I've been thinking about this a bit recently. With the turmoil over in Syria at the moment, we've seen that ISIS seem to be embarking on a campaign to wipe out their country's history and heritage. I would think that if they come across any private or dealers collections, they wouldn't hesitate to smelt the coins down for their metals, and I wonder how many coins have already met this fate (where else would they be getting the gold and silver to mint their own coins if they're not melting down coins, jewellery and other artifacts)
Now I only have a handful of Syrian coins and it's not an area that I actively collect. However, I've been thinking that it might be an idea to start collecting Syrian coins. Because it would be doing my bit to preserve a little piece of the Syrian history. An added bonus is that if there ARE coins being smelted down then any remaining are bound to increase in value.
What are your thoughts on the matter?