Hi everyone, I have saved £200, I was going to put this money towards a coin. I was wondering if anyone knows any ancient gold coins I could get with this sort of money?? I am interested in anything ancient
If you consider Byzantine ancient that is probably your best bet sir. I know they have gone up, but there are still pieces in that price range, especially some of the more common emperors from the 6th and 7th centuries. Ancient gold can be pricey otherwise, with even late Roman getting to be expensive. Greek gold usually requires 1000 pounds just to afford a damaged example.
Thanks for reply. Were a lot of Byzantine gold coins made for them to be so cheap? I have also been looking at Celtic and I suppose I could get something with that although I do prefer Byzantine.
I think its really your own preference. Though I'm not a big collector of ancients I do believe the history of that time is a major factor. You really just need to pick and choose which you like better. The gold does makes the coin looks so much more prettier.
Anyone have a rough estimate on how much this will go for? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110881735077?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2648#ht_500wt_1287
The cheapest gold is Byzantine but the question is whether you consider it ancient. For a bit more you can get a solidus (three times the size of the tremesis) of one of the late Roman Rulers. Cheapest will be Theodosius II who made history by giving the Huns 2100 Roman pounds of gold in 443 AD which is the date of his most common coin (below - coincidence?). That is only a bit over 150,000 of these which seems like low mintage so they must have made others for other uses. The last really good looking and cheap Roman gold is probably Constantius II but that is now a $1k coin. Valentinian has some side view portraits which look a lot better worn down than the facing bust types that lose the face detail below VF. This is not a good time to buy gold of this sort since melt value has overtaken the numismatic value a few years back unless, of course, you believe that gold is going to keep going up and people will actually start melting ancients. Watch for gold that is ex-jewelry. They should sell for a discount. Prong marks and wear actually made a Roman gold cheap enough I could buy one back before the melt value went crazy. I obviously don't keep up with the market today but this is what I would (and did) select as a one and only Roman gold.
