Reflections

Vanity Fair, April 1994, I presume.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

No, this article would have been circa 1980. I recall my dad saying "the way to make money in ancient coins is to do what this guy is doing!" I think dad meant buying direct from the source, not creating pyramid schemes.

 

I still have some M&R coins in my collection. Cheap, and accurate!

Gee! Thanks! Back in those days catalogs took months to prepare. The monetary return was usually negative in the extreme!

 

After being convinced the other night by you guys, I'm not selling.
But I'm not buying either for the time being

 

Darn! Hit reply before I was finished:

23 years. Close!

We are not all in the grave yet! BUT, yes, quite a few are now gone. I will always miss them, but I do think there will be a 'here after' and I will see them again!

Joel was a great guy. His kids, well, less so. A sad story and decline.

Yes, back in those days it was common to send coins on approval. There was a great deal of trust then which doesnt exist now. But, I do still send coins to those who I know and have done business with. If you like them, pay, if not, just send back. Kind of an old fashioned concept.

Thanks John! You were one of those guys who helped me out when I was a dumb new 'dealer'. BTW, I will have a table at the Novemember Sacramento Show. Stop by if you have the time!

I've said this before. Everyone should get a copy of 'Fun While It Lasted' by Bruce McNall. Just a couple of $$ on Amazon. It is a good read even if coins are a small part of the book.

 

I wasn't collecting ancients way back then, but I've recently been reading some old clippings from the World Coin News newspaper from around 1980-1985. I found the interviews they conducted at the time with dealers like Joel Malter, Jon Subak, Victor England, Dennis Kroh, Harlan Berk and others interesting to say the least. Reading interview after interview, many of the dealers echoed the same thoughts...

- Ancients as a category being cheap compared to US coins.
- Many new collectors of ancients were refugees from US coin collecting who had grown disenchanted with the obsessive and sterile focus on grades.
- Collectors were now more focused on grade as opposed to rarity.
- When hoards of certain types come onto the market (it was the advent of the mass-market metal detector at the time), the prices of those coins may go down for awhile, but they inevitably rise again.
- If you want to get the most joy out of ancients, collect them for their beauty or their history, and not because you're thinking they'll be a good investment.

It seems to me that even as some things have changed dramatically over the course of 30 years (fixed price lists and mail auctions to eBay, Vcoins and big-time Internet auctions), some things have stayed just the same.

 

My favorite from the early days was Charles H. Wolfe but I got some from Joel Malter from the days when Bruce McNall worked for him so I really don't know who I was talking/writing to. Colosseum was bit later but productive as was Frank Robinson who is still supplying my habit. I still have several boxes of lists/catalogs including some I almost never bought from and could never understand why they sent the things. I often saw a type I wanted in a Malloy catalog (famous for poor photos on newsprint) but we rarely agreed on prices. In addition to the cheap lists I bought from I was given several beautiful European auction catalogs by rich friends in the DC club. I still enjoy looking at some of them but then as now I was not a likely buyer from any. The last catalogs I got were from Stacks from whom I bought some coins but most of their catalogs were for US coins and were hardly looked at. I never have been a businessman but never understood how people could make money mailing me catalogs. I'm glad they did but I bought from so many different people that none made much to cover postage.

 

Hey all! I just joined here but some of you may know me.. I started collecting about 15 years ago, but haven't bought much at all in the last 5-6 since I moved - mostly cause the prices have gone up and I've been busy. I miss the 'old days' (for me) of fighting over ebay coins and waiting for that big CNG catalog in the mail.

Coins were SO much cheaper - I have tons of really decent pieces that were $20-$100 that I could never afford today.

 

Is that Heather? Wow. Long time no hear....

 

Welcome to CoinTalk Ancients, @featherz! I've admired many of your interesting coins on Forvm

 

Welcome, featherz ... yeah, more coin-chicks!! (ooops, is that wrong?)

I can't wait to see some of those $20-$100 gems ... "welcome!"

 

I miss the lower prices.

But really, I'm too young to know pre-internet coin buying. Ebay has always been an option for me.

 

With the current shift in the Sterling exchange rate the whole world suddenly seems very expensive.

 

Yep, that be me - this is Heather, another coin-chick. I really really miss the lower prices - and mine were ALL internet/ebay era. Although some of the nicer coins I have cost triple digits, most are not and I have no coins higher than that . I loved to get a cheap 'rare' coin that was worn to a nub or had a hole in it.
Just haven't bought more than a coin or two a year due to the pricing - been in school, new jobs, moved across country.. But I still read the coin boards.

for those who don't know, I have an ancient (lol) old-tech website with most of my coins @ aeqvitas.com - I really need to update the graphics!

 

Well, nice to have you on board. Welcome @featherz

 

Glad to see you back in the mix. Some prices have gone up but people like me who paid too much in the 1990's still have not come above water so a lot depends on when you shop and what yo want.

 

Welcome back. I enjoyed your site; my type of coins! Well done. I enjoy gently used and worn coins as they reflect the many years of transactions and use by people during ancient times. I "lurked" reading and learning from this forum for a couple years, before becoming active over the last couple years. I focus on more of the Republican Rome era and those cities and states that interacted with them. I look forward to your postings and and comments.

 

What I really enjoyed around 20 years ago was going through all the different ebay venues (U.S. and England mainly) hunting for ancients. It was much different from today as there were FAR fewer bidders, some very rare (and unidentified) coins and hardly any fakes. It's amazing what you could buy for under $50, and it's where much of my collection came from. It would be interesting to know how many serious ancient collectors there were in the late 90's compared to today. My guess would be around 20 fold more these days, but even that may be an understatement.

 

To me the most fun were the super worn coins, although I do have a handful of super nice coins as well. I have one augustus 'comet' coin that I bought for less than $10 that's so bad I can't even get a decent picture of it but I still find it interesting.

Ebay was definitely more fun before all the fakes came in..

 

How true this is. I purchased a Nero Dupondius last year that turned out to be fake. I've gotten kinda gun shy.