Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;nerosmyfavorite68, post: 26100009, member: 134416&quot;]I don&#039;t have the world&#039;s greatest budget, and less in the old days, so my coins generally aren&#039;t world-beaters.&nbsp; However, I&#039;m down to only missing a teeny handful of the affordable emperors.</p><p><br /></p><p>I did get &#039;burned&#039; recently.&nbsp; I quickly hopped on a worn coin attributed as Manlia Scantilla.&nbsp; The women of Rome had never been my specialty.&nbsp; It turned out to be a (still scarce) very similar issue of Julia Domna.&nbsp; However, it was very cheap for the type, was from a reputable dealer (so I&#039;ll probably come out ok), and I can&#039;t really remember getting burned before.&nbsp; Not too bad for a 30 year span.&nbsp; Like Aaron Berk or Joe Sermarini said, Know your coin or know your dealer.&nbsp; I didn&#039;t know my coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Fakes are getting to be more of a problem, especially with coins from (mental block) I think from Olbia - the silver ones with the gorgon face, Julius Caesar silver, Caligula sestertii, and Marc Antony legionary denarii.&nbsp; Many fakes are becoming quite good.&nbsp; There was a recent Numisforums article about higher quality fakes of lion staters proliferating throughout the market, even fooling reputable dealers.</p><p><br /></p><p>Getting to know the history makes collecting a lot more interesting.&nbsp; For instance, Khrusru II, King of Kings of Iran and Non-Iran, briefly reoccupied 90% of the old Persian empire, writing to Heraclius (probably Heraclian propaganda), referring to Heraclius as his &#039;vile, imbecile slave.&#039;&nbsp; When the 20 year war turned against him, he was overthrown and tossed into the Castle of Oblivion.&nbsp; Less than a decade later, there was the rise of Islam.&nbsp; The Romans survived as a rump state.&nbsp; Persia (they referred to themselves as Iran) did not.</p><p><br /></p><p>Even with inflation, one can still find nice coins for under $200.&nbsp; (Though my two week grocery bill was $150).</p><p><br /></p><p>Sticking to dealers from vcoins is generally a safe route. Most are quite reputable, and there&#039;s protections.</p><p><br /></p><p>Tooling (re-engraving) or smoothing is a big problem in ancient AE&#039;s, even more so than fakes. I generally avoid toolies and overly smoothed coins.&nbsp;&nbsp; Virtually all ancient coins come out of the ground, so some mechanical cleaning is unavoidable.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Fake patinas are relatively common, as well as faux sand patinas (really common with late Roman coins, nowadays).</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1663800[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I purchased this amusing clownshow for its comic value.&nbsp; Presumably they were trying to get rid of corrosion, but the reverse is a poopshow, as you can see. The obverse is less clownish, but verges on too much.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>My ideal AE&#039;s are nicely patinated and tastefully cleaned.&nbsp; Those are the ones I go after. This color is one of the rarer patinas.&nbsp; The brown crud often goes hand-in-hand with this type of patina.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1663801[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>May I suggest listening to the Totalus Rankium podcasts, ranking every Roman and Byzantine emperor? My parents have been doing so, and really enjoy it (hint, listen to Justin II and Justinian II first). It&#039;s a fun way to learn.&nbsp; Justinian II won TR&#039;s Top Emperor prize, for his amazing, Game of Thrones-type story.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you can easily spare the $235 then yeah, go ahead. I&#039;d also suggest going to vcoins and looking at coins.&nbsp; Find what you like.&nbsp; I&#039;m just saying, there&#039;s a 75% chance that you&#039;ll receive something from Vaultbox which one can buy for $100.</p><p><br /></p><p>One also can learn much about economics by collecting coins.&nbsp; The Romans didn&#039;t understand what caused inflation and their non-gold money collapsed into hyperinflation, for different reason than ours. There were many failed monetary reforms. By the fifth century, AE coins were little 10mm. scraps, which then disappeared altogether in the West.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in