How Many Ancient Coins do you Buy in a Year?

I have a monthly coin / book budget and have established a list of "priority purchases" to prevent me from impulse buying. Therefore I buy what I can, when I can. Most people forget about reference books; they are as important as the coins. My book budget is 10% of my coin budget, sometimes more if I really need the book. I'm still filling in gaps in my collection so I'm mostly purchasing cheaper, more common coins ($100 or less per coin). Eventually the gaps will be filled which will allow me to purchase more expensive coins. In the past year I've been averaging around 20-30 coins per month (200-300 per year) depending on how many auctions I attend. One of my rules is to purchase at least 10 coins per auction to help offset the shipping cost. I typically attend 2-4 auctions per month, not including purchases from eBay or Vcoins. After seeing all the other responses I guess I have a pretty large coin budget; now I feel embarrassed. This is most of what I purchased so far this year (01/23 - 10/23) and we still have November and December which are big purchase months for me.

 

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I have been very curious about the habits of others. Like many people, I've been buying around 15-20 (closer to 20) coins per year with the average price being somewhere around 50-100 pounds (Mostly Roman Imperial). In London, the auctions seem to represent better value than the coin fairs, although you can pick up some nice cheap bronzes at the fair and not have to pay shipping. I'd say 10% of my coins are around 150-300 pounds, though likely I'll go above that this Christmas for an Owl Tet (or if I saw a nice JC denarius like Meat Man's!). Echoing what others have said, it's likely the number of coins will dip now that I have filled in quite a few gaps and I'm starting to specialize in certain, more costly areas. Looking at my habits, it seems I favour buying fewer coins in better condition. I buy quite a few coins from Roma Numismatics because I'm currently based in the UK. If they had more auctions, I'd likely buy more and spend more. Prob 20% of these coins are presents for birthdays or Christmas (chosen by me but funded by others!). Around October my wife usually says 'I guess you'll want another coin this Christmas?"

 

99.999% of the auctions I buy from are in Europe, Roma is one of them (you can see their small black presentation boxes in the top of my photo). Unfortunately I'm in the States so I get to pay not only the 20-22% buyer's premium, 1.5-3% bank fee, but also the currency conversion differential (those darn £, CHF, € - their all worth more than $).

 

I wish I had a wall large enough to hood the coins I’ve bought this year.

 

So far this year I've added 125 coins to Tantalus, including 112 ancients, so I'm in the 100+ category. Some of those additions were not purchased in 2023, but I have more from this year still to add, so it evens out.
ATB,
Aidan.

 

25

 

A few years ago, it was around 20 or so. Now that I've kind of hit the wall with my one for each Roman emperor collection (The a lot of the guys in the 400s are next to impossible.), I'll have to see. It might go down to one or two, unless I get into Greek coins which isn't likely.

Some people count hammered British as ancient. I've got a lot of that collection complete also.

Of course this poll can be deceptive. If you buy a lot of low grade pieces, the numbers can be very high.

 

We are now in late October. I have been working full tilt since April 11th. but I added 86 AV coins to my coll. this year/ hopefully 20 more before New Year's
Since I collect all gold/ electrum from 670BC to present/ my Ancient/ medieval haul is at 35/ rest are mostly from 1300AD to 1840s. Here are some of my latest pickups.

 

I have only started seriously collecting coins this year, and since the start of the year I have bought over 100 ancient coins.

 

I'm with you - I buy and sell and maybe my collection grows by five coins a year. Recently I learned a hard lesson on 12 consignments. It was a reminder, among other things that it is above all condition that sells, not rarity, and that good photographs are critical. But, I got back in the saddle and won that beautiful Aurelian provincial that I just did an article on. In addition to the Aurelian my year to date purchases are: (1) from ebay: an As of Septimius Severus from the period that the Rome mint was only doing bronzes as presentation pieces - RIC 825 (2) Septimius Severus sestertius with Africa reverse, graded EF on the slab, with some roughness, - this and #1 showing that ebay is still a source of great coins (3) Postumus double sestertius, Trier mint - close to RIC 178, ex. rare (4) my first Alexandrian drachm with a beautiful portrait of Hadrian with Nile reclining (5) Hadrian sestertius with Adventus Hiispania reverse, the last two purchased in a sale that featured dozens of sestertii selling at terrific prices - who knew? None of the coins cost more than $325, which is my limit, except as to sestertii from the Rome mint ca. 199AD to 209AD, of which I have found all of four in 21 years - there have been four, possibly five others which went on sale at four figure prices I could not afford at the time.

 

I have never sold any coins. Once a coin ends up with me/ its thee forever

I am getting close too 1400 AV coins/ 400 AR ones.

John

 

I have sold one (the Shah Jahan Gold Mohur from the Kabul mint, because I want an earlier version (from one of the first 3 years of his reign) from an Indian mint, preferably the Agra one, and like you I don't buy duplicates) to a family member, otherwise 99% of them are not for sale, I want them to become family heirlooms, the few I would be willing to sell, I would mostly sell them just to upgrade to the same versions in better condition.

 

I have a friend with similar views - about 20,000 sestertii and won't a single one. He has two Elagabalus sestertii with an Adventus reverse which I need to almost complete my collection of Elagabalus sestertii but begging is no use - but it's no problem its all in fun.

 

Basically I buy what I can afford to buy - But I'm not going to mortgage the house..,well...maybe...unless I find an IMP XX sestertii of Caracalla with Lion and Thunderbolt, or any sestertius of Geta as Caesar, or any Septimius sestertius struck ca. 201-208 then the sky is the limit!

I had a chance to buy the Caracalla XX Lion with Thunderbolt but I hesitated and lost...now it i with an Italian buyer I have banged my head against an imaginary wall many times over that one and a few other - fisherman may regret those that got away but their regrets are nothing compared to mine.

 

My primary collection of Roman Republican coins is growing at a modest pace in recent years (24 last year, 15 this year, so far), much slower if upgrades and minor variants are not counted. The coins I am looking for, don't show up often in the marketplace and even less often in a state that interests me. That said - I have a general collection and add a coin a week (at least) to http://www.sullacoins.com/. I purchase about 150 coins per year with a weight of those being an eclectic mix across a wide time period of Islamic and Asian coins with a lean toward "coins no one else is interested in & history I've never heard of". To illustrate the theme: these 4 coins span 1st Century BC to 18th Century AD.




Above: Vishnukundin Dynasty (450-615 CE), Andhra Region for more see: https://www.sullacoins.com/post/ancient-india-coin-gallery


for more context for the coin above see: https://www.sullacoins.com/post/coin-of-the-silk-road


Above: Safavid Dynasty, Iran, Sultan Husayn 1694-1722 CE

On selling coins: I find it easier to buy coins than to part with them - although I have been shedding a few coins in some feeble attempt to rationalize spend on purchases. This year almost as many sold as purchased.

 

You forgot that we also cannot buy a metal detector and look for ancient coins! I am certain that this would be in my vacation plans if I lived in Great Britain - and probably anywhere else in Europe - maybe. Oddly enough, where I live now adjoins a small federal park known as Fort Nonsense in Morristown, NJ - this was a winter encampment for Washington's soldiers during the revolutionary war. I have often wondered if the soldiers buried coins in the encampment - but no matter, metal detecting is not allowed. I have taken a cursory look at the part of my land that adjoins the park, but have not seen anything other than some thick rusted metal rope.

 

"won't sell" I mean -

 

I would imagine that there is no shortage of metal to be found.