I have a chance to buy Ancient Roman Coins - which ones should i get, how do I know?

Hi all,

I am very new to coin collecting but told a friend about my new hobby and they told someone who has an antique shop and they have 4 bags of ancient roman coins and are wanting to sell them for about $30 a bag - each bag has 10-15 coins. They guy said on the phone they are all from 200ad-400ad.

I will be going soon to look at them and want to know what should I look for? the best condition ones? Or are any certain roman coins worth more?

 

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Also, the guy said he soaked them in distilled water for weeks. he said he has plenty more bags too. I checked prices on ebay and the ancient roman coins seem to sell for anywhere from 2 dollars to 100... shouldn't they all be super-valuable if they are 2,000 years old? Or only the better looking ones? I have so many questions, but just want to know what I should look for when i go to buy these coins, which ones will be the most valuable?

 

200-400AD is a good range and there is many coins to look for. But there is alot of common/junk ones too.

I suggest is if they let you look at the coins in the bag, go with whatever one just speaks to you. I myself have only been collecting ancients for a year now but I am attracted to the severan period. I also have a soft spot for the roman empresses.

Also make sure the coins arent just a bag of uncleaned ancients. You would know once you see them.

I suggest checking out the website below just to get your feet wet. The schooling for ancients is endless but rewarding & fun.

http://dougsmith.ancients.info/

 

Awesome, thanks for the info i will try to get the best looking ones overall and of course any with silver huh LOL

 

Ah so they are partially cleaned. There is no telling what you may get. More then likely constantine era.

And thats a common misconception with ancients, even though they are 2000 year's old, there is many that can be had for under $10-$20. But of course there is many that are hundred's to thousands of dollars.

Its a fun hobby. If the coins are $30 for a bag, I highly doubt you will get any silver. But for $30 you can buy the bag, post a photo of them here on the board and me & many others will gladly help you out.

 

Thanks, I will buy the best bag, and photograph them all so you guys can tell what's what etc. I think he said some were constantine and yeah i bet if they were silver or even gold he would have kept those and sold them elsewhere LOL

 

You should pick up Wayne G Sayles book "ancient coin collecting volume I," Its really great for the new collector. You could get one bag and post pics and get better opinions on if its worth getting more. Just woke up, edit: and slow to post lol XD

 

thanks, will check out that book too!

 

Just my opinion: Beginners would be better off buying individual, already cleaned coins (as mat said) that 'speak to you' and save the grab bags for those who have a better chance knowing what they are getting. Ancients need not look like 2000 year old trash but can be found (common varieties) in great looking condition for $5 to $50 each. While that seems high compared to $30 a bag but you are more likely to get coins that you will want to keep for the rest of your life. I still buy ugly trash ancients but only when it is something I want and have not seen offered better at a price I could accept. I still have a few uncatalogued pieces of junk I bought in the early 1960's as part of a bulk lot (then for a couple dollars - kept to remind me that junk is junk).

Not long ago, there was a big show (FUN) in Florida. I recommend going to shows and handling as many coins as possible even if you buy none. I also recommend hanging arount the Coin Talk Ancient group and seeing what the participants are finding. Who knows you might even trade some with them - I got a couple things I wanted from others on the list (and hope they also like what they got from me). There are a million types of ancient coins so you should only buy the ones that 'speak to you'.

 

I hope Jason does well and finds some good romans.

 

I'm an ancients newbie myself and I agree with what the others have said. Buying in bulk really doesn't produce much and you'd be better off buying individual coins. I've purchase uncleaned coins and for what I received, I would have been much better off using the money to buy one nice coin. A lot of the coins were broken, worn or just slugs.

Check out some of the past posts in the ancients forum to see what some of the members collect. Really interesting and my help narrow your focus.

 

Jason, there are a lot of great people here who can help you. A little background on ancients and collectng ancient coins. First, the ancient romans minted millions to hundreds of millions of coins a year, for hundreds of years. There are literally millions of them having been found, and more every year. Most ancient coins are not worth as much as a 1916d dime. Always remember, age does NOT equal value with coins. I have thousands of ancient coins, but my most expensive coin is date 1795.

Beginners as others have said are frequently drawn to "uncleaned coins" thinking they have a great chance to find a rarity. Trust me, some of the best experts in the world have seen these coins already, and picked out almost all of them potentially valuable. There is little chance to find overly valuable coins in these groups, possible, but unlikely.

Collecting ancient coins is not like collecting US coins, you will find yourself learning loads of history, reading and learning from books and websites, valuing your books more and more as time goes on, etc. THIS IS THE BEAUTY OF THE HOBBY. Its not "easy mode" like US collecting is, every coin you know exactly what it is and what the market value is, and be able to buy whatever you want, whenever you want. I have wanted coins before that weren't terribly valuable, but been unable to locate them for a few years. This was with me checking all major auctions, shows, etc. Rare and scarce ancient coins are rare and scarce, they sometimes are simply unavailable.

For a first book, if you think you will like Roman coins, I would suggest the 1988 version of David Sears "Roman coins and their values". It is the last time he printed it all in one volume. The pricing is relative, but can show you common issues versus rare ones, and has lots of great background info for you.

Please let us know if we can be of help.

Chris

 

have you bought them yet? im drooling for pics 8)