Why aren't these coins worth more

I'm still learning. Some of these coins are around 2000 years old, but they seem to go for around $100. Are they not that popular?

 

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Age has little to nothing to do with rarity or popularity. I could show you pictures of coins issued by rulers you've never heard of in obscure kingdoms that are old and quite rare, but not terribly valuable because they're not popular or well known. Conversely, there are some very popular, common coins that are worth way more than their actual rarity might suggest.

It's all a matter of supply and demand. High prices imply low supply, high demand, or both.

 

I would think those old coins would be hard to find. What coins do suggest that are very old, but not that expensive? I think that would pretty cool o have a coin that old. Just to wonder who's hands that coin could have pass through

 

Well, back in those days, people buried those coins and often forgot where they buried them. These coins stayed in the ground until recently, when they were dug up, professionally cleaned, and sold to collectors. Did I mention a lot of these coins were made?

 

Cool I think it's interesting to thinking about the history of the coins. This should be right up my alley. Old and expensive

 

Depends what you mean by "not that expensive." You can find some decent coins from Constantine the Great for $20-50 (less if you're willing to accept lower grade coins or coins with problems). The VRBS ROMA series comes to mind as one where you can find very nice, high grade specimens for under $100. These coins will be at least 1640 years old (Constantine died in 377 AD).

 

What I mean by inexpensive is around $100 to $200

 

You can find tons of nice coins in that range! Go to vcoins.com, input your price range, and search their ancient coin listings.

 

Well there sort of is a range of prices..

here is a Greek coin that sold at auction for 2.5 million USD + buyers fees..




and here are the first Roman Coins I ever bought for $10 including shipping..

 

Big L, I think you nailed it with "not popular". Ancients don't attract interest as much as moderns, which are more familiar, even if they were used by older generations such as your parents. I'm amazed that 20th century U.S. coins can go for much more than a many ancients. Not sure why, possibly that ancients require more effort to analyze and understand or, you need to learn about other cultures to really understand and appreciate them. For me that is the interesting part, learning about other cultures that no longer exist.

 

The dynamics of the ancient coin market are quite different from that of moderns. For one there are likely less collectors. Secondly, with moderns, especially US coins, scarcity and demand are intimately linked. This is not always so with ancients. Some of the Republican bronzes I own for instance are types with less than 20 known to me, including the major museum collections and auctions in the past 20 or so years and yet they cost me sometimes well under $100 because there are only a handful of collectors of those types and the coins aren't high grade(and there are probably no high grade examples at all).

On top of that, many popular types are quite plentiful as they circulated widely and so they remain relatively inexpensive even with demand.

 

I own a Roman of which 3 are known to exist (museum and private collections included,) yet up to 5 are suspected to exist. I paid less than $100 for this coin, and the highest ever paid for any of the 3 known (all 3 known are in private collections) is $227. If this coin was American, one would expect to pay over $100K for it.

 

Really once you move away from U.S. coins great rarities can be had for modest sums. Supply and demand drive the prices. For me it's been very rewarding obtaining scarce coins for modest sums - and this applies to my non-ancient collections. I have some tokens that are incredibly rare but don't have much demand so prices stay down. Find me another Luke AFB token. Better yet, please find me one from McChord or Mildenhall!

 

Look at this thread. There are some very nice coins going for less than $20 each.
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/share-the-love.275485/

 

Ancients are not a good hobby for people who think of what their coins are worth and how they will become rich owning them. Modern collectors have a 'Red Book' to tell them which coins are 'worth' a lot but there are many opinions on ancients and selling an extreme rarity can be difficult because you have to find someone who wants it and several people if you want to see a bidding war that will drive up the price.
Most 'serious' collectors have at least one coin that is not offered in the market more than once a generation. When I finish with mine, I may give them to someone who cares rather than selling them in a market that does not. Some of these are the only survivor and demand is limited to a few people who know it exists and cares.

Expensive ancients tend to be nice specimens of relatively common coins that many people know and want. Rarity is not a feature in this case.

 

As far as inexpensive goes, definitely look at later Greek and Roman bronzes. Better condition will of course add to the price, but all of this can vary.

 

Two examples pop to mind...get an Athenian Owl for resonable money...difficult because of the popularity. Check the for sale forum for five nice coins from dougsmit for little money.

 

Also Tyrian shekels and denarii of Tiberius (tribute pennies).

Edit/correction: Tribute pennies are only the most common denarii of Tiberius. He does have a couple of scarce types.

 

Recent large "metal detectinghoards" finds in good condition will depress demand/prices as they are dumped on the market like the "Central America" shipwreck salvage of gold coins did to the high grade U.S. gold coins it would seem...

 

Can't wait!