When I was a kid even more than 40 years ago I used to see ads in magazines probably like Grit or Boys Life that advertised old roman coins for sale. These ads usually said something like 2000 year old coins maybe even by the pound and the price was relatively cheap. Do any of y'all remember this and are there still very cheap old ancient coins out there. I know that most of the ones I see on here are not cheap and I don't collect them or have enough experience not to buy fakes. I thought about getting some for my grandkids so they could experience something that old and historic rather than just read about it. I should have bought some back then I guess.
Ancient coin dealers in shops or at coin shows usually have a small box or two of inexpensive coins all unattributed. Last show I attended I say prices as low as $2 @. I've seen cheaper.
Cool I will see if I can find something like that or maybe there's someplace online that does that sort of thing thanks
Ya, you can get ancient coins cheap. I'm not sure how much you want to spend but many late Roman bronzes can be had at very reasonable prices. In my opinion, I suggest spending enough to get coins that are high enough grade where all the details can still be easily seen. I don't think culls would be very appealing. I hope this doesn't violate the rules, but check the "For Sale" section for red_sporks sale, nothing is over $25 and they're all very nice. All of the coins in that picture were purchased for about $6.45 each, in a group purchase. The above coin is from Alexander the Great, purchased for $40.
Exactly what I am talking about price wise those are interesting do they have any attribution or will I need to try and figure out what they are? I realize you're not selling Thanks
I got lucky with that lot of LRBs - bought them from a forum member a couple years ago. They're all attributed but I did it myself. It's not too hard to do, there's a website www.wildwinds.com that helped me a lot. Also there are lots of other resources on the internet that are free and can walk you through the steps. With a little practice it becomes easier to read the legends.
I was a kid in the fifties and sent a couple dollars off for genuine ancient coins. I still have most of them. Few were identifiable even to culture with most beyond bad. I used a few in the made up illustration below from one of my coin show pages: The six larger coins (2 fakes, a Gallienus, Licinius and 2 showing reverses) were laid out on a bed of coins from my super cheap purchase. I'm happy to announce that the crooks cheating kids today learned their craft from their grandfathers. There are thousands of junker coins found for every one I would consider collectible and a thousand that I would accept for every one normal collectors who post here would find worth owning. Lets say next there are a thousand better ones for every coin good enough to make a high end sale (I really believe this last number is 10,000 to 100,000 but fear you will think me an extremist). People who say all ancient coins are rare and belong in museums are liars. Am I wrong to say that the median ancient coin (the one which has as many better than it as it has worse) would not be worth the postage to mail it? They are there. Finding exactly what you want at the price you want to pay is the hobby as we know it.
