A Milestone Post And A Thank You!

I haven't posted a whole lot since I've been here, but I plan to do so a lot more in the future. This is my 100th post, so I wanted to make it something special.

While I may not have posted much, I've read through a ton of threads on these forums. I've learned so much from all of you and I appreciate the work and camaraderie that this community offers. I could write an extensive list of the ways that you've all taught me so much about numismatics and I enjoy seeing the passion of all of the collectors here.

I chose to make this post in this subforum for a specific reason. I've been collecting US coins long before I ever subscribed to this community. At some point, I've hit a wall with filling my books. I've tried to compile a collection of every year and mint for every series and every denomination. Some are going better than others. Now I'm at the point that there are no more $20-100 coins left to obtain. Just key dates and expensive series. So filling those empty spots has come far less frequently.

Over the last few years I started collecting non-US coins. Mostly just buying up the coins in the foreign bin at my LCS that charges about $5 a pound. I'd sort through those and pick out the interesting stuff and eventually put together some nice sets. Most of those are obviously mid 19th century and later.

Then I took it one step further. About a year and half ago I started collecting medievals and ancients. It's opened up a whole new world to me in collecting, almost like completely starting over. I feel like I'm learning everything for the first time again. There's such a wealth of expertise in this sub on all sorts of regions and eras. I've had to spend a little bit of money on books, learn to read inscriptions, and I've learned so much about the history behind these coins, the kings whose faces are struck on them, and the history of those countries and kingdoms.

So far I'm mostly focusing on English and French medievals. I've started branching out to Spanish and hope to get into Germanic this year. I've really enjoyed the ride so far. It really is a treat to see some great coins that you all have shared with everyone. I've posted a few identification threads, and you have all been an immense help. There's no way I could have learned all of this on my own as quickly without your help.

I've put together a pretty decent collection at this point, but decided against posting in the Walking Back thread since it had already progressed past a lot of my collection when I started. I'll definitely add my contributions to the next round!

In closing, I wanted to share a couple of my favorites that I've acquired recently. These are perhaps the two biggest names that I wasn't sure how long it would take to own. The top coin is a penny from William the Conqueror, dating 1066-87. The bottom coin is a denier of Charlemagne, dating 793-812. Both have some issues, but were an affordable start and I'm beyond proud to own them both.

Here's to the first 100 posts and looking forward to hitting 500 and 1000 while sharing this wonderful hobby with you all!