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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Gavin Richardson, post: 2806000, member: 83956&quot;]I tend to think of CNG as a place to consult for higher end coins. When I began, and to some extent today, most of my purchases were $60 or less, and for those needs, looking at VCoins was adequate for getting a gauge on market value. For relatively common coins, it&#039;s pretty easy to spot the overpriced outliers and determine what the middle of the road value is. Maybe you have a generous budget and are ready to jump in with higher end coins. If so, CNG will equip you with a good metric. If you want to ease into the hobby with more modest purchases, in my opinion, VCoins is adequate. </p><p><br /></p><p>And to echo others here, the discourse of &quot;mint&quot; or &quot;gem mint&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; Is a foreign language for ancient collectors, whose coins are each struck by hand and thus will always show some difference. No two are exactly alike, even with die matches, and they have all enjoyed some measure of circulation in 2000 years, so &quot;gem mint&quot; discourse makes less sense. POOR, FAIR, GOOD, FINE, VERY FINE, EXCELLENT, FLEUR DE COIN are the more common terms for ancients grading.</p><p><br /></p><p>And as you may have sensed, there is a bit of an animus against slabbed coins among ancients collectors. While ancients collectors aren&#039;t indifferent to monetary value, I generally find the overwhelming majority are motivated to collect by a love of history. Actually touching the coin itself is part of that physical connection to the material culture of ancient peoples. This is my theory on why slabs are less popular among ancients collectors.</p><p><br /></p><p>And of course, welcome![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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