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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Finn235, post: 5446142, member: 98035&quot;]Hobbies by definition are mostly money pits, but coins will mostly hold value better than things like (non-classic) cars or gaming PCs. Collecting as an investment is generally not a great idea, although with enough expertise you can buy poorly or mis-attributed coins to flip.</p><p><br /></p><p>Don&#039;t worry about that now. What&#039;s your end goal? Do you want to</p><p><br /></p><p>1) Accumulate cool coins and learn about interesting things you would otherwise be ignorant about, or</p><p>2) Build a carefully curated set like modern collectors generally seem to do</p><p><br /></p><p>Neither is a wrong approach, but it&#039;s important to acknowledge your collecting style and stick with it, otherwise you&#039;ll be stuck with a random assortment of coins you regret buying.</p><p><br /></p><p>Personally, I would recommend that every collector:</p><p>1) Start with a mint state Constantine era coin - don&#039;t settle for a corroded piece, but don&#039;t spend more than $40-50. A nice Constantius II &quot;fallen horseman&quot; should be in this range. (My first ancient was a $1 piece of garbage that I paid way too much for - don&#039;t make my mistake!)</p><p>2) Buy at least one uncleaned lot on ebay. Attempt to clean and ID them yourself. Stay in the $2/coin range so you aren&#039;t out too much if none of them clean up well.</p><p>3) Buy at least a couple coins outside of your comfort zone. India, Parthian, Sassanian, and Chinese (but NO spades or knives!!!) are good areas to get your feet wet, and we have resident experts in each. Buy from reputable dealers and never buy from eBay sellers from Eastern Europe or China.</p><p>4) Pick a small, manageable set (like the Constantinian dynasty or Five Good Emperors) and complete it. See how that makes you feel, and if you want to pursue bigger sets.</p><p>5) If you can budget it, grab a lot of Greek fractional ARs from a reputable auction house. Stay at $10/coin or less. You will most likely find at least one &quot;extremely rare&quot; coin in there - this will help you to get grounded in the &quot;rare is common&quot; mantra with ancients.</p><p><br /></p><p>Most importantly, have fun![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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