What would you suggest I buy for my 1st Ancient Coin?

Well, I finally received my first “Bought” coins. I didn’t quite keep to my initial goal of buying my first coin for $20 or less.

I hope everyone approves of my selections, and realize they are probably pretty pedestrian for all of you. I picked what looked interesting, and what might be fun to pursue historically. I apologize if the photos aren’t quite up to snuff. I haven’t got around to making a light box to defuse the light and did some fancy light dodging with hand and paper shadows to get them passible.

I also apologize if the write up for each isn’t correct. As a novice, I’m still trying to learn all the nomenclature and the protocol when describing the coins, so I just typed what came with the coins.

I took the advice of Collect 89 and ordered two books which haven’t arrived yet:
Handbook of ancient Greek and Roman Coins by Klawans
Collecting Greek Coins by John Anthony

What other books would you suggest that I look for, that would best describe the ins and outs of collecting Ancient coins, and historical books specifically for each coin?

Thank you again for all of your help, and for introducing me to the “Sport” of Ancients.


Philip I
A.D. Antoninianus
22x23mm 3.8gm
IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG;
radiate, draped & cuirassed bust right.
PAX AETERN; Pax standing left with branch & sceptre.
RIC IV Rome 40b


Trajan
A.D. 112-114
AR Denarius
19mm 3.0gm
IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC
P M TR P COS VI P P; laureate
bust right, slight drapery on left shoulder
SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI; Felicitas standing left, holding caduceus, and cornucopiae.
RIC II Rome 272


Trajan Decius
AR Antoninianus
A.D. 249-251
19x21mm 4.7gm
IMP C M Q TRAIANVS
DECIVS AVG: Radiate, draped, cuirassed bust right
ADVENTVS AVG: Emperor on horseback, pacing left, right hand raised, transverse spear in left.
RIC IV Rome 11b

Constantine I
A.D. 324-325
19mm 3.1gm
CONSTAN-TINVS AVG;
Laureate bust
PROVIDEN-TIAE AVGG; camp gate with two turrets and star between them.
In ex. PLG
RIC VII Lyons 225

Licinius I
A.D. 316-317
22x23 3.3gm
IMP C VAL LICIN LICINIVS PF
AVG; laureate head.
IOVI CONSERVATORI; Jupiter standing left, chlamys across left shoulder, leaning on sceptre and holding Victory on globe in right hand; eagle with wreath to left on ground, in right field VIII. In ex. SKM
RIC VII Cyzicus 6

 

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Wow, you went coin-crazy!!

=> congrats on all 5 of your awesome additions!!

... I like all of them, but of course my favourite is the cool Trajan Decius with the horse on the reverse

 

Nice coins but the images need some work. The color balance is way off to the point all the images look purple on my monitor. I played around with one of the images (I hope you don't mind) for just a couple minutes. It's still not right, but it's not purple either:

 

That's a nice swath of history, @Nyatii! Congrats on your first purchased ancients

(the images are purple on my screen too)

 

You did well! Nice coins, even if they are Roman.

 

@Nyatii Very nice selection. You did well, and they spoke to you. You will be proud of your first captures much later as you build your collection. Well done.

 

Thank you for correcting the color. I should have spent the time to get the color correct. It was midnight and I was concentrating on the clarity, and trying not to get to many areas washed out from the light. In my zeal I guess I rushed the post.

 

Do these look better? I'm still trying to get the bronze coins to correct.

 

Goal => if the photos look like the actual coin, then they're winners

 

Nailed it in MY eyes... that is the GOAL I go for. (I am NOT a photo bug or expert... it is not my "thing")

 

Great choices.

 

Awesome first lot of coins. The pictures may be off, but the coins are nice. For photography of coins try reading up on Doug Smith's site.

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/

The main thing is getting the lighting right and making sure your camera is set up correctly.

 

The conservation of uncleaned coins can, and often does become a hobby all its own, separate from "collecting" aspects, per-se. For those who find they have the patience, steady hands and the requisite temperament and enthusiasm for minutiae that serious coin-cleaning requires, the hobby of cleaning may be more rewarding than collecting.

I would suggest, however, that electrolysis is absolutely the wrong place to start! It's like picking up a chain saw because you'd like to learn to whittle.
The best results for beginners will come from far more patience-oriented, soft-path approaches. Long soaks in distilled water, mild detergents, old toothbrushes with the bristles cut short - these are highly unlikely to make uncleaneds worse than when you started, which is a serious possible outcome of injudicious electrolysis experimentation. The worst cleaning disasters I have ever seen were the products of amateur electrolysis experimentation.

