What to collect or invest for your future?

I stick with world and US coins from 1800s on up. Beauty, rarity, and good deals are what I go for. I know this time period best and seldom do I venture into ancients or other areas because I'm less knowledgeable at this point about them. In order to possibly make profits and good investments in numismatics, you have to do a lot of research. Otherwise you'll easily get burned in the short and long term. Take your time, enjoy this hobby. It will payoff in more ways than one

 

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Great words of wisdom: In order to possibly make profits and good investments in numismatics, you have to do a lot of research.

 

An older fellow collector once told me that you have to be able to assess the quality of a coin correctly. The prerequisite for this is that you have a better knowledge than the "average" dealers.

I can see a couple of sales of major auction houses with mixed quality, i.e. there are "forged" and "prettied" coins as well as "good" coins. It is left up to the collectors' responsibility to assess the quality, which definitely bears risks for the inexperienced collector as well as opportunities for the well-versed one.

 

Marc you are correct. The wonders if internet has brought a new developing interaction between collectors. It is no longer a hobby were collectors are secret from each other, therefore we can see a coin and discuss it on a forum. This knowledge & wisdom can assist to reduce the risks of all of us and create opportunities. For the dealers they have a new role to play, the modern dealer will bring us even a broader view of the market. not just what is on the internet.

 

Why sell to a dealer?

FeeBay, even with the seller's fee willl usually give you more.

Loal guy wanted 250 for the 76-S AU55 20c (NGC).

I'm sorry, that's too low. I'll get 325-400 on feeBay when I list it.
f of making a site

Yes. I've even been thinking of making a site, but, time... and I don't sell muh.

 

Dear Jeff,

I think networking among collectors and obtaining an independent perspective of well-versed coin dealers before a purchase are essential to make good investments. In this current internet age, inexperienced collectors have an easier time.

As I started collecting ancient coins, I remember quite well that my numismatic world was pretty small consisting of just one single coin dealer. Of course, he was cheating me a couple of times selling me overpriced heavily tooled bronzes. Since knowledge regarding coins was not easy to acquire, I did not have any chance to recognize this or even to defend myself. When I encounter this person today on a coin fair, I can fortunately ignore this person or even laugh at him since my numismatic horizon expanded enormously quite well thanks to the internet.

Nevertheless, I know young collectors who paid also nowadays much dearly even though one might think that they become better informed via the internet. I think that dearly definitely belongs to every collector's life.

Greetings,

Marc

 

In my earlier days I benefited greatly from knowing several collectors through a coin club and was given honest education by some dealers I saw in shops and shows. Today, a lot of that activity has to take place online since show tables cost (at $1000+ some places) and distances between us seem to have grown. I would so very much love it if the CT family here could all get together for a monthly meeting but I simply am not flying to Manitoba or even Florida where some of our CT group is located. I was very fortunate. I met the honest dealers first so I was better able to recognize the others when they came along. Now I just hope we here can help a few new people learn the difference between a $10 coin and a $10,000 coin and make what we have learned last long after we have passed.

 

Bronzes are the most wonderful Numismatics to have survived from the Roman Empire

 

Yummy => is that your sweet coin, dawg?

 

Wow, that's a remarkable COL NEM! Please post the obverse

 

Bronze disease, painted coins, acetone, grease, phony blondes...makes an ancient newbie a little paranoid. Anybody got any favorite reputable dealers?

 

Invest in education. No one can rob knowledge off from you other than hideous brain diseases.

 

=> definitely go for phony blondes!!

 

=> I agree that your coin "rocks"

... yah, this is definitely one of Doug's great examples of a coin where you usually don't get it all (sadly, my croc doesn't have a mouth, or those cool snake thingies *sigh*) ... man, I need to find another example ...

=> but "wow" => your coin seems to have it all (congrats on a super example)

 

The answer to your question was given by gxseries, but where do you go to educate yourself about forgeries and doctored coins if you collect ancients? The answer is the Authentication, Fakes, and Frauds discussion at FORVM. Be sure to read all the "stickied" threads for a good overview. I follow all the discussions on this forum on a daily basis.

The ancient coins market really isn't any different, or any worse than any other. Where there's a buck to be made, there will be shysters.

 

Dr. John Bridges' Defence of the Government of the Church of England, 1587:

"If they pay a penie or two pence more for the reddinesse of them..let them looke to that, a foole and his money is soone parted."

 

SwK,

Please please please post the obverse of that COL NEM

 

When thinking about ancient coins' prices, I am wondering why is such a gem whopping 10 gram silver so cheap? It is rare and of perfect portrait style and conservation, well a little bit off-center at the reverse. You get it for less than 1000 EUR, maybe this some money but compared to the other ancient coins' prices, it is not as much as one might expect.

 

While this is an exceptional obverse, it comes from a large series of tridrachms with not too thrilling types that do not excite many people into wanting the series. That leaves the people with money who tend to buy one specimen to represent the group. If I were in the market for one, I'd prefer one like this:
http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1211322
I'm surprised the coin would bring $1000 but that is a nice aegis and it does have good surfaces.

I might add that there are collectors who would rather have the coin on center and well styled than absolutely mint state. If you combined this obverse with a better reverse (perhaps the camel, temple or Melqart?), I have no doubt it would sell well. I will agree that the series seems cheap compared to denarii but there is a discrimination against Greek Imperials in some circles and may much more interesting coins competing for the money of those in that market at $1000 per coin. Provincials may not be a good hobby for those who must have 'perfect' coins. Some of these are far from perfect but still as good as we get. Given a $1000 to spend on one coin, I might prefer the dog of an Albinus (#11) here.
http://www.akropoliscoins.com/page3.html

 

Yes, demand is everything when it comes to market value. Collectors just don't seem to care much for the coinage of Arabia Bostra, which is fine with me. I recently collected one of the camel types for much less than one would expect to pay for an imperial denarius of equally interesting character. Why isn't this reverse type more popular? It's one of the very few Roman coins that depict a camel. (Yes, I've got to clean up the obverse a bit - just haven't gotten around to it.)



But among Arabian Provincials, there are far rarer coins that sell for even less, again because of lack of demand. Here's a large bronze of Philip II, minted for the Actia Dousaria, an annual Nabataean religious festival. Just try and find another one. But we know rarity doesn't necessarily equate with market value when it comes to ancient coins, so I got it for a song...