Any huge Classical History (Rome/Greece) nerds like me?

Sadly I live in the boondocks and would have to drive several hours to any sort of coin show.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I second @dougsmit .... I have seen quite a few aurei sell privately prior to being listed online. This was the case with a group of 5 aurei offered by a well known dealer at a coin show I attended, who also operates a vcoins website. Of the aurei at the show, I purchased the Trajan and the rest were sold within a few hours. I’m by no means an expert and I’m still relatively new to collecting, but I would also second Doug’s advice to maybe find an agent, or at the very least complete some more of your own research before making big purchases. Personally, I enjoy doing research, but I know not everyone has the time to do it.

@Gam3rBlake Also, from what I have seen, APMEX is quite expensive. If you’re looking for slabbed coins I recommend that you try Heritage or Stacks. From my experience, with enough patience you will find what you’re looking for (probably for less than what you would pay at APMEX). Also, if you are willing to look beyond slabbed coins, I would recommend prestigious auction houses such as CNG, Roma, NAC, Kunker, Gorny etc...

Hope this helps!
Rc

 

Well the only reason I want slabs is for verification. I know NGC & PCGS aren’t perfect but I’m sure if they see something obviously fake they would refuse to slab it no?

 

Personally, I would stick with major ancient auction firms. I find Heritage high. A CNG label is a better guarantee of authenticity to me, as well as a few other firms. Plus, you can take the coin out and "hold history".

 

PCGS does not slab ancients. NGC does not guarantee authenticity of ancients. Good people work there, but they choose to not guarantee its authentic.

Like I said the post above, some ancient firms labels are more of a guarantee to us ancient collectors than a slab is. Slabs are not BAD, and I truly respect the two major graders there, but I would not put their opinion ahead of some other ancient dealer's opinion.

Collectible fields are always a case of education and learning the market. @Romancollector had great advice for you sir.

 

I agree here, especially for beginners like me (I have been a beginner for over fifty years). The in person contact and accompanying gut feeling you get at a show not only answers questions but tells you a lot about who you want to deal with and who is not interested in your business. Let me add that some of the nicest guys in the business only sell coins over my price bracket but they still say hello. It is not just a matter of money. While I do not expect to return to shows for another year, I do agree it is the best way to learn coins. Touch and see in person outranks the best photos.

 

What price bracket are you talking about?

The scariest thing to me would to pay $500+ for an ancient coin only to find out later that it’s fake.

Yes, normally you can tell honest dealers from deceptive ones but some of the honest ones may truly believe the coin is legitimate, and with ancients it’s tough. They didn’t have accurate Mints like today. Today all American Silver Eagles or even common currency are minted to perfection with machines. Back then it was a hammer and anvil.

I always thought NGC guaranteed authenticity so it’s a bummer to find out they don’t.

 

So then some of those ancient coins in NGC slabs on APMEX might be fakes??

 

Your reply has reminded me of just how much I enjoyed (and now miss) those shows. Many of those dealers would just love to chat about their coins or my interests (if it was not too busy) and they were so good about letting me pick up and look closely at coins they probably knew I could not afford to buy. One of the best, a gentleman and a scholar (former professor) from Western Maryland unfortunately died about a year ago and I did not find out until about two months later when i did not see his table at the Wilmington, Delaware show and was informed of his passing by others. I went to where he usually set up when I first arrived at the show just to talk to him before I did any shopping. I didn't really feel like shopping after that news.

 

I would not go that far. I don't know anyone whose opinion I trust any more than the two NGC graders but IF they were to guarantee authenticity, NGC would have to buy insurance against the outside chance of error and that would raise the price of their service greatly. There are a thousand time more types of ancient coin that these people have to know compared to US coins. If I ran NGC, I would not consider a cash guarantee for errors. I remember too well the fiasco we call the Black Sea Hoard and still have the advertisement sent out by the first class seller of ancients offering a pair of the fakes for $500. IMHO that ad is more valuable than a genuine coin of those two types. The cash guarantee on moderns is not nearly the risk. All the types have been studied to death. It is reasonable to expect very few errors. The added cost of a slab pretty much guarantees I will not be buying that coin unless it is a case where someone had a coin slabbed and got a low grade that made the coin hard to sell to the usual slab buyers who thing all coins have to be EF+.

The quote above paragraph is very true and describes the situation well. Many fakes are sold by honest people whose experience and expertise is not as high as we might hope.

The answer here is how much would you be able to tolerate losing. I have a coin that I bought for $250 that I would like to have an opinion on but I am not curious enough to pay $50. When I die, my coins will go to a dealer who will be expected to have an opinion on that coin and act accordingly. So far my biggest (known as of today) mistake was $100 about 30 years ago. I have received at least that much education from that coin. Tuition in higher education is not cheap. Your bracket may be ten time mine. In any event, I do not buy $1000 coins at a flea market. I know collectors who have very few coin under that figure. Act in accordance with your comfort level.

 

Just a small disagreement. Like I said, I greatly respect them, (one is a member here and I have been grateful for what he has done for the hobby since Moneta-L days), but not sure I would believe them versus David Sear, Curtis Clay, or Harlan Berk for certain series. Heck I have a couple of members of my coin club I would listen to in their narrow areas more than anyone else. not to mean both are not great ancient numismatic minds, just saying they are not the GREATEST I know of, and would listen to them over anyone else. They are good men, and I trust their opinion, just saying it would not be over all others. Push comes to shove, I am listening to Harlan Berk on Byzantines, Bill Daehn on Thasan coinage, etc.