How Many Collectors Of Ancient Coins Are There?

I belong to most if not all of the Facebook ancient coins sites, along with being a member of several more forums that have ancient coin sections or deal only with ancient coins. While CCF membership has decreased in the last several months we still have a fair number of ancient coin collectors here. I would estimated that with all the on line sites there has to be over a thousand active on line collectors.

Personally, I find the challenge of a new adventure in numismatics rewarding. Then again, I'm the son of a history professor and a lawyer, and I have an insane appetite for both books and history.

However, the thought of wasting hundreds of dollars on what turns out to be a forgery is somewhat scary. And based on what I see on this forum there are LOTS of fake coins out there waiting to part the unfortunate and their money.

A little story:

After having read Twain in school I decided that I'd like to see the Mississippi in person at some point, and since my folks were from New Orleans it wasn't long before I found myself on a riverboat - 1996. While in New Orleans after loading up on my favorite Cafe Du Monde beignets me & Dad stopped off at a coin shop somewhere near Jackson Square if I recall. Little did I know it was... an ANCIENT coin shop. (cue the ominous music...)

Fortunately I had some spending money and I do hate going into a shop and not buying anything. The shop owner had some really neat cards with ancient coins in plastic flips stapled to them, so I took a look. One caught my eye, in decent shape. I knew nothing about ancient coins, but the card explained the story of Aurelian and the constant power struggles and ever-rotating Emperor title. The coin attached in the little flip was described on a flip insert card:

"Aurelian, silvered AE antoninianus, Siscia mint. Obverse: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, cuirassed and radiate bust facing right. Reverse: IOVI CONSER, Emperor standing right receiving globe from Jupiter, left, holding scepter. RIC.225. VF. $42.00."

Well, I didn't know much about the coin. But VF was a pretty good grade, right, and I had about $100 to spend, so $42 was doable (although twice what I'd ever spent on any coin), and I took it home despite having no idea if I'd overpaid or underpaid, but not really caring either. The thought of owning something from the Roman Empire was amazing to me. It wasn't until the advent of the Google era that I set about to discover what RIC.225 meant, and what Siscia was, and how much was an antoninianus worth, and does silvered AE mean the coin is silver, if so, why does it look like silver plated with some bronze underneath? Had I bought a fake? Now I know.

That's how I first learned about ancient coins. I never since have really followed up on it except for a random Gordian III in silver.

I haven't really had the time or knowledge to dive into the hobby further, being mostly focused on US classic coins. But I've still got Mr. Aurelian on his fact-card, in the original flip.

I do think diversity is a great thing, though, and every self-considered numismatist should have at least one or more ancient coins in their cabinets.

I notice in the
Ancient Most Watched coins' listing here in the CCF, that there are three gold coins: two Roman and one Greek.

I would imagine that whoever sees this particular list is most likely to have an interest in ancient coins. One would assume that most viewers of this listing would not be well healed enough to include these sorts of coins in their ancient coin collection.

@Paralyse

You have mentioned some very good reasons why collecting ancients is daunting and why this may turn off would be collectors. I would like to respond to one of your points about ancients and TPGs. There is only one TPG worthy of consideration for ancients and that is NGC. However, and this is very important, NGC does not guarantee the authenticity of any ancient coin in one of their slabs. It states this quite clearly on the website. Many ancient collectors hate or vehemently dislike slabs. I bought one coin in a slab and was not happy with it until I took a hammer to it. One of the reasons why ancients collectors dislike slabs so much is that ancient coins are much more difficult to grade than modern coins. There are many more variables in grading an ancient coin. Things like erosion, crystallization, misshapen flans, holes in the coin, etc make a 70 point scale absolutely useless and inappropriate. Many ancients collectors buy based on eye appeal which is quite a subjective measure and very difficult to assign a number to. Collectors of ancients often state that they buy the coin and not the slab. In fact many collectors of ancients will not buy any ancient coin in a slab. Another feeling is that slabs have led to dealing with coins as pure commodities rather than the pieces of history that they are. I can tell you from experience that there is nothing quite like holding a coin in your hand that was minted under Julius Caesar. Holding a coin in your hand is not at all like holding a slab in your hand. Collectors of ancients like to hold their coins, and this is another reason why slabs are disliked.

The attitudes of ancients collectors may seem quite alien to collectors of modern coins but it is important to remember that all collectors love their coins.

Really interesting thread, I'm quite glad this was posted. I have to agree with orfew here, there is nothing like having a real piece of history in the palm of your hand. I abhor slabs with a passion. In my mind we're in this hobby for the love of history, and as orfew correctly said slabs turn coins into commodities. I've always been glad that slabs never took hold among the ancient collectors.

I completely agree. I can almost see a reason for slabs for high end modern gold coins and the like where minor scuffs can alter a mirror finish etc, That isn't the case for ancients. I've never even seen an ancient in a slab on this side of the Atlantic - though I'm sure there are a few out there. Given that slabbing ancients are no guarantee of authenticity the only winner here is the slabbing company's profits.