The slabbed ancient coin perception—misconception?

well, when dealing or talking to non collectors of our preferred coinage, remember how we were when we started...ancient coins seemed unbelievably fascinating and inexpensive for what they were...and that's what got me into it, that and love of history...but i'm from Missouri anyway ><

 

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Most peoples' indifference/boredom towards coins and history, and the dismissal of ancient coins as fake are what keep me from talking about my hobby with others (also the possible risk of theft). My immediate family knows; my mother is accepting of my collecting but my father thinks I'm just throwing money away buying coins. My brother couldn't care less about coins.

 

Most people don’t collect anything. If they do collect, it is probably something I don’t know how to appreciate, like autographed baseballs or Japanese pressings of prog-rock LPs. If they collect coins they probably want to tell me about how they got a Morgan dollar with eight tail feathers on the eagle for the price of the same dollar with seven feathers.

You could probably convince your friends your Late Roman Bronze is real by stickering on an $849 price tag. Or do what @red_spork does and buy museum deaccessions. But why? You wouldn’t want your friend to convince you that Miles Davis is the best trumpet player or that the 1963 Corvette is the best Chevrolet — even though both might be true. If you spend an hour trying to convince your friends that “Roman history is fascinating” you obligate yourself to listening patiently to their lecture “Weber makes a pretty decent gas grill”. Are you ready for that?

 

LOL, I don't have to have the excuse that I collect Ancients to be called that...

I mean, even among Ancients collectors I have "different" tastes... For instance: I collect SHELLS for gosh sakes!


Aes Formatum Oscan-Latin shell with Ribs obv-rev 4th BCE


Oscan-Latin Aes Formatum shell 25mm 12.8g


China Zhou -Chou- 1000-200 BCE Dynasty Bronze cowrie - some gold plate - VF - Rare


China ANCIENT Cowrie - BONE 2 holes for clothing or funeral bier 20mm Hartill 1-2v Coole 51-66

 

Such varied responses. This was a neat idea for a thread, @Deacon Ray!

 

For fairly obvious reasons, I have shown my coins only to a very small number of friends. I have never had anyone ask "How do you know they're real?" Maybe this is because of the coins' quality, or maybe it goes without saying that I'm careful enough to avoid buying counterfeits (although one did slip through the NAC auction into my hands a few years ago).

For those of you who continue to get this question, I have a genuine interest in hearing your questioners' response to the following: What makes you think this ancient coin isn't genuine? If you have an opportunity, please ask this question. I'd love to hear the range of answers.

Usually, the strength of one's belief (i.e., that ancient coin must be fake) is inversely proportional to one's knowledge of the topic at hand. Anyone who asks "How do you know it's genuine?" is almost by definition ignorant. If he/she had any knowledge of ancient coins, this would never be their first question (unless you showed them an EID MAR denarius).

So my curiosity is real -- What makes you think the coin isn't genuine? -- but what I'm really thinking is "You know absolutely nothing about ancient coins so how can you possibly have an informed skepticism on the authenticity of this coin?" But phrasing the question in this insulting manner won't elicit a thoughtful response, so if you do ask that question, please use the polite form.

 

Uhm, sir, I'm afraid you got swindled. Those are not real shells.

That's probably what my clueless self would have said two and a half years ago.

 

What makes you think those shells aren't genuine?

 

Well, I may have gone to the beach once or twice...

 

I shouldn't be too hard on my brother and his skepticism. He remembers the person that I was eleven years ago—a drunken, lying, hooligan. If it takes the rest of my life to make things right—that’s okay. Whether he thinks my coins are real or not—I'm going to be there for him and his family.

 

For some coins, there is no question that they are real. See, it says real right on the coin.




Unfortunately, this coin is only 1/4 real. Still haven't figured out which is the 3/4th of the coin that isn't real.

 

I wrote a freakin book and my family still asks me if they're real.

 

I was just posting today on another forum's off-topic forum about an Arcadius coin I received in the mail yesterday. Somebody immediately questioned me about the same issue (How do you know they are real?) To the non-collector, coins as old as ancients are almost unfathomable. Invariably, folks are surprised at how cheaply one can access the hobby of collecting ancients...though admittedly one can spend a fortune if one wants to.

 

I just read this thread. I only have 4 slabbed ancients, all the rest are graded by auction houses. I know these are real, since reputable auction firms want to be 100 percent certain the coins they have in their catalogue are 1/ authentic 2/ accurately graded. Their reputation depends on this. I still find that esp. for hammered coinage, slabbed graded are very liberal. I seen a Heritage France Charles VII Royal d'or slabbed as a MS-65 (GEM), it would make EF in CNG auction. I had a Mexican 1 Escudo 1837-GA (CNG grade AU) make MS-67 when I had it slabbed to prove my point. My feeling is this/ if your worried about fakes/ poor grading/ stay far away from E-Bay/ unless you know the seller is OK.

 

Europe IS actually a mountain of metal : people find hoards every day. They come up publicly in the UK and are often hidden in France just because of different laws about finds

So many people don't believe Iceland even exists or think the 9/11 was an invention...Try to convince them and you won't bother a lot about those who can't believe ancient coins are ancient

My vision too.

I've been in the hobby for so long that I've stopped trying to even show coins to people not interested in them. I will only on request and to close friends and/or relatives, implying we have previously discussed the subject, and they show the minimum interest requirement for being admitted to have a look ( ). I don't remember having been asked about their authenticity. Rather I see two categories : some ask "what is it ?", others "how much is it worth ? ". My input in the answer will vary from very talkative in the first case to very vague in the latter

Q

 

Is it possible that Ancient Greece never existed?

 

That's an Onion classic

"One night someone made a joke about just taking all these ideas, lumping them together, and saying the Greeks had done it all 2,000 years ago," Haddlebury said. "One thing led to another, and before you know it, we're coming up with everything from the golden ratio to the Iliad."

"That was a bitch to write, by the way," he continued, referring to the epic poem believed to have laid the foundation for the Western literary tradition. "But it seemed to catch on."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mjölnir
...

 

I just rewrote my pages for beginners to address this problem.

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/numis/

Page 2 now begins with a discussion that may help.

Many of you know I have had "FAQ" pages for beginners since 1997. Prompted by this thread, I made a lot of changes. The pictures are bigger and better (In 1997 you had to worry more about download speed). Page 2 shows, right at the top, why there really can be many ancient coins around to buy (even though some people reflexively think they should be in museums.) If you have read my pages before, it might be worthwhile to read them again. If you have not read my FAQ page, I think you will find it valuable.

If you have suggestions, PM me with them.

@hoth2, send the link to your history-teacher colleague. I wonder if his skepticism will diminish.

 

Actually, I have NEVER ever met a person that thought "ancient" coins were fake. The ONLY thing that some wonder about, is how a coin that is 2000 years old looks as if it were struck a few minutes ago. My explanation, there were always coin collectors that hoarded away these, esp. the gold/ silver ones. Also, with turbulent times they were hoarded and hidden for safe keeping in pots/ chests/ pottery vessals, later to be found by metal detectorists/ treasure hunters. I find it more amazing that how many GEM-66 obsolete banknotes from the 1840s still exist. Unfortunately, here where I live.....one sometimes finds a 1900 large cent/ no gold here Actually, I did find a 1900-H large cent walking to meet my school bus My birthplace Julich-Cleve-Berg would have been a great place to find coins/ the Duchy issued beautifull goldgulden/dukats/ carolin AV coinage from 1300-1750.