A Chat With A Post Office Worker

On posting and the surprised Post Office Clerk:
When I post mine, normally only for those going abroad to a non-EU country, the Clerk will ask what is inside it, and they are surprised when I say "a Roman coin".
Anyhow, unless the buyer selects "International Signed For" as insurance, it is posted by Airmail as they chose, so no matter what the Clerk says on insurance, it goes by Airmail. I get Proof Of Postage in case of "loss in transit".

On incredulity of the cheapness of AE 4th century Roman coins:
I recall last year, one Australian "would-be-bidder" asking me why my listings of those coins was at such a low starting price.
I explained that £0.99 is because it is an auction. He said he thought such coins should be expensive, I explained that some are and some are not, it is down to the bidder how much they choose to bid, and that some 4th century AE Roman coins are very common. He said he was doing a degree in the era of Constantine, I replied that it is an interesting era, especially the change from "paganism" to Christianity. He never replied.
If someone is going to pretend to be studying something or know something, at least bother to learn some basic "Wiki Info" first.

I too was surprised at good values ancients can be had at. I used to look at the cover of a coin collecting book I had when I was a kid, and it had several coins on it and some of them were ancients. I used to think, wow I'd like to have something like that, that old but never gave it any further thought. Fast forward 25+ years and in the last year and a half I have assembled I think a nice collection of of about 30 ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine coins. Dates range from c400BC to 1050, in avg condition. Just holding something that old which contains so much history is what really does it for me. I've shifted back to Classic US coins lately, but get to look at the cover of that old book and say "I've got one of those!"

I took my lesson from a German dealer about ten years ago. If I have any qualms about the country I am sending to, I list the coin on the customs form as being a 'Religious medal'. Well most of them are ..... No ? Zeus Neptune Roma Spes etc. Someone 'pious' designed them. Nobody ever asked me "which religion" are we dealing with.

benbyfield- I understand your purpose when telling the post office guy about the fragility of the roman coins. But telling him there is money in a package that is at his mercy is like handing my money as a tip. I personally would not tell anyone whats in my package. just say that they are none of his business but it is fragile. And if he persists, dont answer. Just my 2 cents. I'd be more careful if I were you.

One time I answered "coin" when the post office counter help asked and he said "you can't insure money" so I told him it was a collector coin. He said he wasn't sure how to do that, went in the back and after about 1 minute he came out and said I had to use a box not a padded envelope and it had to be shipped by the most expensive method. I told him he was wrong and he responded all the coin dealers do it that way. I ended up going to a different branch to ship it and went back to the first branch and had a talk with his supervisor who assured me nothing was going to happen with my complaint. Now I print my own postage and stay as far as I can from the post office.

some good advice here I think. didn't have a problem when I states I was mailing roman coins once, but see the potential. from now on they are "tokens".

If I have to ship them overseas I declare them as "numismatic medallions" and have never had trouble, just puzzled looks from the postal clerks. Int'l shipping from the US is such a nightmare now since the USPS changed the way CN-22's are entered. Used to eb just fill it out, scan it and go, now they have to type in the info into a computer. I do a lot woth Russia and Central Asia so invariably the addresses are also written in Russian. The postal workers get confused by this. Same address, but where the package is going they don't speak English. How hard is that to understand?

I once saw some ancient coins in a locked display table at my local community college a while back. They looked cool and I kinda wondered how one could aquire such coins. Surely you had to be someone special in order to have your hands on kinds of relics.

Now I learn anyone off the street can just buy them online, and even (fingers crossed with our deal, Ben) trade for them.