Ancient Greek Silver Help

I currently am trying to collect ancient greek silver coins. i currently have an Alexander i (seleukid kingdom) silver drachm and an Alexander iii (The Great) Silver drachm. i am going to a local ancient coin dealership soon. it is one of the biggest dealers of ancient coins in the world. i want to pick up some more ancient greek silver. i mainly wish to get some coins with greek gods on them but its ok if they ont have any on them. Does anyone have any suggestions on certain coins they think i would like. i will appreciate whoever helps me out. thanks for taking the time to read this!

 

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What kinds of gods? Are you looking for the classis Neptune, Zeus, etc, or open to city gods, nymphs, etc? Almost everything you can think of can be found on some greek coin, (except for a rhino for some reason ).

Of course Hercules is the easiest with his association to Alexander.

Btw what dealer are you going to? The only "one of the biggest in the world" in the US are CNG and Berk, maybe Freeman and Sear, but I could be wrong.

Chris

 

Gods like zues, poseidon, hades, athena. just typical ancient greek gods (the more famous ones). im going to harlan j. berk.

 

pretty much looking for the classics.

 

Best gods: Poseidon from Poseidonia, Helios from Rhodes, Athena from so many places - Athens is the easy and obvious but I prefer Corinth, Artemis and Ares on the same coin from Tarsos, Apollo from Amphipolis. You should get those 5 in nice shape from the world's largest dealer for $5-10k but it might be a lot to expect them to have all 5 in stock (especially the Amphipolis).

My favorite Greek coins are the animals. Rhino = Roman but I don't even have that one.

 

how much do u think a poseidon from poseidonia that is silver and an athena from athens that is silver would cost me? lim looking probably for a drachm of those so how much do u think that would cost? thanks so much

 

$500 to $5000 each depending on condition and which one you choose. The best Poseidonia is the one with the reverse incuse in the same design as the obverse which is popular and expensive. The least is a chunky coin with a bull reverse. Athenian owls and Corinthian staters both come in similar ranges or even cheaper if you go lower grade. There is no standard price since there is no standard coin. You can search acsearch for past sales and photos of things you might like.

 

I have like 5 of the rhino right, and 4 rhino left quadrans of Domitian. I saw a egyptian provincial once but was stupid and didn't buy it, (pretty rough shape).

The ancients were animalists when it came to rhinos it seems.

 

dougsmit. how much do u think a nice bronze one of posiedon and athena would cost me. btw thanks for all the help u have been so far. i really appreciate it.

 

I am not familiar with Poseidon in bronze but they may exist. Athena would be easier but bronzes in great condition can be as much as silver so the price would depend on which coin you see and how ugly you can accept. My first list were the highlights of Greek gods in silver. If you are looking for coins in a budget, I'd suggest going and asking to see what is Greek and in the budget range. There may be a major god and there may not. You will more thandouble your chances if you also look at Roman Provincials with gods on the reverse. There are a lot of nice, full length statue copies on that series.
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/gbr.html
My Greek bronze page happens to have a Poseidon bronze in 13mm size which would be as cheap as they come but no big dealer is likely to stock such little things since they don't usually deal in under $50 coins.

 

ok thanks.idk i dont have any bronze greek coins yet but i might get some soon. depending on the coin.

 

Man you ancient collectors have my respect. I've tried and tried to find one locally that I like to buy for my son but just can't find anything that doesn't look like a lump of crap with some relief to it. He wants one with pegasus and we looked online once and there were coins that had medusa and pegasus together which he thought was awesome.

The prices seem to be all over the place which I understand. For me - since it would be nothing more than just some cool conversational stuff - I've decided to spend the money or a higher quality common coins instead of lower quality rares.

In the near future, I might be posting for an opinion if you folks don't mind.

 

I would go with a Corinthian stater if you want a pegasus. They were made in large quantities so fairly easy to find. I am cheap, but am thinking $200-300 should be able to buy one.

 

Yes, we collectors of ancients are pretty awesome. :rollling: We are very inconsistent. Because there are a million types of coins and thousands of collectors it can be some years between opportunities to buy some coins while it can be hard to find someone who wants to buy others when we want to sell them. The very common and very popular things can vary greatly in price according to who has what and who wants what on any given day. My definition of what is collectible and what I am willing to spend money on may vary with my mood and almost certainly will vary with the same subjects as seen by other collectors. All we can do is buy what we like and find reasonable and walk away from what we find boring and overpriced.

I agree with medoraman that the Corinth stater would be a good coin to seek if you want a Pegasus. They are common enough you have a good chance of finding one you like if price is no object and a good chance of finding a cheap one if you don't care how bad it looks. The question is whether you find that perfect match of a coin you love at a price you love. At any given moment, many coins for sale are pretty grotty or pretty expensive. Seriously, if the coin were cheap and beautiful, medoraman or I would have bought it! :devil: You have to pay a little more or accept a little less or just get lucky at the time. That is the hobby as I know it.




There is a coin with Pegasus and Medusa. Above is my example (not for sale). It is worn and completely engulfed by crystallization. It is a small denomination most people don't like. It weighs only half a gram. I paid about $50 if 1991 and would expect it to go for more today if you can find one but I'd probably have trouble finding a dealer anxious to buy it unless they thought they knew someone wanting one like this. A nice one would go for ten times as much.



This is the stater medoraman mentioned (not for sale either) and I doubt his $300 price would get one any better. There are many minor variations so the one you get probably won't have the Nike but will have some other minor device in the fields which may or may not have an effect on the price depending on whether anyone specializing in these wants the type. If you want one with less wear and better surfaces, the price could hit four digits. Many that you will see will be poorly struck, slightly damaged or uglier in some way and some of them will be expensive, too. All you can do is decide where you fit in this market. Currently Harlan Berk's website shows one a bit nicer (?) for $400 and another perhaps a bit less for $350. I'd call these prices reasonable. Being able to walk into a shop and actually see coins is worth a bit extra. Don't expect to see a choice of a dozen similar coins in every grade and price. That is how it works for rare Lincoln cents - not so much for common ancients. Part of the fun we have is the hunt hoping to find something we want when we are in the position to buy. Go with an open mind rather than a strict want list and you are more likely to find a coin you will like.

Good luck. Post a picture of what you buy.

 

If you want a really pretty coin, ask Harlan if he has a 3/4 facing head of Larissa example. They come in bronze too. That is the coin that got me into ancients in the beginning. Just stunningly beautiful, way better than any modern coins.

Just another thought.

 

do u have any pictures?

 

http://www.lightfigures.com/numismat/larissa/show.php?page=21

Here is a weblink to some, I wish these were mine.

 

Do u collect coins with Medusa on them?

 

Actually, I don't even collect greek really. It was my first ancient, but I tend to collect Byzantine, Sassanid, Central Asian and ancient Chinese more. I have a "working knowledge" of greek and roman coins.

Chris

 

oh thats cool