.  I was going under the impression that by "tags", you meant little 2x2 "tags" to fit inside a standard flip.  Now I read that you're actually writing full pages of paper for each coin....averaging at least two pages per coin.  Do I assume these "tags" are then stored in a binder of some type, as obviously they can't reside with the coins themselves?

Do you have a backup copy of each of these "tags"?  Not having some type of backup leaves you susceptible to having to "rediscover" all the information you've recorded if something would happen to your "tags", and do it all over again.

[Meepzorp]

These coins have a lot of "action" on them. And they require long write-ups. The last one in particular (Cr. 422/1b) was grueling. I actually filled 4 sheets of paper. Usually, for most of my coins, my tags consist of 2 sheets of paper per coin. Every now and then, I need 3 sheets. But that one coin required 4 sheets of paper to fit all of the information. By the way, that is a record for me. In all the time I've been correcting/updating my tags, I never needed 4 sheets of paper. The most I ever needed was 3 sheets. It's kind of strange that it is a RR coin that required that. You wouldn't think that, right? And, here I am now, I'm almost done. I'm about 98-99% done. And now I needed to do that for the first time. Strange, huh?

Meep....if I may call you Meep......

Throughout this whole process I have constantly asked myself how it could possibly take this long to rewrite the tags for your coins.  I was going under the impression that by "tags", you meant little 2x2 "tags" to fit inside a standard flip.  Now I read that you're actually writing full pages of paper for each coin....averaging at least two pages per coin.  Do I assume these "tags" are then stored in a binder of some type, as obviously they can't reside with the coins themselves?

Hi cmc,

Your first impression was actually correct. When I used the term "sheet of paper" in my previous post, I was actually referring to homemade 2x2 sheets of paper. No, I am not writing full sheets of paper. And no, they are not stored in a binder. They are inserted in to my Mylar plastic flips.

And yes, they are taking me this long to do. Is that abnormal?

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

These coins have a lot of "action" on them. And they require long write-ups. The last one in particular (Cr. 422/1b) was grueling. I actually filled 4 sheets of paper. Usually, for most of my coins, my tags consist of 2 sheets of paper per coin. Every now and then, I need 3 sheets. But that one coin required 4 sheets of paper to fit all of the information. By the way, that is a record for me. In all the time I've been correcting/updating my tags, I never needed 4 sheets of paper. The most I ever needed was 3 sheets. It's kind of strange that it is a RR coin that required that. You wouldn't think that, right? And, here I am now, I'm almost done. I'm about 98-99% done. And now I needed to do that for the first time. Strange, huh?

Meep....if I may call you Meep......

Do you have a backup copy of each of these "tags"?  Not having some type of backup leaves you susceptible to having to "rediscover" all the information you've recorded if something would happen to your "tags", and do it all over again.

Hi cmc,

No, I have no backup at all whatsoever. My tags are with my coins. So, if something happens to my tags, then that "something" will also probably happen to the coins themselves.

That's one of the reasons why I am doing a photographic record of my coins. The photo will be a 'backup" of my tags.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

Hi cmc,

Why do you find it so difficult to believe that it could possibly take someone this long to do this?

Each tag that I write typically takes me 30-45 minutes (per coin), plus research time. However, my research time is shortened if I use books instead of the internet, which is the case for my Magna Graecia coins and Roman Republic coins. I don't have to go "searching" on the internet. The information I need is right there in the book in front of me.

That is the situation for my typical tags (2 2x2 sheets of paper). If I need 3 or 4 2x2 sheets of paper to complete a tag, it may take me considerably longer to write it up.

Again, is that abnormal? How long does it take other Forum members to write up (by hand) tags for their ancient coins? I am referring to complete information, not abbreviated tags.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

Here's another progress report:

Today, I didn't "process" any coins at all. Instead, I started my 1988 Mustang GT. I usually start it a few times a year. It was a nice day today. The weather was beautiful. And I hadn't started my car in a while. So, I decided to do that.

