I have a few questions about ancients that maybe some of you guys could help me with. First off, how would you go about getting into them.? I'm getting a little interested in at least collecting a few just to have a different theme to focus on. What time frame covers ancients? Like what is the cut off for considering a coin to be ancient? What are the most common ancients that would be comparable with say, the Lincoln cent? How much numismatic premium do ancient silver and gold coins usually hold? Is it more difficult to spot fakes since they were so crudely made compared with moderns? What would be considered the "must haves" for ancients? Lastly what time period is considered to be the most popular these days? Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk
Lets see, ancients are from 7th century BC to about 500 AD, (fall of western Roman Empire). Byzantines are debatable as to whether "ancient" or not. Many ancient collectors collect them, but not other medieval coins. Best way to get into them? Read our posts, Doug's website, and anything else you can read about. Figure out what era you are interested in and read, read, read. Most common ancients outside China are Late Roman bronze coins. These are the ones cheap on Ebay. Still, in higher grade they are still nice coins. Best thing about Roman coins is you can read the legends easily. All ancient coins in gold and silver are numismatically valuable enough the PM value is meaningless. There is no "junk" ancients worth melt value. I actually find ancients easier to spot fakes. The key is to spot style differences, so its different that with moderns. "Must haves" will vary, I will let other chime in on that. The best part of ancients is there is no way to have a "complete" collection, so there is no pressure to buy any "key" dates. Buy whatever YOU like. Most popular depends on what you mean. Most valuable is large, beautiful, high grade ancient Greek. Probably the most beautiful coins ever made. probably more people collect Roman coins than any other series, though. Hope that is a help to you. Chris
The cutoff area for Ancients tends to vary, for me its usually after 1000 A.D. or so. Most common? For sure LRBs, which stands for Late Roman Bronzes. They are usually coinage from Constantine The Great's sons & on...They're cheap, many varieties and can be had for a little at $10. As for numismatic premium, ancients arent easy to slap a price on like U.S. coins. One moment a Silver Gordion III can go for $30 and the next the same type may get mad bidding and go for $60 or more. Some ancients will always carry a premium, Nero, Julius Caesar, Athena/Owl, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra and many more. In general ancients have been going up like crazy just in the past few years. Some fakes are very obvious, others are not so much. Below is one of the best to check on ancient fakes and compare, its always updated. Also when in doubt, post a thread and ask. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/index.php Must haves...that depends on your interest. Is it greek?, is it roman?, maybe Byzantine or middle eastern. Ancients are so vast you can go in any direction and can be collected in nearly any budget. Most popular is usually Roman cause they are very common and many are cheap.
I agree with everything posted above including the points on which they differ. There is no solid date for stopping a collection of ancients but some coins are 'more ancient' than others. Certainly everything before c.500 AD can be called ancient but after that we get into differences in societies and coins that might be more or less medieval if you want to make that distinction. When I started my website in 1997 I still believed that coins were collectible only if they were made before 500 AD and from Europe but now I am interested in later things and things farther East. There was no really good place to draw a line so it is better just to collect what interests you. To be interesting to me a coin first and foremost must have been made to circulate as money (no non circulating legal tender). 95% of my coins are struck with a hammer between dies with no machinery and no collar to make them round. The others were cast or produced in other 'old' ways but not machine struck or pressed. We all make our own rules.
I have a few ancients, but know little about them. Plan to acquire more (my lust right now is a nice Alexander the Great silver with him in the Hercules Lion Skin). Isn't the classic standard the 12 Caesars?
Its one of the more common ways to collect romans yes, but its also VERY expensive. Campgates are another beast also.
Thanks for the replies everyone. I knew I needed to do some reading, but this has answered my questions well. It at least gets me a little more up to speed. I've seen a few along the way that have caught my eye so I thought I'd come here and ask what's up.
People who collect Ancients are passionate about their hobby. They don't need silly registry sets to validate their study. Infact, most Ancient collectors detest the idea of slabbing coins because it interferes with the thrill of actually touching history. I recommend learning about the history. Once the passion for Ancient history is lit, the collecting of Ancient coins will come naturally. I personally don't "collect" coins. I do, however, "accumulate" them to aid in my reasearch, study, understanding, and appreciation of Ancient history. guy
