Good starting point for ancients?

I would like to know of a good starting point for an ancient collector. I own 5 ancient coins already. Aren't there over 100000 individual varieties of Roman coins alone?

I am interested in owning more ancient coins, preferably for a low price. I enjoy trying to identify an unidentified coin, but I've heard that once you get into ancients, there is no return and you will inevitably spend $100 on books to identify crappy AE4s from that uncleaned lot you just obtained.

That being said, should I start with uncleaned or already identified? If you suggest uncleaned, can you recommend a supplier? I've seen a site called "Old Dirty Coins" that sells uncleaned high quality ancients.

 

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In this day and age you don't need to spend more on books than coins. There are plenty of free sources out there to help you along. Most of RIC is available in pdf.

As for uncleaned coins... you get what you pay for. Most will be slugs.. some might be worth the two bucks you spent on it. I personally enjoy cleaning coins but others think it's a waste of money. I agree with them too.... but it's fun.

Why not start with both? Buy ten bucks worth of uncleaned and a ten buck identified coin off vcoins. Can't go wrong either way... but the identified might be a better investment.

 

You may really like cleaning coins, I never had a nack for it. How patient are you?

 

I wouldn't rush into anything until you have had a good look at all the different types of ancients, maybe do searches for emperors, specific emperors or architecture. Play around on Vcoins search engine and see what catches your interest and budget.

 

And don't feel like you have to focus on any one type.

 

I believe that number may be low. I am not a coin cleaner. You will learn more about coins if you start with coins that have details remaining. Most beginners start specializing too soon. If you buy your first 100 coins one at a time and see a pattern developing, you may have discovered your specialty. If you find none, you may be a general collector. I am both. About half of my coins are in one of a half dozen specialties. Perhaps I specialize in finding ne specialties??? The rest are for my general collection "Coins that Speak to Me".

NEVER listen to me or anyone else who tells you what you should collect. Make the hobby fit you. We have people here who specialize in some of the most boring (to me) possible things but they find no interest in what thrills me most. It is that kind of hobby. I will never understand the crowd that considers the grade more important than what the coin is. Who, What, When, How and Why all matter more than grade to me. You may never be driven to know anything beyond what fits on a one inch label. Enjoy!

 

I recommend the Wayne Sayles series; Ancient Coin Collecting. I was an experienced collector, but just starting ancients when they first came out and I leaned a lot of good, basic information. I think they are a great source to help understand all of the different areas available. Plus they are cheap (<$20 I think) and may even be in some public libraries.

 

For me, this is what makes collecting Ancients. A fine graded coin is nice, but even lesser coins can give joy when you try to find all there is to know about the coin. Holding a 2000 year old coin and letting your imagination run amok is very much a part of the fun. Decide what interests you in history, and just go for it. There is no right or wrong way to collect Ancients.

 

Welcome to the forum @Omegaraptor!

There's nothing like holding an ancient coin in the palm of your hand and zoning out the modern world while your imagination takes a two thousand year journey back in time. You can almost touch all of those ancient hands that once held that coin.

Just don't do it while you're driving

 

Wayne Sayles series; Ancient Coin Collecting

Awesome books, @Oldhoopster !

 

I agree completely. The grade isn't so important to me as the story (historical or numismatic) any individual coin can tell. Heck, my absolute favourite coin in my collection is F+. Having fun and enjoying the hobby is what it's all about, and I'm certainly doing both!

 

Like others have said, there is no right or wrong way to collect ancients. When I was a kid, I started out collecting coins of particular rulers with a goal of having a coin for each emperor, no matter how ephemeral they might have been. Because of my budgetary limitations, I ended up getting lots of 3rd century coins with a few 4th century coins mixed in, I also had about half of the "twelve caesars" but I had to save up more for these coins.

I stopped collecting for 25 years and only started again in 2014 - this time with the large uncleaned lots that somehow have made it onto the web. I also was astounded with the number of online resources available to help one identify coins. I heard about wildwinds.com and started using that. After three years of buying hoards (each hoard had about 250 coins in them) I started to get tired of cleaning them up and the methods involved (though admittedly it can be fun for awhile and I did find a few hidden gems, but not very many).

I found this forum in April when a supplier I was using in the UK who dealt in hoards decided to stop selling. A google search led me here and I joined the forum in April. Since I joined I started gaining an interest in the Greek Imperial coins of the various Hellenistic cities, they often have interesting portraits and wonderful reverse types from mythology.

So I am still attempting to gain a coin of each ruler but have branched out a bit into other varieties, and I think I'm going to focus on the Greek Imperials (and Roman Egypt) for the next few years. So, no matter what coins you end up collecting just remember that this is a fun hobby at the intersection of archaeology, art history, and history itself.

 

I'm just starting out too Omega. I only have 8 coins so far but have already realized that paying a little more for clearer details is often worth it, when possible, in my opinion.

A fun site to shop is www.bargainbinancients.com you'll find a variety of affordable and interesting coins.

 

After picking two great medieval coins out of a $5 per coin bin, I think I have found my interest: medieval coins. I also bought a Kyzikos tetartemorion and hemiobol on that same day, but, truth be told, I enjoy the medieval coins more. I hope to have a fun time on the ancient section.

By the way, has anyone bought from Civitas?

 

Yes I have. They are very reliable.

 

I would agree with Doug and others that you should follow your own interests as to what to collect. As for me, I am a general collector who has a secondary focus in the coins of Constantine because this ruler has many different reverse types and many coins are affordable. If you go to VCoins, you could search CONSTANTINE I, sort them from low to high, and you would go through about 600-700 coins before hitting the $30 mark. I collected many coins of his without topping that number. Now I'm at the stage where the coins I want cost a bit more, but one can still build an enjoyable collection on a budget in ancients.

 

Ditto! Enjoy!

 

I have not purchased through bargainbinancients. Where do they ship from? I am not seeing their location on the site.

 

Hi Omegaraptor (interesting name btw),

In my opinion this is a forgiving hobby. You cannot go wrong (other than buying a fake if you choose to buy on eBay and from unreliable dealers who do not genuinely guarantee authenticity). All coins have resale value so even if you ventured out and spent too much on a coin that you later regret, or lost interest in, you could sell it and your worst case is that you do not break-even. You are still better off than many other hobbies where people effectively spend money on 'experience' or depreciating assets.

You will learn something from each coin you buy. For that reason I rarely regret any purchase I have made. If I did not buy coins outside of my main areas of interest then I would never have learned about the Kushan Empire or ancient Indian coinage. That is why I will always remain a generalist collector who also has some narrower fields of focus - I would fiercely disagree that being a generalist and specialist and mutually exclusive in this hobby.

You do not have to spend much to enjoy the hobby but it is horses for courses - and whether you find owning fewer 'higher end' coins more rewarding than diversity is really up to you.

In my view late romans is a great place to start. That is where I, like many others, began and I learned a great deal from coins which were highly accessible in price.

Uncleaned coins is not for everyone. I personally found it rewarding but it is time-consuming and not for the impatient. Also the rewards rarely meet one's expectations unless one carries low expectations (a good idea, where uncleaned coins are concerned).

Peter

 

I believe they are shipping from Florida. I’ve ordered multiple times and they ship quickly.