Has anyone heard of this Company? I have two sets of (3) Roman silver ancient coins. I'll post pictures tonight. I 'll give some detail, They came in a red velvet case book with documentation and a description of each emperor on the coin. Also there is a welcoming letter from "The Ancient Coin Society". Like I said I'll post pics, In the meantime I just wanna know if anyone else out there has a collection like this.
I've been collecting ancients for a few years now, and I've never heard of them. Where did you pick up these sets?
I have seen some sets they make. A lot like a few other companies, they package some fairly common coins in common grades and market them to non collectors. I don't get upset about it, but they usually have a pretty high markup, like most other non-numismatic retail products. The coins are genuine, but usually yawners.
My dad bought a box full of random coins alot of unc. wheaties ,stamps , peace dollars and these for twenty bucks!From a garage sale in Oregon. Someone didn't know what they had. Anyway I took them to the most reputable dealer where I live and the owner said they look/feel authentic and he's been collectin 15+ years. I cant wait until the coin show comes to my town (oct 2010) there is suppose to be a person there certified in grading ancient coins. Until then I can only go off of opinions. I'll still post pics tonight.
I am not sure about "certified" in grading ancients, I didn't know there was such a thing. Some members of this board have been colelcting ancients longer than other members have been alive, I am newish at it only collecting them for a decade or so now. What I am saying is I think this board can help you just as much or more than most coin show dealers if you want to post pics.
Thats good to know . I'll for sure post pics, it'll be late tonight. Thank you all for your help and comments.
At that price, even if they're common and worn, it's hardly a bad deal. We'll be able to tell you more once you post them. Do keep in mind that the ancient Romans made millions of coins, and many aren't worth nearly as much as most people would suspect for something that old. I've managed to get a collection of Romans without spending more than $30 on any coin.
So I got all the coins ready to take pictures , then my camera completely stopped working ... well , I will post pics after I get it fixed .
I, too, have never heard of anyone certified in grading ancients (why whose authority are they certified?) but there are many people (dealers mostly) who are able to lay out a term that most people will accept so I guess they are certifiable. Grade means nothing in ancients except when it means everything. What matters most is 'eye appeal'. A coin can be worn but struck boldly and having a good looking surface or it can be unworn and scrappy looking. In this case, worn sells for more. For years mortals have tried to find a way of applying a simple number grade to ancients with varying degrees of success. The recent slabbers of choice start with the standard VF and apply a number 1-5 for strike and surface. It is a try and better than nothing but not something I'd accept as an answer to the problem. When I did my grading page I identified two areas of note that I called Condition of Manufacture and Condition of Preservation but stopped short of suggesting that numbers rate the areas. I could have been famous but I chickened out. The two acknowledge that bad things happened to coins both at the mint and after leaving the mint. Modern graders (TPG) take the easy out by refusing to address coins that have suffered after the mint (AT, cleaned etc.) so they are spared comparing the value of a cleaned/retoned MS68 and a fully natural VF. ALL ancients have been cleaned so graders have to loosen up and rate coins according to how awful a job was done rather than pretending there is no elephant in the room. Anyone who has a really good answer for grading all ancients has yet to step forward and claim the prize.
You could always scan them if you have access to a scanner. It's not going to be as pretty as a photograph, but it should be enough to get a good idea of what you have.
Aw, you're already famous. Your essays have done more for the hobby than some new grading system for people who aren't happy owning a coin without a code of letters and numbers attached to it.
http://www.cointalk.com/t135209/ here's the link to the coins I was asking about , some pics are posted.