For me, Rob really has hit the nail on the head. Still a novice, I currently don't have the time to be able to really get my head around the varieties (let alone remember them) of predecimal coins. However with decimals it's easy, it's in your face, because that's what you handle on a daily basis, indeed it's all I've handled all my life (save foreign dosh of course). However still trying to trace down a 1992 dot to dot 10p I have started to understand and learn the jargon, of say 'bead to I for instance' and can easily and cheaply compare wire rim to broad. Similarly, I'm trying to get a 1999 £2 in as close to uncirculated condition as possible (I actually think I have at £28 and have been meaning to post it up here) and so with decimals, in many ways you have the thrill of the chase that you don't otherwise get from pre-decimals. Equally you can easily learn and understand the subtle differences in hand as opposed to reading about them in a book (as I couldn't afford to buy multiple varieties of a predecimal coin, just to compare them in hand). I also think there is an inherent snobbery from some predecimal collectors and dealers, much the same as people who stop liking a band because they become popular. I think anybody who gets in to coin collecting via buying royal mint specials or through the coin hunt folders should be encouraged and supported not poo pooed because ultimately a percentage will make the transition into predecimal, and indeed, in another 40yrs time unless a coin collector, nobody will have any knowledge of what a farthing etc. is. Anyway, that's my musings over and done with