I have decided that I would like at least one ancient coin in my collection, and I am willing to spend $30 to $40 dollars on the first one to try it out. I know next to nothing about ancients so I need you guys to help me. The only thing I know is that I would like the coin to be silver, not copper or bronze. Does anyone have any recomendations regarding websites or specific coins? Any information would help Thanks for your time.
For cheap silver in good condition, I think many would agree Gordian III is a good one. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/ has a under $40 section and vcoins.com is good too. Dougs website has alot of great info. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/index.html
Be careful at what you're doing. Once you get ONE ancient coin you might be hooked and want more (they use to give you one or two for free out the school and then you have to BUY them ) Q
go to vcoins.com and search "denarius" for Roman or "Drachm" for Greek. I'd suggest getting one with a cool portrait at the price. stainless
If you want someone that people have heard of on your coin, you might want to check out the Alexandrian tetradrachms of Nero (just look up "Nero tetradrachm" on VCoins and make sure you match all words). However, I think that these were only around 25% silver in this period, and you're not going to find anything in as nice shape as coins of someone like Gordian III in that price range. In addition to the denarius and drachm, another kind of coin you might be interested in is the antoninianus. It was a coin worth 2 denarii (though usually only had the silver content of 1.5 or so), and they were generally a little bigger than a denarius. Unfortunately, if you really want silver, searching for "antoninianus" isn't going to be that useful. That coin was debased at least a little bit by just about every emperor that minted it, to the point where they needed to give it a silver wash during the reign of Galienus to make it actually look silver, and the antoniniani from that period onwards are more common than the ones that have a decent amount of silver. For antoniniani with a high enough silver content to look silver, the most affordable emperors are Gordian III, Philip the Arab, and Trajan Decius, so you might want to check out their coins.
Buy a coin whose inscription (writing) is still legible. Learning to read the coin's insciption is a skill that makes studying the coin more enjoyable. guy
For $40 your choices in silver will be very limited and probably not all that good looking. I'd probably look for a decent looking bronze of the later Roman period with good eye appeal. You might get a coin of Constantine the Great or Diocletian (both guys with significant places in history). Unfortunately $40 doesn't go as far as it used to. Your decision for $40 will be between something silver and looking every bit of its 2000 years old or something very common but reasonably attractive.
I don't know Doug, I just got a nice VF centered Julia Domna denari for $50. I only bought it because I wanted an Isis nursing Horus coin, and this one is pretty nice. Mat thinks I overpaid though. Unfortunately Au and MS coins the best dealer I would recommend just concluded his 3 times a year auction last week. If you want to get a great coin for a good price, I can let you know when he has his next auction. I picked up some very nice coins, including an Ardashir Tetradrachm in excellent shape. Chris P.S. I will admit, though, Doug that I am very cheap, and not everyone has the patience to wait for deals that I do. I think $40 can still buy a good coin, though I admit every day the percentage of auctions I am outbid on goes up.
I'll admit that you and mat can find good bargains including $40 denarii that are pretty (I suspect his new Elagabalus was more) but a brand new newby turned loose on the market with $40 will be lucky to find a coin you would buy for $20. Part of it is that most new-to-the-market folks will go looking one day and figure they will buy something. I'd rather see someone buy a $40 late Roman that they will be happy to own in a few years than a $40 corroded denarius of the type I'm seeing offered these days. After a while we realize that some days bring bargains and some don't. I have a coin show this Friday. Will I spend $500 or just the gas it cost to drive up there? Either is possible. As an exercise I'll look to see what the best denarius I see at the show for $40. I may even buy it but that is not a guarantee. Looking through some of the standard venues (VCoins, Forum and EBay) I see many more (IMHO) pieces of $40 junk silver than things I'd recommend to a friend new to the hobby. That is why I am unwilling to bet that a 'Chris grade' $40 bargain denarius is out there for a new collector dying to spend $40. I must be looking in the wrong place.
Thanks for the "Chris Grade" compliment, but I would wager I have coins in overall similar condition as yours Doug. I just call my F a F, not a VF++ like so many dealers. You are completely right of course that typical newcomers going to Vcoins or similar dealers will pay dearly for an honest VF nowadays. However, my Julia Domna was simply on Ebay and anyone could have bought it. Frank Robinson auctions is another great source that should not be news to readers here, but I admit most newcomers would never know of him since he doesn't pay for expensive advertising. Deals are deals usually because you put in the work to FIND THEM. If great deals were just everywhere, then by definition they would not be deals, simply the market price. Your expertise allows you to see what others miss. I have that in some issues, but others I do it the old fashioned way and am just patient. To the OP Frank Robinson has silver coins from miletos cheap pretty often. You cannot find a cheaper silver 6th century BC coin I can just about guarantee you. They are small, but silver and chock full of great coinage history. Chris
These were the first two ancient coins that I purchased. I selected them because I liked them. They are common coins. They are high grade making it easy to read the coins. I believe the price was less than $50 for the pair & I purchased them from a reputable dealer. Since that time, I have only purchased a few more ancient coins. I recommend that you buy what you like.
