Ancient newbie introduction and question: Where to buy?

Hello everyone. I've been a longtime lurker on these boards, but haven't really posted much. Since I got back into collecting coins over a year ago, I've been focusing on original looking 19th century US silver in XF through MS (especially seated half dollars). Lately, it's become harder to find coins that I like and I've become somewhat bored. I've been really getting an itch to try ancients. I started reading about US coins when I was very young (I'm 33 now), but I have virtually no knowledge of ancients and I'm somewhat intimidated/terrified/etc. I've started reading the Sayles' series, but I do have some questions. I know some of them have been addressed in the past, but with the recent influx of new posters, I thought there might be some good new discussion.

 

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First of all, what dealers do you all recommend? For US coins, I have a list of trusted dealers that I check about once a week. I was hoping for something similar for ancients. Looking around the internet, I see that ancients can be bought at FORUM, CNG, and Harlan Berk. Any comments on these?

 

Also, has anyone used Heritage for ancients? I have purchased a lot of US coins from them and have always been very happy. How are they with ancients? Accurate attributions? Problems with fakes?

 

FORUM, CNG, and HB are all highly reputable. I haven't bought ancients from Heritage yet.

Welcome.

 

The three dealers you mentioned are reputable and I've bought from two of the three with only CNG the one I've never bought from. However, all three can be expensive. Forum will not entertain any offers. The price is set. CNG is generally out of my league only because of the fees attached to buying and selling (both ends on one coin seems excessive to me). HB is expensive, but they will consider offers. I've bought a very few coins where they accepted my offers.

I like to recommend the dealers at Vcoins and Numismall (many of the same dealers). Most will accept offers and you generally have a wide range of choices. I also have established a relationship with a few of the dealers who will sometimes contact me with products they wish to sell. Lastly, I have a list of trusted sellers on Ebay that I follow on a regular basis. I will be glad to share these with anyone that wishes through a PM (I am not affiliated with any). Many here will tell you to stay away from Ebay, and with good reason. There are some very unscrupulous people selling fakes to the unwary. But even Forum and HB sell on Ebay, so they are not all bad. You have to be careful, especially when you first start. I would suggest if you choose to go this route, that you post any potential purchase beforehand here on CT to get everyone's input. As far as I know, no one here will try to snipe you out of something. I hope this helps.

I think most of us here have collected modern coins at some time in our lives. However, the intrigue of Ancients, the history and the marvel of holding a piece of it in your hand, is so much stronger than modern coins for me at least. I hope you come over to the dark side. I think you may find you will not be as bored as with modern coins (my opinion).

 

Thanks for the responses! I will add Vcoins and Numismall to my bookmarks. It took probably close to a year before I felt comfortable starting to scrounge around on ebay for coins in my favorite US series. I could see being even more careful with ancients.

 

OP, man it was eery reading your intro. You are in every way exactly where i was 12 years ago. No kidding, every detail including collecting habits.

As to where to collect, the three you mentioned are excellent sources for quality. I do not consider their prices out of line, i would argue for the same quality you can get them cheaper through auctions at those sites than at Vcoins. I just bought a christopher coin for about $720 total in very high VF at CNG. Please show me an equivalent price on vcoins. They are asking about $600 more.

I buy everywhere. Ebay is a source, but you have to educate yourself. Books are a great way to educate, as are good websites. Do you know what you are interested in yet? If so, we can recommend some better resources than Sayles, though his little books aren't bad.

 

Thanks for the response Medora. I've always especially liked the design on Greek coins. Honestly, a lot of the Roman coins would kind of freak me out with the knobby little heads stuck on long necks, but as I've looked at more of them, I've really warmed up to them. The detail on many of the portraits is pretty amazing. So to answer your question, no I'm not sure of my focus. I figured I would almost "type collect" for a little while and see what really struck my fancy. That's how I got back into US coins.

 

For a beginner, wanting safe buying options, I recommend vcoins or numismall. CNG and the auction houses will typically be quite expensive for beginners. Avoid ebay if you want to really be safe. If you go with reputable dealers you should be safe.

 

I purchase coins from both VCoins and Ebay. There are a few other sites that you can get coins from as well.

I hope Doug doesn't mind but I'm going to reference his site again. I suggest to read the boxed in section, Vocabulary of Ancient Coins. These articles should help you in a general way to decide what direction you want to go and what to collect.

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/

I started out with no books, little money and lots of websites to read and experienced collectors to learn from. A little more than a year later I have over 100 coins, a few books and lots of knowledge about ancient coins, history, etc. My interest has not dimmed a bit and in fact has intensified greatly. The way I can see it now; I will never return to collecting US coins.

I got a few coins with guidance from some people on forums. Some are here, some are at other forums right now. They gave me pointers and helped me attribute coins and so I was guided and didn't run into any fakes or pay too much for a coin. Perhaps it could be the same way for you.