For about 10 years ago you could buy the low-graded Byzantine gold coins for about 200-300 Euro. All the above were sold for 200-300 Euro in auctions. Byzantine Solidus or Hyperpyron normally weight 4,5 grams with 98% pure gold. (For Hyperpyron maybe 90% as they addded silver?) But today those coins above would be sold for about 500-600 Euro. The price has raised because the gold price has pushed them up. I want to ask: Has the price for numismatic coins doubled in the last 10 years? How about Athenian Tetradrachm? Roman Denarius? Or other coins? – Has the price also doubled the last 10 years?
Have prices of ancient coins doubled in the last 10 years? There isn't a simple generic 'yes' or 'no'. A decent answer would need to be very nuanced. It would vary depending on many factors such as quality, rarity, seller and selling venue, the type's supply-and-demand, etc. However, as a down-and-dirty small sampling, I just quickly selected 7 ancient coins (4 silver and 3 bronze) of various kingdoms, ranging in cost from $77 to $1100, which I purchased in 2015. Then I checked ACS and VCoins to see sales/list prices in 2025 for the same types in closely comparable quality. I'll spare everybody the math, but the comparative result was an increase of 14%. (That's not a great return on investment, as it averages a mere 1.4% annual gain. But then, I and most all collectors I know well, aren't in this hobby for a portfolio increase.) Then I did the same with 2 gold byzantine coins I purchased (one in 2014 and one in 2016). The same types in very comparable condition sold/listed in 2025 for 26% higher. A little better in terms of investment, with an approximate 2.6% annual increase. Of course... both are well below inflation: Above information from: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
My experience has been that the "best of the best" have done spectacularly. Better and more rare, middle of the road quality has held value, some appreciation, as philologus calculates. Common, especially common of mediocre or low quality coins have lost value -- I think the availability of data these days has made more transparent to buyers just how common some coins are. Some very rare coins in lousy condition have gained value for that very reason. But my world is limited to Roman coins, mainly provincials at that.
There are other factors that have come into play as well. In the olden days, when people were limited to buying from mail-order price lists, local stores and auctions, access was a lot more restricted than with the internet, which has now made all types of coins available to everyone globally. Also, large hoards and the rise of metal detectors have brought prices of previously rare coins down as well. For example, for Athenian tetradrachms, a recent massively large hoard discovered in Turkey and dispersed for quite some time has made decent specimens more accessible to the average collector.
I have data that proves that, on average, the price is actually dropping - for lower end coins at least.
A really nice large flan Lysimachus posthumous tet was c. $275 (small ding on the cheek, which brought down the price) at a c. 2003 coin show. I'm never going to find $1.50 bulk coins again. Roman asses and as-sized 2nd and 3rd century provincials, as well as small trachea were $1.50 in bulk from Classical Cash, around 2000. The asses were mostly stripped, and none were world-beaters, but quite nice for $1.50. I'd say most were in the VG-F range, with F being predominant. There weren't too many BD'ers although the provincials generally had surfaces which were a bit rough. There were a lot of Gordian and Tranquilla facing busts, stuff like that. Gold coins were certainly cheaper. I guess individual el cheapo or budget coins have stayed somewhat consistent, based on inflation over that period. It's not too difficult to find a 3rd century Balkan provincial with a nice patina for $35. If memory serves me correctly, the HJB pick bin is actually cheaper now than it was in the late '90's. However, there were three tiers back then, if I remember correctly - at least two. The top tier was generally a bit overpriced, but there would be some worthy stuff in it if one looked hard enough. Now it's all one price. It was still fun for a poor college student to trawl through the boxes. Oh, and I had a lot of fun with Allen Berman's 4/20 Byzantine junk box. He was nice enough to mostly cater to my requests for 40 nummia. There were a lot of S805's. Most would retail for $20-35 today. They were a bit nicer during the 1990's, but none were truly awful. I stopped buying those around 2009.
