Hi everyone, In my boredom I've been browsing ebay looking for new things to collect and began looking at ancients. It seems there are several auctions listing bulk lots of uncleaned ancient coins. Now, I don't know anything about ancient coins but I'm assuming that "buy it now" for $9 probably isn't going to net me anything decent. Is this true or are these auctions the equivalent of roll searching old wheat penny rolls? Joe
You're correct. You get what you pay for and in this instance, less than what you paid for. You'd be better off just buying an ancient coin for the $9 then getting a bag full of slugs. I've bought a few of these and although you do get some coins that you can identify, most are just beaters or so worn that you can't make out a thing. There was a pretty good seller a couple of years ago, but he's no longer selling on ebay and I can't recall his user name. I bought some partially cleaned coins and they were decent.
In numismatics, as in life, you get what you pay for. Or in other words: there is no such thing as a free lunch.
It used to be the case where true uncleaned coins would be sold on EBay, but I haven't seen those lots on there since the last seller I was aware of stopped around 2006. Now all I see on there are slugs that are not worth cleaning any further. I concur with the thought that you are better off buying one decent coin for the money rather than 50 or 100 slugs. Don't worry about me, I bought a lot back when there was better stuff for sale, so I still have a few thousand uncleaned coins from the good sellers 10 years ago. They can take quite a bit of time to clean properly, and I have gone through quite a bit in the last few years so don't have time to clean them right now.
Thanks for the help everyone, after my trip to Italy I've become more and more interested in Ancients and Medievals. Is it normal/acceptable for a coin in this category to be cleaned? I know it isn't for my US and World Coins but wasn't sure about these.
Almost always. We are the main exception to the whole "do not clean" thing. Almost all ancients have been cleaned, it is what it is. Now, you try to avoid coins OVERcleaned, with horrible scratches and such, but normal cleaning is expected.
Now there is a tough decision. My first was a Larissa bronze with a 3/4 facing head. I didn't know a thing about ancients, and overpaid for it, but to me it was beautiful with its glossy green patina.
