Looking for some help.......

Hello all you Ancient enthusiasts our there! I have never dipped my fingers into the ancient market but I have a buyer who is looking for an ancient coin, silver, about the size of a quarter. I haven't the slightest idea of where to start. He also would like it to be in the $100-$150 range. Is that even possible to find one in that area for him and still turn a little profit? Hoping you all can help! Just so this post isn't flagged, I'm not looking to buy here, I only am looking for information on if this is a possibility and what types of coins would fit that request. Thanks in advance!

 

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Your customer is making a mistake buying from someone who does not know the difference between a real coin or a fake. There are plenty of coins that ft your needs and price. Buy one from a full service specialist dealer in ancient coins. You will probably be more comfortable with a coin in an NGC slab (the only company slabbing ancients that have the expertise to do so from what I have seen) even though the slabbing fee will cut your profit.

 

100% what Doug said.

 

A quarter-sized ancient silver coin in that price range is a tall order. Your best chance at finding such a thing would be a third century tetradrachm from Antioch. Buy from a reputable auction house or dealer. Good luck. There are plenty of dime-sized silver coins in that price range, however.

 

I was thinking more along the lines of an antoninianus. While not fully "silver", it would fit along the quarter-sized and "silver" requirements. For $100-$150 I imagine that you could get a really nice one.
If I were to spend that much money on a coin (I know, it really isn't THAT much), I would want something that had some sort of significance. Not just "ancient silver coin". But that's just me.

 

An antoninianus is really closer to a nickel in size, not a quarter, though.

 

True. I'm not great with sizes.

 

Aren't a lot of those actually billon -- essentially, debased silver -- even if they're advertised as "silver"?

 

I would suggest looking at Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt tetradrachms.

While not impossible, it might be a tall order to find one better than 'about Very-Fine' for <$150 (or better than 'Fine' if you're looking to take a cut).

EDIT: Here's a couple examples of what $100(retail) would get you.

 

You can get reasonably large antoniniani with reasonably good silver at a pretty good condition for well under $100

Quarter sized silver is a bit tougher, so maybe recommend your buyer a smaller silver coin?

 

By the time Rome started issuing the Antoninianus, the alloy was about 50%. If that is not silver enough for you, Greek is the only answer. A lot depends on your definitions of 'silver' and 'quarter size'. I suspect your man would like a Provincial tetradrachm in silver looking but well alloyed silver of Caracalla from Antioch. $150 will get one with wear or roughness but a nice one could be twice that. If diameter is the only important thing, Sasanian is a possibility. Most beginners would rather have a smaller Roman than c coin from a place they had no idea existed.

 

I beg to differ but that’s why we’re all allowed our opinions. I know enough not to buy something I know little to nothing about off of a guy on the street.

 

When someone presents themself to a customer as a professional entitled to making a profit for services and then posts for instructions from a bunch of online amateurs, there is something wrong. Are you acting as a fiduciary for your customer? Does your customer deserve to receive anything in return for his money other than this treatment?

 

I love it that you think you even have the slightest inkling of what I have “presented” myself to this person as. Don’t make judgments if you don’t know the whole story. The only thing wrong here is your attitude.

 

I hesitate to get involved here, but the questions @dougsmit asked are legitimate regarding your previous posts. @dougsmit may not know the whole story, but he has based his statements and questions on what you have presented. If @dougsmit has made some wrong assumptions, you have the opportunity to tell the "whole story". Doug is known as a straight shooter who says what is on his mind. Is that attitude?

 

Maybe an antoninianus of Gordian III. They can be had for less than $100 and sometimes the size approaches a quarter (or at least bigger than a nickel). Here's a few from my collection.

 

It’s petty garbage and an elitist attitude that he feels the need to degrade someone else because they don’t have knowledge of the coins in question. That’s what people don’t like around here. I asked for some help and I get a response like his, it’s unwelcome and unappreciated regardless if he’s a “straight shooter or not.

 

I really like those. I’ll have to dig into them a little more. Thanks for posting.

 

I do not think he is degrading someone because they don't have knowledge of the coins in question. If you would be a (new) collector with 0 knowledge, everyone here would help you with utmost warmth to let your knowledge grow in these coins.

I think @dougsmit tries to state the problem that you want to professionally sell an ancient coin to someone that you have 0 knowledge about. Normally when a person buys coins, the person tries to buy from someone who is knowledgeable in the coin that he/she is looking for. That person is paying a small premium by buying it from a professional person, but atleast he/she knows it is legit. You are selling to someone, asking a premium, but you have no knowledge about the coin. So why is the buyer paying a premium to you, while you have no knowledge about coins and you try to get advise from some amateur collectors here on the forum? I am just rephrasing what I understood from @dougsmit and I refrain myself from further discussion here.

 

IMO, the ethical thing to do is to point your buyer to a reputable source. Taking a cut of the sale is for your hand in making the right selection at the right price. I don't mean any offense, but as a novice wholly unfamiliar with the ancient coin market and the factors that play in pricing them, your service is no different than your buyer simply going to VCoins and filtering silver coins to the $100-150 price range. I'm not a finance guy, and if a friend came to me looking for stock advice, I wouldn't expect a fee for going onto a finance forum and asking them how to best spend my friend's money.

That said, I am still happy to offer some ideas:

- You can buy a "problem" (posthumous) Alexander the Great tetradrachm for the upper end of that price range. Posthumous issues go for about $250-300 for problem-free VF, and lifetime issues go for more than that.
- I've seen Ptolemaic and Seleucid common tetradrachms sell for not much more than $100.
- If billon is acceptable, Nero's Alexandrian tetradrachms are common and affordable, and the portrait is usually recognizable as such (Provincials often don't look like the imperial portraits of the emperor).
- Roman antoninianii of Caracalla through the beginning of Valerian's reign are roughly quarter-sized. A good one to look into would be Caracalla or Elagabalus (both very colorful emperors), or a Philip I issue struck for Rome's 1000th birthday:
https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...s=1&thesaurus=1&order=0&currency=usd&company=

The thing about ancient coins is that a lot of them are smaller than you'd think they would be. Silver had a lot more buying power before Spain discovered literal boat-loads of it in South America. Silver drachms and denarii are mostly about dime or nickel-sized, and were the standard "big" denomination for daily transactions most ancient empires.