New to ancient coin collecting

Hello. Ancient coins are one of many hobbies I have tried starting up over the last year as I am going through a rough period. I am getting into coin collecting to connect myself with history, so am probably disinterested in most modern coinage. I am Australian, so there isn't much point in being a metal detectorist. Instead, I recently bought a bundle of over 100 coins on ebay. They haven't arrived yet, but am trying to do some research on the coins in advance and have spent 2 days trying to figure out who this emperor is. One distinctive element I used to try and track him is his square jaw. I am thinking I will go over some of the dirt gently with a blunted wooden pick once it arrives, but it looks potentially silver to me and I'm not sure if that's safe?:



I would especially love it if it was a usurper emperor since those solar crowns seem to have been popular for coins from the usurpers. And how much would the damage effect the value of the coin? It doesn't need to be worth a lot, even at $10 AUD I would be happy (I need to get my money back in terms of what I might have spent on the coins individually, not thinking about sale prices or selling).

Also, I am curious what culture these symbols are on this coin. Looks like a curvy trident or Y in the ancient Greek (psi) and Roman alphabets (but the Roman version appears more like a W than a pitch fork with the edges slanting in) and it is stylized. It looks to me like it is clean and the inscriptions faded so I assume I can't do anything further with this coin to bring out any missing detail?:



And lastly, I bought a rough condition Alexander the Great coin from around 323-317 BC if the seller is correct (so posthumous) and need advice on what should be done with it. Most of the details are visible. Clearly I wouldn't clean it without some experience first, but should I clean it at all or keep it the way it is? I notice these Alexander the Great coins are probably the most faked ancient coins, albeit the reverse isn't the widely faked reverse, so even in subpar condition it might help to authenticate it just leaving it as is?

I know your FAQ here says not to clean ancient coins, but I am less interested in the monetary value over the visual appeal so what a buyer is interested in is less important to me. Of course I don't want to damage the coin, but I'd like to see the real coin beneath the dirt as much as possible if -- with practice -- I can do no substantial harm to it. I will wait until it arrives before posting photos of it.

 

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Hi and Welcome to CoinTalk. Your first coin is attributable, so I suggest going to wildwinds.com to identify it. You can search by ruler and see pictures of the more common issues of each emperor, helping with identification.

 

Welcome to CT

 

Sorting stamps and coins have taken me through many a rough day. It’s a good hobby to pick up if your life needs sorting out.
Your coins: The first one is an antoninannus from the time of Claudius II Gothicus, or Aurelian.
It’s not worth much in that condition, I’m afraid. Make sure you don’t spend any money that you need in this starting phase.
The next coin looks like an indian bronze coin. I don’t know much about them, maybe others do.
In general, you are unlikely to find anything great in lots like that, but it’s a good way to start. An even better way to start, is by reading. There are many great online resources. This one is handy when you are to identify your coins:
www.wildwinds.com
Be very, very careful when cleaning coins. They are easily destroyed. A google search for cleaning ancient coins will probably give you the right information.

 

Welcome!
Your top coin is, like @ancient coin hunter said, attributable. There is enough legend there in the begining to get you started I think

Pictures of both sides of the coins will help people further.

I'm not sure it is worth $10 AUD in regards to resale but it is def worth it for the learning experience

 

Hi, welcome to the dark side

You ask a few questions:
1) should you clean coins >> this depends. I regularly clean silver coins. Most improved, some did not improve, and a few became worse. Over time, you'll get more experienced, and recognize which will improve, and which won't. I regard cleaning as an extra dimension to collection. It's not frowned upon in the Ancients section (it is in the modern section though).
2) are solar crowns worn by usurpers? Solar or rostral crowns are related to the denomination: i.e. denarius (no crown) vs. antonianus (rostral crown). Not sure whether this is still the same in the late roman bronze.
3) your first coin should be ID-able. Perhaps try http://numismatics.org/ocre/identify
4) your first coin looks bronze to me.
5) damage usually dramatically affects the coin price
6) the other coin (looks Arabian) is as clean as it gets
7) Alexander drachms are common, and indeed, may be false. Given time, you will recognize the differences (but still, I recently bought a very fake Caracalla denarius).

 

Thank you everyone for the welcomes and advice. I will follow up on your leads.

 

I thought it might be financially better to buy coins like this. They worked out to about $1.35 AUD per coin (but many are going to be worthless, hence I would like to be able to find a few $10 AUD coins). if I could get value from the coins in it, it would stop the slow bleed that is spending so far up to $42 a coin that I was doing. Also, cleaning and discovering coins is a hobby in itself, I get to learn about restoration which was a part of why I spent more than I wanted on it. I will start with coins that barely resemble coins, and try a variety of methods suggested online (I have already watched numerous videos).

But in doing research on the antoninannus coin I have learnt quite a bit about emperors so it all has pay off in that regard too!

 

That's good. With the uncleaned lots one can buy a lot of the fun is figuring out the identity of each coin.

