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Valued Member
Canada
224 Posts |
I'm curious: what's the oldest coin out there that is worth under $20? I'm kinda expecting something like a roman coin, I hear some are worth like $2 for being 2000 years old.
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Moderator
 United States
34397 Posts |
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
7096 Posts |
For starters there is pretty much no such thing as a "worthless" coin unless it is totally disfigured or otherwise ruined. What one collector may consider as worthless or of NO interest may be another collectors "Dream" coin. What I think you mean is "What is the oldest Low value numismatic coin?"  The ancients are still available at ridiculously low prices so I imagine these would be the ones  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
9386 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5239 Posts |
Romans from the 200's AD are readily available for under $20, even under $5. I have bought Chinese Cash coins over 2000 years old for under $5, and these were NOT junk.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
$0.50 over your cutoff, but I won mine for $12ish: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANCIENT-GAN...TCHING_ENDEDThe Gandhara 1/8 Shatamana is considered one of the three independent instances of the invention of coinage; the others being in Lydia and Zhou China. Cyrus the Great's historians noted the vast wealth of the Gandhara (mentioning these specifically IIRC) when he conquered it in the 6th century BC. They were produced in the area until the arrival of Alexander the Great in about 327 BC. After Alexander retreated and left the region in chaos, the whole of India was united (for the last time until 1947) under the Maurya Empire. Their coins were made until about 180 BC and are silly cheap: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANCIENT-IND...391584266419If you can decode the six symbols, you can even attribute them to a specific ruler! |
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Valued Member
 Canada
224 Posts |
Interesting input, everyone.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12477 Posts |
I have a Constantine commemorative minted in Rome 330-331 AD best I can tell and it doesn't seem to have much appeal. I love it because of the history (if, in fact, it is genuine - I plan on posting it on the future). Another future post will be about these Indian punchmarked coins I have which best I can tell are from 6th-2nd century BC. Still don't seem to have a high numismatic value. They are definite keepers for me.
In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Late Roman bronze coins (LRB's) in fine condition or less than be had for $2 or less. They are the ancient equivalent of LMC's. Possible to build a large student collection of either, with minimal outlay. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Another couple major examples are ancient Chinese coins. The ones that came before the "cash" design (round with square hole) are rare and generally way over $20, but the three main "ancient" cash are very cheap: Ban Liang: made from about 221-115 BC; typically worth less than $5 http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces86274.htmlWu Zhu: minted from 115 BC until 618 AD, so uniformly that only a few dozen varieties can be attributed to a more narrow range within those 700 years. You can buy low grade coins for less than $1 each; even the finest examples are seldom worth more than $10. http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces86179.htmlWang Mang: Issues of a single nutjob of an emperor (9-23 AD) who tried to overhaul China's currency system, completely oblivious that a country with a ~1% literacy rate cannot use currency with no correlation between value and shape or size. Of the 25-50 denominations he issued, the single cash are plentiful enough to be bought for less than $5 each. http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces7318.html |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6370 Posts |
I get Ban Liangs (170-118 BC) for $0.50 each, and Wu Zhus (117 BC -225 AD) for $0.33 each. You cound get a Yi Hua (300-220 BC) for $10 or less (I get them for $4 each). You can also get Wang Mang cash, such as a Huo Quan (14-25 AD) (I get these for $0.30-0.50 each) or a Da Quan Wu Shi (9-25 AD) (I get these for $5-10 each).
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Valued Member
Canada
224 Posts |
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Replies: 11 / Views: 2,103 |
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Posted 12/01/2016 06:08 am
