When many of us are looking to make a purchase, one of the first places that we check are our local coin shops. Unfortunately for me, none of the shops I've been to carry anything in the way of the ancients I collect. Do your coin shops carry ancients?
1 of the locals has them, 1 does not. I'm sure if I ventured north into Phoenix of Snottsdale I could find them there as well. I picked up an ancient, my first, at my coin club auction last month.
There is only one dealer in the town that I live in and I've never seen any ancient coins in his showcases or binders. Sometimes I think I live in Mayberry with Opie and Aunt Bea.
If anyone thinks their dealer doesn't have any, I would suggest asking them. Maybe the have a few in the back. Or, like my dealer, they're just in a little out of the way corner. I had been to one of the two shops in Columbia, Mo (the bigger one) about 20 times and had never seen anything but U.S. coins, coin supplies and jewelry. Then one day I took a look at the jewelry, which I had never done before, and immediately noticed that in the case below the jewelry there was a tray with several dozen ancients in it. A pretty nice selection too.
My local has a case full of trays with various ancients. They also make custom jewelery to hold them if you ever wanted such a thing. I've not really looked at them since I don't have enough money to expand my collection into any further areas.
RE: Local dealers Local coin shop? What are one of those. All I have in my neck of the woods is jewelers or others looking to buy up silver or gold to melt. I really wish I had a good local coin shop. I think I would be lost there for a few days if the dealer didn't mind. :smile
Gotta go with sometimes. I actually have 4 local dealers but the 2 I don't waste my time with and 1 never has them. The one closest to me does get them occasionally. He'll buy just about anything at times. He knows a lot of people to consult so he doesn't get burned or sell fakes. Honestly can't see a lot of "local" shops carrying them anywhere if you get down to it. Local followings tend to be toward U.S. coins so it would amount to "tied up" inventory in many cases. Just my opinion.
The only shop I go to in Denver happens to carry ancients, though their supply is not great. They always have a tray of cheap, $10 unattributed bronzes, and below that they have a tray filled with various denarii. They also carry a few pricier, graded Greek and Roman coins. Personally, my interest leans towards Byzantine, which they do not carry, so I've never purchased any ancients there. It's nice to know they carry that stuff, though. Now if their world coin selection was bigger, THEN I'd be happy...
The local coin shop I go to often in Aurora has a handful of ancients, but the vast majority of what they have is US coins. Seems to be the case with most coin shops I've been able to find anywhere near where I live. I don't actively collect ancients so it doesn't bother me any though I'm sure any anicent collectors around here must be very frustrated... I suppose they'd pretty much have to buy all of their stuff online.
Well, I was back in there today, and now there were no ancients in the case. I didn't ask the guy about it though.
Local coin shop, no. Luckily there are plenty of ancients to buy at the monthly coin show down the road.
I said NO, but that's not 100% true. The dealer that got me started on ancients is close to my house and used to have exclusively ancients. Now, he still has ancients, but it's pretty much all junk as everything decent has been bought up and his business has basically converted into a bullion buying business. He said he just can't make money on the ancients like he can on the bullion right now, so he's not really buying anything new. The other couple of stores I go to have no ancients that I know of.
