Good Ancients beginners books...

Welcome. I hope you find many treasures in the near future!
I am a big fan of coin books. When I started collecting ancient coins, I asked the dealer what books I should buy. He said you can buy the $30 book, the $100 book or many more expensive ones. I bought the $30 book and checked libraries around me. I found an excellent one at Rice University. I became a friend of the library and could check out expensive coin books. (The ANA offers the same service by mail.) At the same time, I found resources on line like the one Doug wrote, see link above. When I decided to concentrate on Roman Republican coins, I started buying books on the subject. I spent a significant part of my coin budget the first two years on books and now have most of the "good" ones on Roman Republican coins published in English.
When someone asks me if my coins are real, I can say they look right. My opinion is based on the look of the coin, its size and weight. I get that information from books, on line sites and dealers at coin shows. (One day I hope to have metals analysis, but that is $40M more than I want to spend now.) There is no guarantee that any coin is genuine, just ask a careless Morgan Dollar buyer how good some fakes look.
My thoughts on coin books are summarized here:
http://rrdenarius.blogspot.com/2015/06/references-for-roman-republican-coins.html

PS - patience in book buying is a virtue. I was advised Garrucci was a good book on cast bronze in 2009. Because it is old, I found a copy on line in PDF. This week, a copy of the book arrived in my mailbox! The book is in the upper right corner of the photo below.

 

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The guarantee of authenticity is to know your coins. Aes Grave is a difficult area but there are experts I would buy from with confidence.

 

I'll add a few. I like picture books because I like pictures. I hated seeing someone say they bought ERIC II for the photos because I believe the photos are among its worst features. There are very few photos of both sides of the same coin and the ones that are there are not always identified as going with each other.

For Republicans, I swallowed hard and bought the expensive nine volume Banti, Corpus Nummorum Romanorum which has thousands of photos of RR family coins (no anonymous issues are covered). The photos range from bad to worse with some bordering on terrible having been lifted from old catalogs. Still, they have photos of things that were hard to find before the British Museum and a few other collections went online.

For free online sites, I suggest looking at two below:

http://numismatics.org/crro/
http://davy.potdevin.free.fr/Site/crawford1.html

 

Use both of these sites almost daily...

 

I could not agree more. I have always said that I would like to see RIC issued with the catalog sections removed and all ten volumes introductory chapters put in one volume for the benefit of people who are not into catalog numbers or buying a set of well over $1000 books.

BMC is similar but since they never finished the series the value of the abridged set would be lower unless you are of the opinion that Collecting stops with the Severans. I prefer BMC where there is a BMC but I collect about equally on both sides of their fence.

If you like enlarged B&W photos of coins you can not afford (average grade EF+) find Kent and Hirmer Roman Coins. It only has 1430 photos but you will be hard pressed to find better selected Romans unless you cut up Warren's collection of sale catalogs. As a fault, some coins are one sided. I really hate it when they do that. Is it worth the $90 Amazon is asking? Yes, but shop around and find one cheaper.

My copy is Putnam but missing the dust jacket so the blue cloth shows. Mine is ex-library and well used but it was cheap and beautiful inside. I prefer worn out old books to ones you can't open without reducing their collector's value. My RIC volumes will not sell for a lot when I'm gone (especially vol IV) but I got more than my money's worth out of them over the years. I do not recommend you buy them unless you plan to read them.

 

Any recommendation if I want color photos of coins I can't afford?

 

Back issue high end sale catalogs like Numismatic Fine Arts and online photos. Color is relatively recent in the coin trade and many of the better catalogs still don't do it all that well. A book like Kent in full color would be hard to sell for the price they would have to charge.

 

I just want to say that I too have caught the "Ancient Bug" and asked a similar question on the Introduction Forum when I joined. I received great replies and read some excellent information on the Ancient postings. I bought the Vol1 Sayles book and have started reading it, but couldn't wait to purchase my 1st coin (after being inspired by some of the posts). I checked out the dealers recommended on Coin Talk and bought something within my budget (well maybe a little higher). It's nothing impressive but I am excited about it ! Maybe I'll post a picture when I receive it. I just want to thank everyone on this site for the information they have provided and bringing back my enjoyment for collecting coins.

 

Welcome! And congrats on a first Ancient! Fun stuff. Continuous education, and you will find that some areas will REALLY interest you... LOL, that is where you will find out where your money goes...

 

Congrats @Scalight ! And what's this "maybe I'll post a picture" thing? When that baby comes in, we'll all want to see it!

 

Welcome Scalight and post that coin when you get it.

 

I received my coin today !
Not too pretty, and definitely no match to any of the coins I see posted here; but its my first purchase and I love it !

Ever since I read “I, Claudius” by Robert Graves , My interest was there, and now he’s mine.
As was said, educating myself on the coins and history is the way to go.
And the sites you've recommended in the forums are excellent. Thanks.
Now I just need to win the lottery.

 

That makes two of us. That is a great first coin IMHO. Claudius coins provide some interesting reverses. Many of us here have similar coins as yours and some are in no better condition. Never be shy about presenting your coins here. All are appreciated!

CLAUDIUS
AE As
OBVERSE: TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG PM TR P IMP P P, bare head left.
REVERSE: Minerva advancing right, holding shield and brandishing a javelin, S-C across fields
Struck at Rome, 50-4AD
10.5g, 25mm
RIC 116

CLAUDIUS
AE As
OBVERSE: TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG PM TR P IMP P P, bare head left.
REVERSE: Minerva advancing right, holding shield and brandishing a javelin, S-C across fields
Struck at Rome, 50-4AD
9.7g, 28m
RIC 116

 

I'd say that Claudius/Minerva is a far better than usual first coin. It has good style and full legends. Some will mark it down for being without patina but I find that feature OK here because it shows the yellow color of orichalcum used for a dupondius rather than the red copper of the as. Add a green/brown/black patina and the distinction is lost. My coin is an as and a branch mint (another lesson for another day) but similarly bare to the world.


Welcome. Post them as you get them. We may not always be supportive on your every decision but the only way to find out is to stick your neck out.

 

Great first coin. Congratulations.

 

good start!

 

I had to look up and learn about Orichalcum & Dupondius. Keep the education coming !

 

If you intend to learn any subject, it helps to build a vocabulary on the subject. I posted a half dozen pages with bold lettered words I believed a collector should be able to explain. The two you looked up are on the fourth page but you know them so no need to go there. Start here and follow the links to the other pages:
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/voc.html

 

I had seen your site link on a previous post and saved it as a favorite. What a wealth of information! I have assigned myself some enjoyable required reading, starting tonight with the vocabulary section. Thanks for the help.