How do you start collecting ancients?

Wow....just wow...
That Indo-Greek coin is just amazing..
Definitely much to start from and all interesting

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Just buy coins that appeal to you. Eventually you will find yourself collecting certain coins as their appeal grows. Just enjoy.

 

Well we're mainly a dealer so we have a selection of ancients up but me personally, I believe I have 2 ancients. I'll try to have them imaged but I'm mostly a US Type collector who has always admired these coins from afar

Trying to get a sense how to start myself and this thread, and everyone's input, has definitely given me inspiration. So thank you all!

 

1. Shop around
2. Read ancient coin threads at CT
3. Buy what you like (I cannot stress that enough)
4. Enjoy yourself

Many have made great suggestions in this thread. I particularly liked Doug Smith's suggestion of buying coins that speak to you more than others of the same type. Don't limit yourself to only hunting coins on your list.

POST YOUR NEW ANCIENT COINS HERE AT COINTALK.

 

Try to buy from reputable dealers. Check out vcoins.com, also forumancientcoins.com. Both those sites are extremely reputable. FORVM goes a step further in that it will buy back your ancient coins that you purchased from them at the same price you bought them. Both also come with lifetime authenticity guarantees.

Also, ask @John Anthony to put you in his coin auction list. He auctions 10-12 coins every week, and he always has very interesting inventory ranging from celtic/barbarian coinage, all the way up to medieval coinage. Even if you buy nothing, after watching his auctions for a month or so you'll have a better idea of the diversity of ancient coins out there, their prices, etc. Though I'm sure JA wouldn't mind if you bought a coin. He also gives you a lifetime authenticity guarantee.

Also try registering with reputable auction sites like cngcoins.com and agoraauctions.com. While it is not a perfect guarantee that you'll never get a fake, these auction houses are very reputable, do a good job in only selling quality genuine coins, and you have the lifetime guarantee that if your coin's authenticity is ever questioned your money will be refunded.

 

When I started out in ancients, one of the activities that I always found helpful and broadening was to to thoroughly peruse all the auctions that I could find:

https://www.sixbid.com
https://www.numisbids.com

In addition to giving a sense of how much these coins might cost, it was even better to read the short descriptions of the coins -- descriptions that often gave a pithy history behind the coin and the political reasons for the coin's devices. This can be very helpful in figuring out where you might want your collection to focus.

 

PP, I recommend you begin here:
http://esty.ancients.info/
and read the FAQ. Then read any of the other collecting-area pages that strike your fancy.
That site, and many other sites, have pages of links to other educational sites:
http://esty.ancients.info/numis/sitelinks.html

At the bottom of the CoinTalk ancients page there are (as I write) links to 7,741 threads--probably more than you want to read. However, this site also has a good search engine (upper right) and if you get any idea or coin in mind, you can search to see if it has been discussed before.

US-coin collecting is far more limited than ancient-coin collecting, which takes a different mindset because the list of types in almost any area is endless. The ancient world had several cultures issuing huge numbers of coins from numerous mints (c. 500 Greek mints) for 1000 years. The Roman Republic had well over 500 silver types. The one Roman emperor Antoninus Pius issued over 1000 types.

This is very liberating. You don't have to pick an area thinking "I'm trying to get them all." There is rarely a "key date" parallel to the rarer US types. You don't need to finish any collection. There are many rarities in any collecting area that you will never find. Not to worry. You will certainly find many more interesting coins.

So, my advice is to buy coins that interest you. If you are interested enough to take the time to figure out what is neat about a type (say, neat enough to show a non-collecting friend, or show and explain it to a US coin collector, or begin a CoinTalk thread on it), then that coin worth having in your collection.

 

@Penny Pincher Coins it looks like you have enough advice to last a lifetime. May I just wish you good luck and I hope to see some of your coins whatever you might decide on.

 

Don't move to fast be patient if its to good to be true it probably is a fake. For instance I am trying to collect "The 12 Caesars in Silver denarius here are five that are a problem so its 2 steps forward 1 back can you pick out the fakes?

 

Your pictures are not very sharp, so it's hard to tell. We need better pictures. However, I'd say Otho might be questionable. I see what appear to be too much pitting suggesting a cast, but your pictures are not very clear.

Can we get rim shots? It would be nice to see if there are cast seams or evidence of filing on the edges. I'd also ask for weight and diameter of the coins.

 

I will post all that shortly after we have guesses from at least 6 people. I would like to just go on visual for now I can tell you this no rim evidence whats so ever if fake could have been done years ago because the rims have a natural silver black patina.

 

Put it under 100x magnification and under intense LED lights and any cast lines, no matter how faint, will show like a sore thumb. That's what I did with my fake Severus denarius which also had dark surfaces. I couldn't see casting marks at 5x magnification with a coin loupe and the naked eye, but 100X with intense lighting with a plug in microscope and even the gate mark was obvious.

 

You mean "opinions"?

 

Yes opinions you know English was not my favorite SUBJECT dangling- participles!!! UGGG!!!

 

And remember, you have to love talking about your coins...the OP didn't have a chance to make any posts between #6 and #40...actually it is all interesting though.

 

You definitely will
And thank you in particular. I appreciate it!

 

Truth be told we are also dealers. But yes I absolutely understand your point. From what I hear counterfeit ancient coins are a pervasive problem.

 

Counterfeit (fill in the blank) is a problem in this era of eBay. Purses, clothing, stamps, coins, antique furniture, etc. Basically, if there is a collector market for it, there are tons of criminals on eBay waiting to sucker you in and depart you from your money.

If you think U.S. coins are excempt, you'd be surprised. Its gotten to the point that fake NGC and PCGS slabs using real serial numbers, and which are almost impossible to distinguish from the real ones, are now poping up. I would even consider any Morgan Dollar or Peace Dollar sold on Ebay as suspect, due to the tons of Chinese counterfeits flodding the market.

 

Yes you're right. It really is a pervasive issue. The numismatic community has never seen anything like this before.