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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Orfew, post: 7780837, member: 74968&quot;]With enough time that will change. You already have the interest, now all you need to do is to maintain your enthusiasm. Many who start to collect ancients get overwhelmed and quit. With your classical history background you are already steps ahead of others who are drawn to these ancient coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for the variation among ancients, this is exactly why the grading of these coins is irrelevant to many who collect ancients. When you grade an ancient, what do you do when an obverse is struck from fresher dies than the reverse? In the world of moderns, a &quot;d&quot; or a &quot;p&quot; could be the only difference between otherwise identical coins. IN the world of ancients, each one is as you say unique and hand struck. Btw did you know that there are members here who can tell you when 2 coins were engraved by the same hand? If you really want a controversy in ancients just start a thread of what constitutes &quot;fine style&quot;. This matters not at all in moderns as there is only one engraver per type. </p><p><br /></p><p>My advice: handle as many genuine coins as possible. Handle the coins and get an eye for the subtle differences between the legitimate coins and the more obvious fakes. However, if you collect ancients you are guaranteed to buy at least one fake. Some are very dangerous. Imho the risk is worth it for the pursuit of these small pieces of history.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yes, the Socratian paradox is important here. We might say something today like &quot;The more I learn, the more I realize I do not know&quot;.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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