Some things to bear in mind -

A - no, you will never, ever, ever find any gold coins in uncleaned lots, period (and damned few silver) - more people have been sucked-in by the suggestion that there is undiscovered gold in those lots of "deer droppings" - or what I call "munitions-grade uncleaneds" - than any other shill I have ever seen in action.

B - unless you are buying the absolute top-end uncleaneds (which can cost more than comparable cleaned coins in bulk!) you will probably have a "keeper-to-junk ratio" of 10% -20% at best. Not many coins came through their period of inhumation without incurring some serious, irreparable damage. Diggers in source countries have become far more sophisticated in their ability to triage finds in the field, and those pieces which show promise for cleaning-up into really decent specimens tend to get pulled right there, in the field - as do larger pieces like sestertii which increasingly are becoming "blank stock" for the sculpting of "toolies" from "the ground up" in Eastern European countries. Pieces like these - tantamount to forgery, pure and simple, in my opinion - have often brought amounts at auction in recent years similar to the hammer-price of un-tooled or genuine and fully authentic specimens. (Some rich people are crazy!)

C - You may find that folks you talk to about the cleaning hobby will insist that it's impossible to get decent results without spending at least $200 on a stereoscope - and for some sorts of coins, they may be right. Or they might not be right, it's a very personal sort of hobby in terms of the techniques which will work for you.

D - The techniques required to get good results will vary from coin to coin, even in lots from the same find. Each coin is like a miniature archeological site, and like archeological sites, no two will be the same, respond to the same excavation techniques or yield the same results. Plus, as a science, both digging and cleaning are "experiments" which cannot, by definition, be repeated - you can only disturb the site once.

E - You will be in very good company. Many folks do some amount of cleaning. Many more used to clean, but have let it lapse. So it's easy to find folks willing to give you advice. Finding really useful advice, however, can be a bit more difficult.

Good luck!

 

You may find that ramen can be a great inexpensive dish when you've overspent your budget. Slice up a little left-over chicken or whatever and toss it in with in a handful of cheap frozen vegetables and a shot of sesame oil. If you go for the somewhat higher-end ramen, the sort in its own cooking bowl, the results can often be nearly indistinguishable from the lo mein at your local Chinese carry-out.

 

Great information! Thank you. Being new and all, I was sucked in by listings I saw on ebay using electroplating equipment. Since I already had such, it clicked with me as being a way to come up with some probably not top of the line coins, but some that I could carry as pocket change. I just think it is fun to carry a coin that old that someone else might have carried centuries ago. I couldn't bring myself to carry anything nice in fear of damaging it. Something from my childhood about using old things and keeping the nice things set aside.

I never had a thought that there might be gold or silver. Just figured it would all be crusty eroded coins when I got done. A cheap way to get my pocket change.

 

I'm in the process or reworking my photo pages so suggest you read other pages now. My photo suggestions are a bit overkill for the interest level of most people. I do not have cleaning pages because I am no good at cleaning and feel bad when I try and fail. I buy coins that have been cleaned by people who have a clue.

I 'approve' of all your selections and own many coins like those and very many not nearly as nice. Buy what makes you happy. I could be nasty and suggest you do what I do and only spend money from your retirement checks. If you are about 50 years short of retirement, that will give you plenty of time to plan. Your profile information does not tell us where you are located but if you are near a place that has an active club of ancient collectors, I suggest you join. If you are near a place with coin shows, I suggest you go. If you are located 1000 miles north of civilization, welcome to Coin Talk. Ask questions either openly on CT or by Private Conversation with me or with whomever struck you as likely to be useful in that subject. That means you don't ask me how to clean coins or how to make a quick profit selling on eBay. From what I see, you have put the kind of thought into the hobby that should serve you well for years to come.

 

Do I want to know how/why you discovered that? I'm assuming that it was because you had not yet had the coffee you dunked them in.

 

I'm a little late to the party, but you can always try ancient Chinese. I got this spade for $25:



Many Chinese coins can be had for less than $10, and most of those can be had for less than $5. I pay 30¢ to $3 each for most of mine.

 

Looks like you're off to a good start, and you're doing everything right. I like that first batch of Roman coins, that is a nice nucleus for a collection that will bring you pleasure for many years to come.

For books, in addition to the ones you have, I would suggest Wayne G. Sayles, Ancient Coin Collecting, volume 1. This is the general, introductory volume (out of 6- later volumes discuss specific coinages such as Roman, Greek, Byzantine, etc.). It's currently out of print, but you can find used copies on Amazon and other booksellers.

Also, while you are considering what to collect, I want to gently suggest that there are whole worlds of ancient coinage beyond Greek and Roman. These are often lumped together as "Oriental Greek" or "Non-Classical", which hides a lot of diversity. Here's a sampling, just to tempt you:

 

Very very nice!