What are the best ways to get them? Also, what are the oldest dates that ypu can get, while staying relatively low in the price range, but with a coin that is still readable (Not all 'gunked' up.) Any ideas, as I am starting to be attracted to the older side of coins... more history!
As we write, there is a dealer offering at $40 a Greek silver coin of 500 BC. To the best of my knowledge, that is as cheap as you are likely to get one from 500 BC. If you drop to 300 BC, the price can go down and many coins of bronze become available. None of these coins are dated in the sense you expect from modern coins but are attributed with certainty. The idea of dating coins with numbers did not occur in the early period.
As recommended elsewhere by other members, I would suggest a bronze of Alexander the Great. Its inexpensive, its old, and it even the greenest beginner can appreciate its historical value. Shoewrecky - "BC coins" are "inexpensive" because value is not a function of age. Its the number of available coins versus the interest in them: supply and demand. But I would disagree with you, Greek coins of the 5th-3rd century are traditionally the most expensive ancients.
The point is that if all that means anything to you is age, there are cheap, old coins. At the same time as the cheap ones were being made, other jurisdictions were making things that now sell for a few thousand (or hundred thousands) dollars. There are very few ancients that have broken the $million mark and that is because they are unpopular compared to certain US coins that exist in similar numbers. I suspect I could find 1000 types of ancients over 2000 years old that would sell for less than a 1909S VDB cent. The old joke is a coin failed to sell at auction despite the fact that it was one of three known examples. It seems there were only two people who cared about that type and they both already owned one. There are thousands of surviving archaic Greek silver coins and fewer collectors that want one. There are similarly thousands of surviving key date Lincoln cents and many more people who want them. There is nothing about a 1909S VDB cent that makes it 'worth' more than a 1942, 1958 or 1982. Demand, however, makes a bit of a spread in the prices. Whatever the coin, however old the coin or however beautiful the coin, when there are more available than there are people wanting to buy, the price will be low. Compare the number of people on Coin Talk that collect US and the number that collect Ancients. Do the math.
as doug mentioned its all about the market for specific coins that drives up the prices. For a nice cheap greek coin philiip II of macedon coins head of apollo obv. and horseman reverses are nice with many varieties and farely cheap. I like them. Alexander III the great Macedon type coins have some nice varieties.
http://forumancientcoins.com/ http://bargainbinancients.com/zen/index.php If you have fairly deep pockets: http://cngcoins.com/ http://www.harlanjberk.com/ancientcoins/cncc.asp?inventorygroup=cc
