Hi I am new to coins. I would like to build a collection of ancient Greek coins. I am interested in coins that can hold there value. What is a typical price of a quality ancient Greek coin? Also is there any recommended books on this subject? Thanks in advance.
If your just starting out Ancient Coin Collecting Vol 1 and 2 by Wayne G Sayles are good introductory coin books at a decent price. As for a typical price? $50-$1000? What are you looking to spend, what period or geographic location, partictular ruler/city are you interested in?
Thanks for the advise. I will order those books. I don't have a favorite ruler. I was hoping that researching the coins could teach me more about the history. I would rather have a few coins that I really liked rather than lots of average ones. I probably wouldn't be willing to spend more than 3000 on a coin.
You could have a nice set of Athenian Tetradrachms, or of Alexander III. Or you might like coins of Corinth, Rhodes, or Syracuse. Allot of fakes of these though, so buy carefully.
Buy from trusted dealers w/ a lifetime guarantee on authenticity, educate yourself on fakes, take your time and avoid ebay (atleast at first). vcoins.com and http://www.numismall.com/ (havent bought from there yet) are good places to look. Can always post a coin here too. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/ sells coins, and has a good fake reports gallery to compare with other coins.
Buy from a dealer (store or online) that is knowledgeable in ancient coins. Start there and progressively work towards acquiring coins based on your growing knowledge. Mind you, that it takes years. So be patient and don't get distressed if you accidently get a fake. If you buy from a reputable dealer and it turns out to be fake they'll except returns in most cases. I've been collecting general coinage for thirty years and I still learn new things everyday. Being on chat sites such as this one is a good start. Good Luck! :yes:
Silver King, boy, starting out on "Greek" is a tough job. I literally have 200 books on greek coinage and am not even close to having all the references necessary. My advice would be to go to CNG and look over their electronic auction section under Greek. Look around, see what coins appeal to you. There is literally thousands of ways to collect Greek coins, and how to assemble a collection. Sayles is ok, but I would prefer you to start on Ancient Greek Coins from the world of numismatics series. You can buy it at times for about $30 on Ebay. "Greek" is the very toughest area to get just one book to cover it, its just WAY too vast. If you can narrow it down to Alexander coins, Athens, Magna Grecia, etc then life becomes much easier. As for making sure you are buying authentic coins, always buy from good dealers and sites like CNG, Vcoins, and similar until you know how to tell the difference. Please make sure to ask any questions here, as we like to help. Chris
Ancients can be intimidating which is why we suggest using a trustworthy dealer at least until you feel comfortable with the subject. It would take several lifetimes to learn it all so don't trust those who claim to.
...and I think Doug is being optimistic. I am not sure David Sear, living 3 or 4 lifetimes, could still cover it "all". He might come close, but us mere mortals would never have a chance.
Part of the appeal of ancient coins is the fact that we continue to discover things that have been unknown for a thousand years or two. We don't understand why many things were done the way they were or how many things were made and lost completely to time. It is extremely unlikely that we will discover a new type of US coin but rarely a year goes by without a hoard of ancients adding to the hundreds of thousands of things we did not understand.