 

This is what you have in store when you’re going to sell each coin for 1.36 AUD or more, KDD. I’m getting rid of all my Norwegian doubles. It’s a mess! But always a learning experience and fun when pay day comes

 

Thanks for the optimism. I think I'll try and collect coins until I get them replaced by better condition ones, then I might sell. If the second coin is Indian or Arab, I might sell that one if I can.

Pretty dire living with an abusive drunk. The other day he was amplifying the sound of the washing machine as I slept, laughing maniacally and yelling outside my bedroom door. Thinking of all kinds of ways I might generate a bit of money to save enough to get out of this situation, but right now selling is awkward for me but it is certainly something I will tempt if I get good at it.

This is my Alexander the Great coin, cost me $42.55 (Australian) at auction [EDIT: Didn't think how that sounded. No, not at auction. An ebay auction]. I bought two other coins from the seller so I don't count the postage for this one. Don't like posting the sellers image without his authority, but I can't imagine it would be an issue and will delete it if it is:






To my inexperienced eye, it looks like it has some granularity and could be cleaned further? The previous cleaner erred on the side of caution?

Like I said, I am leaning the way of keeping it as is because to me it makes it look more unquestionably authentic.

Hopefully it is genuine.

 

Your Alexander III looks quite similar to mine. Though I can't make out the letters in between the club and quiver of yours.
I only paid ~$20 USD for mine and I doubt yours would be worth too much more. I like your portrait much better though!
PS, I wouodn't try to clean yours. It has a beautiful patina.

 

I must admit the patina is growing on me. I will take more photos when it arrives and show you guys if it reveals more of the letters under lighting. I can see traces of letters there that I think might come out better in different photos.

(In case anyone is new to coin collecting here as am I, the head on these Alexander the Great coins is suppose to be the head of Hercules [EDIT: Heracles, not Hercules. Hercules is the Roman equivalent of Heracles.] with a lion headress. The figures at the back are a bow, quiver and club, and the inscription is suppose to include some kind of mention of Alexander.)

 

Here is a good place to start towards ID'ing the reverse:
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/macedonia/kings/alexander_III/t.html

 

If you clean it, it will probably look like furryfrogs, and be worth as much as he paid.
With time, the patina and surface of the coin merges together. You won't be removing just patina, but the very coin.

 

Welcome to the dark side!

I got my start almost five years ago with these bulk lots - still have a few finds that were too much fun to let go!

If I can offer one humble piece of advice, until you are comfortable identifying Roman coins at a glance, I would strongly recommend that you buy slightly larger lots of better quality, ~$5 coins before tackling the really beat up ones.

Also the Islamic coin isn't Indian. I never could get into Islamic, but I think it might be late medieval - maybe Egyptian?

 

I see no reason to doubt the authenticity of the coins you showed. Your first is an obvious ID from the portrait but it will also have enough legend if you can wipe a little dirt off the unbroken edge behind the head. Be aware that the legend starts with IMP and then is followed by the name. Many Coins start with IMPerator and end with AVGustus (clear on your coin even without cleaning). The part you need is between the two but you lost quite a bit to the break.

I always suggest beginners pay $10-20 each for their first coins so they get something that allows easier ID and avoid the really awful $1 coins which will yield zero keepers even if a few are identifiable. You can buy what you want and you will not recoup the cash you spent on even the $20 coins so what you are buying is education.

The Alexander might look a little better if the reverse were leaned a bit with a toothpick or an old, dry toothbrush but I would not do any wet cleaning. You can change it but improving it will be less likely.

Welcome. Ask questions. Show photos. It is great to have a new collector who can show clear photos of both sides of a coin. There are several variations on coins like your Alexander. Both furry frog's and mine below are different than yours. Mine was $30US but I bought it in the last century. Most new people posting here show a worse use of $42.55 (especially if that was AUS$).

 

I am not interested in Islamic either, if it is. If it is pre-Islamic, I might be interested in keeping it since there is so much history in the area of Babylon/Syria/Persia. So the period of Arab history it relates to is important to me.

[My reply at the start quoted the post above. I started trying to write a reply but didn't finish. 'So' wasn't meant rudely as a one word 'so'. I was going to ask if he thought there was any chance it might be better condition under the dirt. I don't know why it coupled my posts. Quirks of the forum I guess.]

 

I did see videos of some wet cleaning done to the coins, and then they bake the coin at 130 C for 30 minutes to dry it. Wouldn't that heat damage the coin, potentially make cracks worse?

 

Just to clarify, my response to this post said 'So' and nothing else. I typed up a response something along the lines of "So you are sure there would be no chance of getting a better coin from cleaning, or next to no chance?". I didn't post it because language isn't very natural to me and I didn't like how it sounded, and thought it was just wise advice not necessarily something I needed to draw out further. I was just trying to gauge whether it is possible there is something lurking underneath the muck. I replied to the other post and it somehow coupled the quote of this post at the top with one word "So". Like "so what", which wasn't what I intended or had originally written.

I think the restorer of the coin probably knew exactly what they were doing and they're in accordance with you: the coin shouldn't be touched further.