Oops, I shouldn't have taken my wallet

That's what they ALL say.

 

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Mr. Anthony, do you really think someone would be unable of just sitting on these coins and enjoying them for the next two months? Keep in mind I still have not received the M. Tullius or Trajan denarii, so I have yet to begin enjoying them.

This is a good start. I am satisfied for now. January will come soon enough and I can begin buying coins again.

 

Nice coins Sallent, kinda glad I don't have any coin shops within a 4 hour drive or I would be seeking your services.

 

What a great start! That weighty Alexander tet must feel very nice in hand, eh.

 

I start looking as soon as I buy one. Well, maybe I wait a few hrs, but seldom longer than that.

 

Yes sir, I do. As one of our esteemed colleagues has stated so eloquently...

 

Well, I didn't say I wouldn't buy anything at all...just not coins (Secret Santa being an exemption). I am going to use this time to buy cheaper things I need, such as a coin scale, caliper, coin gloves, reference books, and other numismatic supplies needed to properly examine, study, preserve, and learn about these coins.

 

As far as reference books go, there is a great deal of free information online - you could easily acquire years worth of reading material without spending a dime.

 

I have noticed and bookmarked some resources for latter reading, but I do need a scale, caliper, new coin loop, etc. I don't have a lot of the simple basic tools a proper numismatist shouldn't be without. Part of it has to do with me not actively collecting for over a decade. I still have coins I purchased over a decade ago, and some I purchased recently, but I no longer have some of the basic tools and materials needed, so I have to get that over the next few weeks and months.

 

You don't need gloves for ancients

 

I was going to say something about the gloves, but thought I'd just leave it alone. PP is right. Why gloves?

 

I don't know. I'm new to ancients. My previous experience being modern coins, I thought you also needed gloves for ancients. If I say something stupid, please feel free to correct me. Im still very new to ancient coin collecting and I'm coming from what may very well be another planet..modern US coin collecting.

 

As I said in another post, you need to throw the rule book away. You don't need to wear gloves to handle ancients. However, if it makes you more comfortable, by all means buy some. If I owned some of the coins that AncientJoe has, I might be tempted to wear gloves as well

 

Yeah, but tons of them are wrong online too. Fortunately there is one great book on coins of Alex III, unfortunately its expensive because its great and out of print. I just bought it last week from the Kolbe and Fanning auction.

 

Well, all the stuff you can download at Numiswiki is public domain, and therefore older. Some of the information is outdated by recent scholarship to be sure, but after several years of reading and collecting, I'm still finding a lot of valuable information there.

 

Not saying there is not good older stuff, and nice websites like our own @dougsmit and @Valentinian have. However, lots of not so great ones also. I am not saying anyone here should buy any specific book, but if someone wished to collect coins of Alex III, I could think of no better investment in the new standard reference for them in both knowledge of their coins and great information to use to cherrypick rarities. So any old coin book? No. A really well reviewed book in an area you actively collect? Priceless. My friend who specializes in these would not part with his copy for anything, he would sell his coins before that book. He brought it to coin club for me to look at, but he wouldn't even let me borrow it for a month.

 

I don't blame him. It would get sucked up into the black hole which is your collection.

 

To add to some of the advice above, cleaning is not taboo but a necessity with dirty ancients, although harsh and incorrect cleaning methods are still a no-no.

 

I picked up a few ancients from a bargain box for my first Roman coin purchases. The dealer advised me to buy books. He said I could go for the $30 book and buy better (more expensive) if I really liked the coins. I discovered that a university in town had an extensive ancient coin book collection that I could read. For a modest fee, I became a friend of the library and could check out books. On line information is great, and I use it all of the time. I also am a big fan of books. My thoughts on Roman Republican coin books is here:
http://rrdenarius.blogspot.com/2015/06/references-for-roman-republican-coins.html

 

So I see. I've been reading up on the acetone method and the lemon method. So far I haven't bought any coin that will need either, but its good to know for the future.