Coin Cons

I must be getting old, but I read your post title as some else completely.

lol! Okay okay. I'm use to "cons" from going to comic cons... Transformer cons... Xena cons. lol. I guess it's Professional Numismatic Shows. :)

So it sounds like it'd be fairly easy to find a few dealers at a show with ancient coins. But should I be looking for dealers that lifetime guarantee their coins aren't fake?

One of the best ways to avoid fakes is to educate yourself by studying both real and counterfeit ancients. Having coins in hand is better than a photo, but I've made real use of the wealth of reference material online. This forum also has many great threads to learn from.

Yeah that's exactly what I am afraid of. I feel like going to a show will be too above my head at this point, which stinks.

You don't have to actually buy anything, you could go and just handle them and talk to the dealers, it would be an eduction. Nothing like that where I live :)

Thank you, y'all for the help & advice. It sounds worth going to a show to see the ancient coins. I think there's one in PA that's fairly large too. I may just go later on. Especially if somebody put a Constantine coin in my hand for a minute!! :) Talk about wicked cool.

Baptism by fire! Wohoo. You talked me into it. :)

I popped into one briefly, years ago in Ocean City, Maryland. My mom was with me, and we weren't there for it anyway but happen to visit it quickly. It really sounds like it would be a positive learning experience. I get concerned at times with going to those types of things because I am a young female. Generally, most guys are gentlemen, but I've had... interesting things said to me at times.

Anybody know of a good website that lists the shows? Or just googling for them is sufficient?

Getting into ancient coins and understanding them properly can be difficult.

It can involve some extensive reading first. I borrowed all the books I could find on ancient coins from my local library, and even used the inter library loan system. I appreciated that a grounding in knowledge is very useful but NOT essential if making a start.

The first five serious years of my numismatic experience did not involve ancient coins at all. That time was spent building a very nice type set of Australian coins.
Having completed that, I asked myself:
'What can I collect that is impossible to complete as a set that would consume my (by then) well established numismatic interest?'
It dawned on me that ancient coins offered such a challenge.

My first ancient coin was a denarius of Antoninus Pius, with the modius and corn ears reverse. I paid $4.50 for it. That was way back in 1973. The rest, you may say, is numismatic history.

In recent years I have built a quite extensive collection of fake ancient coins, to be studied for my own education, in learning on how to identify them. There are some very good books available on the subject, and some very good data bases on fake ancient coins to which the collector can refer for comparison, and warning.

Experience is your best defense but there is always friends within the CCF that are always prepared to share what they know on fake ancient coins. There a few simple tests that can be applied, and there a few of us that are lucky enough to have access to some very sophisticated analysis techniques.

For pricey coins always buy from a dealer or collector that has an a well establish and internationally recognized reputation, and if at all possible always inspect the coin 'in hand' first before buying.