Post Myths About Ancient Coin Collecting

Myth: All ancient coins are genuine, especially the gold and silver ones.

Myth (dangerous misconception): All fakes of ancients are cast. If it's struck, you're safe.

Ancient coins have to be expensive.

I thought that only museums have ancient coins.. lol

Good idea.

Myth: Ancient coins only circulated in the states/kingdoms/empires/regions where they were minted. I find it fascinating how far away from their origins Hellenic tetradrachms, dirhams, and various other types of ancient coins circulated and were copied by local coiners.

"Prices of ancient coins tend to go up."
Many collectors who have been collecting for a few years think prices have gone up in the last few years, and imagine they have gone up a lot over decades. This is mostly not the case.

How can the collector be wrong? He experienced it!

The explanation for the erroneous impression about prices is not so much that prices have gone up, but that the quality standards of the collector have gone up and higher quality coins always did cost more. At first, the idea of a 1700 year old ancient is so amazing that $30 for a Gordian III seems fine. Then, after they have a few coins from the era, they know more about quality. When they look at Gordian III coins the ones that seem desirable are higher quality than the ones they bought at first. Yes, the price of a Gordian III desirable to him has gone up. However, if he would look back at the one he first bought he would see that coins of the same quality cost the same.

Of course, there are some exceptions. I admit the very highest grade coins have gone up. If a coin type was desirable years ago for condition or historical interest, the increase for the very highest grades is substantial. The increase for coins of historical interest without top condition does not exist.

There are many types, even whole series, that cost less than they did two decades ago. Some series, say late Roman bronzes of Valentinian and later, are so common that $20 coins are very available. In the 1990's, when we were buying from paper catalogs, the effort in photographing assembling, printing, mailing, accepting phone orders, etc. made a common excellent coins worth $20 regardless of the fact they could be bought by the hundreds for a few bucks each. The dealer had to charge $20 to pay for his time and make any profit at all. Now it is so much easier to sell ancient coins using the web that, if wholesale has gone up somewhat, the effort to sell them has gone down and the price has actually dropped.

Maybe you have heard of some particular coin with a price that is much higher than it was a few years ago. Maybe you bought a coin that you are convinced would cost more now. That would be cherry-picked information. I have all the old CNG catalogs and sometimes they mention in a current auction that they sold the coin before in auction x, lot y. I often look up the old PR. More than half the time the PR is less now.

You should collect ancient coins because you love them. It is a hobby. Enjoy your time with them. But, don't think of coins as an investment. Most don't go up.