Is there an online resource anyone can suggest to learn more about pre-1776 coins? I have been studying and buying old US coins for a few years now, but I had an opportunity to go to the ancient show at the Waldorf Astoria last weekend. I saw so many things there that caught my interest, like the two pillar 8 real, the crudely made reals from the 1600, a mid-evil looking coin that had been snipped off to make change, or the bigger silver ancient roman coins that have Hercules wearing a lion's head for a hat. That is pretty cool! And that NGC grades ancients, I didn't know that as I have been exclusively using PCGS. Go figure. Or maybe there is a book/ebook you all think I should read on this subject? I am hungry for info, but I need a top level understanding before I dive into one type of coin or the other. I may need to bone-up on my world history too. Anyway, thank you in advance.
Yeah, where to begin. First, nomenclature. Usually ancient coins means from ancient greek to the end of the roman empire, (sometimes Byzantine empire). Anything after that is medieval up until they started striking coins on machines. Ancient/medieval coins do go hand in hand with history, so you will ge t a lot of history along the way. Wayne Sayles put out "Ancient Coin Collecting" in six parts, part one is general. Its not a bad book to get from your library to read for a start. Also, simply read threads here about ancients. Plus, Doug Smith's website is a good place to read: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/
Perhaps I can add to Medoraman's suggestion of Doug Smith's link: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/ The Website describes many nuances of ancient coin collecting. (It is way-cool). I might also recommend that you search & read some of the archived threads here at CoinTalk. There are many beautiful coins of the World described in the Krause World coin books. These Krause books are available used on the Internet. Each book covers one Century and each is the size of a large city phone book. They include photos & descriptions of virtually every coin made in the World.