I had to charge the battery for about 45 minutes. But, once I did that, everything was fine. The 5.0 liter engine fired right up.

It's like the song "Red Barchetta" by Rush: "Ooh, fire up the willing engine, responding with a roar..."

And there's that relatively new song by Nickelback. It's the song where they describe trying to rob a bank on a Sunday. Of course, the bank is closed. And there's a police car sitting right there. There's a line in the lyrics: "stolen Mustang...small block 302". I get a kick out of that song.

I talked to a few of my neighbors for a while too.

Meepzorp

[Jschulze]

Hi Meepzorp,
I can only speak for myself but I do understand the amount of time you are taking if it includes research.

For me, most of the fun behind these coins is attributing them and doing the relevant background research. When buying a coin, they almost always are already attributed. I note the attribution and use it as a starting point but always complete my own attribution. I then find a good group of similar examples (photos) and their information. Many times I find unexpected details. Even with the most common coins, this takes a bit of time.

This is the difference between those of us who collect these coins to keep and research for our enjoyment and those that may clean and resell coins. For someone getting a pile of coins that they're selling, taking 30 minutes probably isn't worth the return.

This is your hobby that gives you happiness, if it takes a bit of time to get it the way you like it, well... that's the way it should be!

Josh

[Jschulze]

PS: I must also say that I've enjoyed your Mustang posts. For me it was 60-70s British sports cars (a losing battle). My first car was an old Triumph and my brother's was an old Lotus. I just wanted a car that ran when I was 16. However, my Dad had a Spitfire when he was younger so I got a Triumph that spent much more time in the garage than on the streets instead... But I still loved it. Haha.

[Andrew McCabe]

Each tag that I write typically takes me 30-45 minutes (per coin), plus research time. However, my research time is shortened if I use books instead of the internet, which is the case for my Magna Graecia coins and Roman Republic coins. I don't have to go "searching" on the internet. The information I need is right there in the book in front of me.

It takes me about 30 minutes per coin to 'log' it, which involves a combination of excel spreadsheet for my collection info, MS word doc for my purchase receipt (different format because the purchase info includes all the dealer-supplied info exactly as supplied including pics, payment methods etc, which suits a document format) and finally creating a coin name for my own pic, uploading the pic to Flickr and linking to it in my spreadsheet. I use a lot of cut-and-paste data from similar coins and I don't write handwritten tags but I could well imagine it would take 45 mins per coin if I did.

So 45 mins including hand writing tags sounds normal.

It's also an enjoyable process. 30 minutes interaction with a new coin that may have cost a lot is part of the enjoyment I purchased.

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

Here's another progress report:

Since last Thursday, coming into today, I "processed" only 5 or 6 coins. That's a span of about 5 days. The reason is that I was busy. Every day, I had numerous things to do. Some days, I had no time at all to do my coins. Other days I had 30 minutes or 1 hour to do coins. I didn't have 1 day where I had more than 1 hour of free time to do my coins. Consequently, I didn't get many done.

Toady is the first day in almost a week where I actually had some free time, and I could actually sit down and do my coins for more than 1 hour. In fact, I did it for several hours today. All total, I "processed" about 10-15 coins today. That's about 3 times the amount of coins I did in 5 days combined. It's amazing how much you can accomplish when you actually have some free time.

As has been typical of my later Roman Republic coins, my tags were a mess, and just about every tag had to be re-written form scratch. And many required lengthy write-ups.

Technically, I am done with my RR coins, and I am in the Imperatorial period (if you consider them 2 different, distinct periods). I am now doing my Roman Imperator coin tags (Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, Sextus Pompeius, etc.).

I have only 6 coins left to do. And then I will be all done correcting/updating my tags. I will finally be able to start taking my photos.

Tomorrow doesn't look good either, in terms of free time. I have another doctor appointment. I am scheduled to have my annual bone density test done tomorrow.

Meepzorp