I have recently been to Turkey and visited the Ephesus Ancient city. I have been collecting coins from the royal mint for the last 2 years and recently thought about buying some roman coins. By chance, I met a dealer outside the Ephesus Ancient city who was part of the archaeological team during the winter months (or so he says)He sold me 4 silver coins that I paid 60 pounds (15 pounds a coin). I never even considered that during my holiday to Turkey I would come across a Roman city, let alone roman coins. I was hoping someone could tell me what coins these are, the dealer did tell me but I forgot !! Also, did I get good value for money as I do not know there worth. I am happy with the coins so I am not overly concerned if I paid too much. Many thanks Jason
It's a good thing too. Turkey has very strict laws concerning the exportation of antiquities. If you had been caught smuggling out real coins, you would have been in a shit-load of trouble.
, but if you didn't pay much for them, it's not a tragedy. It is illegal to buy, sell, or export ancient coins in Turkey. They must have a thriving "tourist copy" business.
You are much more forgiving about losing £60 than I would be. Although, on the bright side - lesson learned!
I knew it was a risk and was prepared to lose a maximum £60 he wanted £150. He had the salesman's gift I can tell you !!
Well, I hope this incident doesn't turn you off of collecting Ancient coins. There are some wonderful and authentic examples of the same coins you purchased for sale from dealers who will guarantee the coin.
I had a short day trip to Ephesus when on vacation last year. Many souvenir shops outside the archaelogical park had a few trays of tourist fakes that looked just like these ($50 each, but $25 if I was interested). Of course, I expected to see the fakes, but curiosity made me stop for a moment or two to peer at the trays anyway. My amusement must have showed, because at least one shopkeeper quickly changed his sales talk from claiming they were authentic to saying that he had genuine ancient coins in the back of their store which he could show to me. I passed - besides not wanting to be detained and risk missing the tour bus, I was confident they would have nothing really interesting to even look at. There is a world of beautiful, interesting ancient coins that you can buy from your armchair for what you paid for your souvenirs from Ephesus (and in fact, many for much less). I hope the experience hasn't discouraged you and if you're keen on picking up a few genuine ancient coins, just take a look at an online coin mall like http://www.vcoins.com/ and you'll be amazed at what's on offer. Furthermore, if you have any questions at all about ancient coins or potential purchases, many of the members of this board would be more than happy to field them.
Yep, same thing happened to me in Athens two years ago. I was in a jewelry shop shopping for the wife when the topic of Ancient coins was broached. The shopkeeper showed me a tray of truly horrible fakes, but when I told him what I thought, he offered to pull out some from the safe in the back which he guaranteed to be genuine. I passed. Even if genuine (which I doubted), I had no desire to be arrested under the Greek antiquity laws.
Going to a backroom in a third world country might result in you getting shanked and robbed. This is a reality in many places in the world. Your personal safety and security should be paramount. You should certainly heed what these gentlemen are saying and buy coins from the comfort of your arm chair.
All valuable information, thanks people. He then went to his moped to show me a small marble head he dug up (minus the body), a small bronze finger size statue and a gold ring with a red seal on it. The ring looked impressive. One of the security guards started to film him though so he put them away.
The coins all have a burnt smell to them too. I did have my doubts and therefore would not pay he initial price, still I was wrong as I can now see !