Hello all, It's been a while since I have posted (long story as to why). I have been out of the coin collecting arena for a while and am now starting to get back in. At least with the research part. I have never been interested in ancients until now. My interest was sparked just a few days ago actually. With that in mind, I would like to know a good place to start. The books, etc. Any and all suggestions are appreciated. Thanks and have a nice week! ~Chris
I'm sorry, I think I may have tempted you with my posts on the "coin chat" area of the forum. Seeing those nice ancient coins will have that effect on people. Ain't I a stinker? Welcome to the dark side. Once you go ancient, you'll never look back.
Welcome to the world of ancients! Since you have no material starting point, it might be good to explore the varieties of cultures and coins before plunging in to any one thing. But to get the feel of the coins, the quickest way to get a good diverse start is to buy a mixed multi-coin lot at the back of a sale from one of the major auctions houses handing ancients. Whatever you can afford. If your budget is small, you can get a feel for the marketplace by reviewing the "sold" lots on eBay, and then buying something of interest from a seller on Vcoins. If you need links there are many on this list who can get you off to a running start.
In my opinion two of the best resources for the new collector are the websites created by Doug Smith and Warren Esty. Both of them will expose you to a wide array of topics related to ancient coins and you can get a good look at several different areas and styles of collecting and a feel for what makes collecting these coins interesting to different collectors. These sites will also expose you to terminology like "die match", "brockage" and "seriation" that you might not understand right now but will occasionally see used here in write ups and of course both of these sites have book reviews that might help you choose a good book or two.
On this site, there are so many threads dealing with getting started in ancients that you could easily spend 3 - 5 days reading them all. Here's one to get you started: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/how-should-i-start-an-ancient-coin-collection.299668/ When you finish this thread, simply use this site's SEARCH function and type in keywords or a phrase such as "new start ancient collect" and you'll find literally hundreds of posts and references that will help you get started.
Welcome @chridular There are plenty of people here willing to help. Do some exploring of the ancients forum on this site to get an idea of what questions to ask.
Thanks for the great suggestions everyone. I have been into collecting coins for so long that I knew that getting into ancients was inevitable. This is going to get interesting in a hurry! ~Chris
Thanks to red-spork for mentioning my site. I suggest a place to start is my set of 'Vocabulary' pages where I show a sampling of coins in a half dozen major categories and introduce terms that will help you ask meaningful questions. Members of our CT group vary greatly in what and how they collect. We will be better able to help you when we know where you fit in the span of collecting styles. I do warn that a desire for a museum quality collection without spending over $10 a coin is not going to happen. Be reasonable in your expectations and there is a lot of fun to be had. Decide you can buy $500 coins for $5 and we will be starting with the lesson on not buying fakes. Start here, if Greek Coins bore you, follow the links at the bottom and see if there is any interest in the other pages: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/voc.html When you finish with them, there are over a hundred other pages but you should have come up with several questions to post here and get several different opinions on what to do next. I recommend attending coin shows in Florida (they have some big ones) where you can see and handle actual coins. I might wait until we see where this hurricane is going before making big travel plans. Stay safe. Read Warren's pages, too. They are excellent.
The seller Forum Ancient Coins has lots of great information. Wayne Sayles' has a series of books about ancient coin collecting. Finally consider what you like about ancient coins: is it the history around a coin, artistry, a particular ruler or theme, time period, etc. After you think about it and look at some coins, buy one!
Oh Good Lord are you in trouble...I can't begin to describe what the people on this board did to me...run while you still can!
Thanks for the info.! I'll certainly be looking into your site. I feel like I'm in for a lengthy journey, but I'm sure it will be enjoyable.
The best book if you are just starting out is Wayne Sayles' "Ancient Coin Collecting, Volume 1" which offers tons of practical advice and a brief overview of the various different types of ancient coins out there, so you can get some general idea of what you want to collect before wasting money on coins you don't really want. (Later volumes in the series cover specific areas sun as Roman Imperial, Greek, etc.) I wish this book had come out before I started collecting ancients.
