Hi guys. As I go further along in my journey of collecting ancient coins I have decided that it would be beneficial for me to get some unattributed ancient coins. So my question is where can I buy dirt cheap unattributed ancient coins? At this point in time it does not really matter what it is Greek or Roman. I'm just looking for a learning experience. Please keep in mind I am a teenager so my idea of cheap may vary from yours. Any answer is greatly appreciated! Thanks! Nick
Cheap uncleaned vs cheap cleaned has been discussed many times, but I'd go with cleaned coins. You won't have to pay much more for cleaned lower grade late Roman Bronzes than you would for "uncleaned" coins. When I began collecting ancients in 2013 I started with uncleaned coins. Wanna see them? Click this link: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/wh...cleaned-ancients-on-ebay.260701/#post-2101474 They were horrible. Absolutely a waste of money and time. It is possible to find better "uncleaned" coins but from what I see, finding good uncleaned lots is rare. I'll post some suggestions for finding low-cost late Roman bronzes later after running an errand Edited to add: I'm happy to see that DirtyOldCoins has added some inexpensive already-cleaned coins. In fact, they cost no more than the uncleaned losers I bought from DOC five years ago. http://dirtyoldcoins.com/home/restored-roman-coins
There are lots of queries of this type in the CoinTalk archives. The summary form is that quality uncleaned lots are difficult to find these days. You can check the member auctions at FORUM ANCIENT COINS. I've also had good luck going to VCoins and searching for Roman lots, like these that work out to be $3-5 per coin, which is good for coins that are clearly attributable. https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/zu..._desc&countitems=18&changeDisplayList=&page=1
Numismatik Naumann typically has group lots toward the end of their auction catalogs and their auctions happen about every three weeks. Keep in mind there is a buyer's commission, currency exchange fee, Paypal fee and shipping. Of the last lot I bought, about 40% were readily attributable, with legible mint marks and inscriptions. Another 30% were attributable to ruler, but the mint could not be ascertained. The other 30% were worthless. The lot was very heavy in Constantius II coins but there were very few duplicates. But not bad, considering that after all fees and shipping were included, I paid about $3.25 per COLLECTIBLE coin.
Dr. Robert Kurlan deals in inexpensive cleaned and uncleaned coins for both Roman & Greek and is located in New York. I'm not sure if it's permissible to put his address in this post and he does not have a website. He lists on a regular basis in Numismatic news.
A lot of this depends on where you are located. Importing low end coins from half way around the world makes little sense. You might also consider the fact that you could buy identified coins and not look at those ID's when the coins arrive. Dealers in $10 coins do not spend a lot of time on ID research. You could ask sellers if they can provide identifiable, cleaned coins for your purposes but you won't save a lot since most people with any experience can ID to ruler and mint faster than they can write down the results. 'Dirt cheap' and 'unattributed' often means coins that will be hard or impossible to ID. I'd practice on photos online and see if your results match the ones given there. Then buy coins you want. I have a page on ID work: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/idric.html A Google image search will give photos of coins buy usually the ID's will require clicking on the image to see the page from which they came. Pick some from the page below and see if you can ID them. Some you will not. It would be good practice. https://www.google.com/search?q=lat...y4LWAhXLsFQKHX-IA6AQ_AUICygC&biw=1600&bih=739
Thanks guys for all the replies. I will consider these websites and your help is greatly appreciated! Furthermore if I buy something in the next few months I will let you know.
If you want some coins that will be fun to ID and not a waste of money I recommend looking into buying groups of coins that you can see up front. I have never bought one but have always felt like Victor Clark's lots of Late Roman Bronzes looked like good deals for a handful of unattributed coins. Here's one ending in a few days on eBay. Looks like a great little study lot that is of decent enough quality that you won't hate the fact that you bought it in a year or so(which is how I felt about all the bulk uncleaned coins I bought sight unseen as a new collector).
Good eye, red_spork. That would be an excellent set for a beginning. Right now the price seems very reasonable, but prices on eBay often shoot up in the last hour or so of the auction.
This is exactly the sort of thing I suggested you could use for practice whether or not you win the coins. All are identifiable from the photo. Some are easier than others but you don't have to get 100% to learn from the test.
Doug brings up a great point. There are plenty of unidentified coins on eBay and elsewhere with good enough pictures to either identify them or determine they're not fully identifiable without actually buying them. A great exercise would be to sit down and see how many of these you can ID.
