Coin Cons

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.