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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;nerosmyfavorite68, post: 26099913, member: 134416&quot;]Here&#039;s what one of the most influential ancient coin youtube channels said about the original ancients release:</p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]5VtkOW_PhY4[/MEDIA]</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve been collecting ancients since the 1980&#039;s.&nbsp; Most ancient collectors don&#039;t like slabs (and don&#039;t value grades).&nbsp; That can be fixed with a hammer, but it&#039;s not a very good deal.&nbsp; &nbsp; The video also pointed out how most of the fillers were fun, but fairly worthless.</p><p><br /></p><p>Come to think of it, I can&#039;t recall anyone on Numisforums mentioning they&#039;ve ever bought one of these.</p><p><br /></p><p>The only gamble I liked were things like Allen Berman&#039;s 4/$20 junk box, back in the day, and Dr. Fishman&#039;s $25 tetrarchic folles (those were great) or his various fixed-price pick boxes.</p><p><br /></p><p>I, like most ancient collectors, don&#039;t collect them for the value, but rather for the enjoyment and learning. Ancients, generally speaking, are a terrible investment.&nbsp; I also got far more enjoyment out of Zurqieh&#039;s uncleaned Sasanian silver drachms (Sasanian drachms are really neat, but also generally inexpensive) than I would have from a shiny one in a slab.</p><p><br /></p><p>*I also forgot.&nbsp; Many collectors of ancients also value toned silver.&nbsp; The NGC stuff is mostly blast white.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you seek an entrance to the wonderful world of ancients, then fine, then that&#039;ll be worth the cost, but be warned.&nbsp; For $235, I could find myself a very enjoyable coin. Also watch the youtube unboxing videos of the U.S. series.&nbsp; Most of them aren&#039;t happy campers with the results.</p><p><br /></p><p>A free (official) first edition of the Roman coin book ERIC used to be available at <a href="http://www.dirtyoldbooks.com" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.dirtyoldbooks.com" rel="nofollow">www.dirtyoldbooks.com</a>.&nbsp; I&#039;m not sure if it still is. </p><p><br /></p><p>Forum ancient coins sells a paper copy of David Van Meter&#039;s 1990&#039;s book at $35.&nbsp; Still a good beginner&#039;s book.&nbsp; If one wants to go further than that, the Sear books are available for something like 35 dollars each (pdf) from Spink.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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