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 Replies: 14 / Views: 2,150 |
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New Member
United States
3 Posts |
Entirely new to the practice of "numismatics", and I'm kind of curious; if one was to want to get more into it, learn about interesting places/times to start, for relatively cheapish, where do you go? General sites/books, or is this "ancient" stuff more niche?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1549 Posts |
I believe it is proper to say that this "ancient" stuff is more "niche" but there are 10,000 niches so you can find one that fits you and enjoy the hobby even if you do not do anything the way I do or the way any of the rest of us who post here regularly do. I am very opinionated on collecting coins and those opinions are of full display on my website along with enough information about coins I found interesting to keep you busy for a while. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/It is my opinion and one that not all here hold that beginners should postpone buying expensive books on coins until they have studied what is available online (whether my site or a hundred others) and they are better prepared to make intelligent selections of which books to buy. I won't hurt you to buy a half dozen $50 books but it will help you more to narrow down your interests a bit even if that narrowing turns out to be that you will be a general collector who wants a little of everything. When a dealer asks what I collect, I want to answer, "Coins I like at prices I can afford." That does not help them sell me coins but it is the truth since I collect many different things. I have gone through phases when I only collected coins made in a couple years from a couple mints by a couple rulers but telling a dealer those details did not help much either since most did not know their stock well enough to know if they had anything. Decide how you will collect by reading postings and watching sales listings and then you can make informed purchases rather than random buying. A big decision we all have to make is whether we will spend an amount (for example $100) one nice coin, a few sort-of-nice coins or a hundred pieces of ancient scrap metal. Each method has its fans and provides fun to those who see it that way. There are ancient coins that have sold for $500,000 and everything below that. I told a tale on that subject: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/do...how2011.htmlWhere you live will control how you best buy coins. Some large cities have active clubs of ancient collectors and you can do no better than to associate with those people. There is no club were I live but a show today is sponsored by collectors of modern coins and there will be a couple dealers there with some ancients. You can not beat seeing the coins and touching them before you buy. There are places in the US where the entire supply of ancient coins in a hundred mile radius could be held in one hand. If you live there, you will need to develop online shopping skills. Most of all, participate in the discussions on this site. Do not accept every opinion posted by each of us but weigh what we say and decide what form of collecting makes you happy. Don't plan on making a profit. While coin prices do go up, the difference between what dealers pay and ask for sale added to the cost of education (book buying and gas to shows three hours away) will make it a poor hobby if what you seek is financial gain rather than fun. Your heirs may benefit from your collecting in a few decades.... or not. Enjoy. |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
From my experience, it initially took a bit of an effort to develop an interest in ancient numismatics. I had completed a very nice type set, and asked myself:
'Where to from here?'
After some time, I decided to collect in an area that would be impossible to complete. Ancient numismatics slowly became obvious that this was the way to go.
I read public library books on ancients for some time, before venturing to buy my first ancient coin.
That coin was a denarius of Antoninus Pius, with the Modius & Corn Ears reverse. That cost me $4,50, in 1968. After about 5 more Roman coins, I felt it was time to invest in a copy of
'Roman Coins and Their Values' by David Sear. After collecting about 50 more, I decided to venture into Greek coins. I now have a reasonable library on ancient coins.
I am an obtuse collector.
For my first Greek coin, I decided to go for the top, straight off. I had established a good working relationship with Spink's of London, so I knew I could trust the dealer implicitly.
Without the slightest experience in Greek coins, I bought a
gold stater, of Philip 11 of Macedon. It was the best move I have made in the whole of my numismatic experience. That was in 1978.
That coin still holds pride of place in the ancients part of my collection, despite the fact that I have acquired about 20 or so other ancient Greek coins, and a lot of experience on them since.
The ancients part of my collection now has about 250 cons in it, which includes ancient Indian, Chinese, Arabic, and Byzantine, as well as Roman colonial imperial and Greek coins, with about 8 or so ancient gold coins in that.
Have a look at the 'VCOINS' site for current market pricing, and also the 'WILDWINDS' site.
If you are going to buy your first ancient coin, I would suggest a nice Roman silver antoninianus of Gordian 111. They can be had for not too much money, and there is little risk of these coins being fake.
