My very first ancient

A small-time dealer friend of mine would often ask me what the value of an ancient was and then ask what the "book" value was. He could never understand that there just was no "book"

 

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If you just want to see what's out there, there are some books, that are helpful. Some books have dollar values for the coins (for example, the Sear books), but the books are old, so the dollar values are not current. But, you can get an idea of the values of coins, relative to each other. But, those relative values can change, because of new discoveries of hoards, or when a country becomes less isolated from the rest of the world.
If you'd rather not spend money on books, then you can get an idea of what's out there, by visiting ancient coin dealers such as Vcoins.com, or by viewing various ancient coin auctions such as CNG.com.
Here are some books, that I like, that show a lot of what's out there, but not everything.
For ancient Greek coins :
Sear : Greek Coins And Their Values : 2 volumes
For ancient Roman coins :
Sear : Roman Coins And Their Values : 5 volumes
For Byzantine coins :
Sear : Byzantine Coins And Their Values
For ancient coins from Africa, the Middle East, barbarians, etc :
Sayles : Ancient Coin Collecting VI : This is volume VI of a series of books by Sayles.
For ancient Chinese coins :
Hartill : Cast Chinese Coins

 

Thanks all for looking and for the book recommendations. You called out what I’m after in a book to start with, info and illustrations.

 

If you don't mind me posting a link that you didn't ask for... lol This thread was posted some time ago here on CT and I think it is a great source of info all in one spot. I just love it since it's a homegrown CT creation from all the great minds here on the dark side...

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancient-coins-beginners’-faq-thread.324858/#post-3206941

 

That thread has a plethora of excellent information! Thank you kindly for the link, @cwart !

 

Not a problem at all, I love very opportunity to post that thread, its just so useful as we get started...

 

B.Hunter, That's a great choice for your 1st ancient coin ! The Athenian Owl is the most iconic Greek coin. It is probably the most imitated of all ancient coins, & was the international trade coin for centuries. It took me a long time to buy one, but I broke-down several years ago & scored the one pictured below at auction for a fair price .

Athens, 454-404 BC. AR tetradrachm: 17.22 gm, 25 mm, 5 h.

 

Congrats! I bought an Owl myself when I first started collecting.

I’ve never regretted it .

 

Great coin!

 

This was my first ancient, and I still have only a few dozen, if that. Constantius II, Sisica mint, 347-348 AD, RIC VIII 184. Now a days, I do have some much nicer ones. Still want one of those Greek owls. I should go ahead and buy one, as they are not getting any cheaper.