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Message:: [QUOTE="John Anthony, post: 2331991, member: 42773"]I started attending the Red Rose show in PA about 3 or 4 years ago, and there were no ancients to be had. Not a one. Over the last few shows, a couple of dealers showed up with large inventories of world coins and several trays of ancients. The ancients all had serious problems and were marked up 5 times over market value. One dealer tried to convince me that the historical value of a common sestertius of Trajan made it worth hundreds of dollars despite the fact that it was harshly cleaned, as bright as a brand new penny, with barely any detail. I wouldn't have taken any of his coins if he had given them to me. This was not some new guy to the world of dealing. He's a well-established seller of world coins that decided to branch out into ancients, at least my age, mid-50's. I found the same situation with a prominent NY dealer that had set up shop at NYINC. He had dozens of boxes of flips which at first looked very promising, but I found nothing but common, worn, and problematic coins at ridiculous prices. And customers WERE being duped. As I sat looking through his inventory, several people bought coins and were thrilled that they were given 15% off their exorbitantly-priced dogs. If a collector isn't willing to do some homework about the market, he really shouldn't be in this hobby.[/QUOTE]