Edited by sel_69l
05/18/2012 07:52 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1315 Posts |
Great advice. Here is a link to a page that is a alphabetical list of many informative sites. You can gain much knowledge about coins, books and the web from these before spending any money. http://www.cariboucoins.com/linkhub.phpIt might be a bit overwhelming at first. Ancient coin collecting is a vast field to say the least. Doug Smith's site is a good starting point as well as reading the posts here at CCF.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3229 Posts |
JeffWB I agree with all of the above! Visit us here at CCF often to learn more. Before joining this forum I would never have thought being part of an online community would be as rewarding and informative. The members here are great! If you have an online purchase to make; post a picture of the coin here and members will give you feedback before you purchase:) |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4981 Posts |
jeffwb! I'm relatively new to coin collecting and ancients (6 months or so), ancients are very "niche"...but its great niche. Here are some pros of ancient collecting from a new collector's perspective.... 1. cost: You can certainly spend a jillion dollars for ancient coins, but it doesn't take much cash to get your foot in the ancient coin door. I'm frugal (cheap) and have limited resources (poor) so this was a great choice for me. If you got tons of money burning a hole in you pocket, it's still still as good as any other branch probably. 2. almost limitless: Maybe a con for some, but I like the idea that I'm not going to complete the collection. If I'm still around in 2051 and I'm still interested, I'll still have plenty of ancients to collect. 3. CLEANING: This isn't for everyone, and it probably isn't always going to be for me...but for now I'm having a blast cleaning and attributing Roman coins. 4. cool factor (IMHO): Collecting dimes? Everyone sees dimes every day, maybe not a Mercury dimes, but still dimes. 2000 year old Roman art, now that's cool. Maybe not "pick up chicks" cool, but at least it will generates interest. There are some great resources available (check out links above) and the people here are super friendly and helpful, I probably wouldn't have got into ancients much if I hadn't found this place. |
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New Member
United States
1 Posts |
Cool I'm new too. Looks like I found the right place.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
I can't add much to what has already been said. I used to collect U.S. coins, but once I discovered Ancients, and the fact they are affordable, I stopped collecting anything else. Good luck no matter what you choose to do. But novice or pro, you are welcome here
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
to the community I can't add much more to the already excellent replies to your question. You have found an excellent source for information on ancients right here on this forum. A very good series of books on ancient, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and misc ancient coins is Wayne Sayles series they cost around $25 each but are loaded with excellent info. Again welcome to the community, looking forward to your post here. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
A lot of great advice here!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2044 Posts |
It's really hard to advice anyone how to collect so I'll just say how I've been doing it. I just started collecting in November of last year so I am still somewhat new myself.
I didn't buy any books at first. I use online information, such as the many sites that have already been listed in this thread. A few months later I was given a digital set of RIC volumes, the entire set that I use to research as well as using Helvetica's Excel sheets for mostly mid to late Roman Imperial coins. Now I use a combination of online, books and other PC tools for the identification of coins.
I do own a book now and it's aorta by Rasiel Suarez. It's a nice little affordable and portable book that I could take with me anywhere. It's for Roman Imperial coins. It's a nice little handy reference to use and take with you to coin shows and anywhere else. The book uses the ERIC II attribution system and not any RIC attributions.
I started with Roman Imperial coins because I am interested in the history of the Roman Empire as well as the coins are far easier to read than most other ancient coins. They seem to be more affordable at the beginner level as well as more plentiful. Of course there are very expensive coins in the Roman Imperial set.
I am going for a emperor set right now. I have 42 out of 204 possible emperors starting from Julius Caesar to Anastasius I. Although, neither emperor is classified in the RIC catalog. Julius Caesar is in the Imperatorial period which is a transition period of sorts between the Roman Republic and the Roman Imperial era. Anastasius I is classified as Byzantine. Julius Caesar coins can be very very expensive and I don't recommend purchasing those as a beginner.
Some other groups of coins are somewhat easier to collect.
Roman Imperial
Byzantine
Roman Provincial
Ancient Greek
Judea coins
To name a few. Ancient Chinese cash coins are very affordable but very difficult to attribute unless you can read Chinese.
I'm also thinking about collecting other coins soon, after I obtain a few more Roman Imperial emperors. I am more budget oriented and it limits the coins that I can collect. Although, there are many coins that I can collect in my budget range. Most of my coins are from $5 - $20 USD. Most expensive coin I have I paid $40 for including postage.
If you click on a couple of links in my signature, you can see how I am doing it. Not saying it's the the right way to collect. It's how I decided to do it.
Have fun and enjoy if you decide to collect ancient coins. I know I am having fun!
Welcome to the forum.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1549 Posts |
I love my RIC books but do not encourage 'digital' copies which I believe are, after all, violations of the copyright. Correct? I have digital copies of some books but all are old enough to be in Public Domain. RIC is not. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/do...ook.html#ric |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
The Roman Imperial series is most often the door through which most collectors of ancient coins enter.
This series is the most logical to understand and is most analogus to collecting coins from one country.
Greek coins, by virtue of the fact that they are issued by city states seem as a series to me more chaotic in their issue sequence, until a deeper appreciation of the series takes hold. After that it, usually follows that the collector appreciates the free nature of art on Greek coins, and understands how vibrant this series actually is.
I have made a deliberate attempt to expand into all areas of ancient numismatics, which includes Roman Greek colonial, Byzantine, Indo - Greek, Indian, Parthian, Sassanian, Islamic and Chinese.
I have learned a tremendous amount about ancient cutures as a result of studying their coinage. Having the hardware in the hand makes their history and the culture alive and real, rather than just a dry and detached subject, that high school studets have to endure.
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New Member
 United States
3 Posts |
Wow, thanks for all the links and reading guys! I have to admit, the idea of Roman coinage is pretty awesome. Also, the idea of collecting coins from short-lived nations is pretty awesome to me. Nations barely around long enough to even make their own coins, you know? So I'm going to be looking into that.
And actually, I'm thinking of getting even some more recent modern stuff, earlier American, wouldn't be bad at all.
And I'll definitely be around here! Such a kind community!
Edited by JeffWB
05/19/2012 03:41 am
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Pillar of the Community
3352 Posts |
Collecting coins shouldn't be confusing and/or frustrating ...  Oh, and please make sure that you have some "fun" somewhere along the way!!
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Replies: 14 / Views: 2,150 |
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Posted 05/18/2012 07:51 am
