Where to buy?

Afternoon all.
I'm pretty new to coin collecting but am trying to fulfill a promise I made a long time ago with my now deceased brother that I'd try to buy two ancient coins related to the Classics degrees with both did many.. many years ago.

Neither are particularly rare but I just don't know where to go to buy them and am worried about fakes etc.

Firstly an Athenian Tetradrachm owl coin and secondly, and I suspect a little more difficult, is an Alexander the Great Gold Stater.

I'd be really grateful if someone could please suggest one or two reputable places to try in the UK ideally.

Many thanks in advance.

 

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Your best bet is at auction. In the UK, the main ancient coins auction is Roma Numismatics. However, all the auction houses on Biddr are also great choices. Most of them are outside the UK, and are all very reputable. I see Savoca have a decent amount of owl tetradrachms coming up in their silver auction. Just be aware of the extra fees that auctions charge

If you wanted to buy at a retail store, VCoins is good, as is ma-shops. However, both will be more expensive than auctions, as buying retail always costs extra

As the coins you're planning are quite high value, I would not recommend eBay, unless the seller is very reputable and has a physical store. The best UK eBay sellers that I have bought from are Denant, del550 and carpe-diem-nvmismatics, although it's unlikely they'll have those coins for sale at the moment

 

Sorry about your loss. Auction is your best bet price-wise. Try Numismatik Naumann for the best prices (IMO), though I'd search acsearch and CNG to get a good idea of what amount to bid to actually win. With no references many dealers might be hesitant to let you bid, so you might have to put a card on file. Expect to spend at least a few hundred on a decent Athenian tetradrachm, and a couple thousand on the gold piece.

 

What's wrong with Coincraft, across the street from the British Museum?

 

Does Spink still have a brick-and-mortar store?

 

An athenian owl will be easy to come by. Most auctions have multiple copies. I second the recommendation that Roma Numismatics works best for your needs. You can also look at vcoins. Several dealers are in the UK. The stores are honest, though some have high prices so do your research before buying.

For the Alexander gold stater, these commonly come up at auction. However, this coin was minted both during Alexander the Great's life and for a long time after his death. Before you buy one, consider whether you want a lifetime coin or not. Although I don't own this coin, from what I've seen lifetime vs afterwards doesn't affect the price too much. Prices are mostly affected by the coin's condition.

If you do care whether the coin is lifetime, then I recommend you look at Pella. This will provide estimated dates for many different known coins. Most auctions will include the Price number, so you then just need to check it here to verify if it's lifetime. Alexander died in 323 BC, so any coin that ceased minting by then will be lifetime.

 

London Ancient Coins is another good dealer.

 

I would not recommend auction for a complete newcomer as they would have no idea what to bid! And the process can be daunting

Instead buy on VCoins.com from a British dealer (London Ancient Coins is indeed one of the largest). The prices on VCoins tend to be fair and consistent, much more consistent than recent auctions results, and for a common type such as an Athenian Tetradrachm you can compare prices across dealers

Buying from overseas is also now a little more complicated due new import regulations and customs duty since Brexit - one needs to know the rules, how to describe things etc.

As for physical shops, CoinCraft opposite British Museum is thoroughly respectable, prices a bit higher than online but you have joy of handling the coins before purchase

 

These are really helpful replies - thanks for taking the time.

Fingers crossed then and I hope to post back with what I've managed to come up with

 

With the prices being realized in recent auctions I agree that you might want to go ahead and buy from a fixed price site like vcoins or ma-shops for the Owl. You won't be getting in over your ahead and you'll avoid things like 18.5% buyers' fees which are now being tacked on to the realized prices by some of the auction houses. You can try an auction for the A the Great stater to possibly save some money, but try not to get caught up in the flurry of bids that come in close to the hammer time or you could end up paying more than you want to...

 

Quick question. I came across this auction ending tomorrow. The prices seem good but just wondered if anyone knew of the https://leunumismatik.com auction house via Numisbids:

https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?searchall=tetradrachm+owl&p=searchall

https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?searchall=alexander+the+great+stater&p=searchall

Thanks!

 

Those prices look good now but they won't end that low .

 

Leu is a very reputable firm but you might not have time to be approved as a bidder.

 

Thanks. I'll give it a go I guess.

Perhaps they'll approve me in time.

 

Here are places to buy that have, over the years, maintained a good reputation.

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/dealers.html

There are too many choices to make it easy!