Starting Collecting Afresh.

Coins are an expense no good investment. The only ones you find cheap are not not sought by collectors in your region of the world. The internet is putting an end to that.

Pre-roman era there are rare but not much sought coins, the barbarian ones. And some common but very sought coins, the hellenistic ones. Perhaps the persians still manage common and cheap but they do not have much variation. Look for the coinage of asia minor satraps or the parthians?

Ancient romans are wanted everywhere. Roman provincials, not so. Unique provincials sometimes go cheap. They were crude, so have small collector appeal..

Medievals are a neverending world, so many small states all issuing coin. So many mints in each, so many variants. All hammered and usually difficult to read. People can only be knowledgeable in one or a few states.

Early modern was an age of empires. Fewer coins and are easier to catalogue. Better for people obsessed with completing a collection.

with @tdziemia - looking forward to seeing your coins in How Far Back Can We Go!

..the upcoming 4th by-decade edition in the ancients forum, as well, if we successfully catch up to the 2nd edition.
Maybe we should restart the old Levinson thread as well...



Ancients are usually a bad idea for investment purposes, TBH. And the kind of types that would be a good investment are also very heavily faked.

I can't make a good recommendation because it depends on your specific budget; a Syracuse dekadrachm would probably be a good investment but you're also unlikely to be able to afford one.
Any non-overpriced high grade aureus is a good idea, again if you're lucky enough to find one. On a slightly lower budget (roughly, in the $500-2000 rather than $2000-5000 range), high-grade sestertii are also in demand, especially if they're also depicting something popular.

Best rate of return is probably in cherrypicking scarce types from cheap lots, but that's far below the level you're describing and is liable to leave you with more (and worse) coins than you started with before the refactor.
You can get a higher rate if you make an early good guess on which types are about to become very popular. Actively developing countries are good at this, but for most of those I can't think of any remotely available pre-1600 coinage, and most of the exceptions have really strict antiquities laws that mean anything interesting you do find has a risk of getting confiscated if you can't provide a provenance going back many decades.

Can't go wrong with well-preserved Athenian or Syracusan tetradrachms, I guess...

Severans are a bad idea IMHO; too many coins to be truly popular. Scores high on popularity though, so if you can snag some high-grade gold (or a really nice sestertius, I guess), that would work.
If you want to focus on a particular emperor for investment, I recommend you choose a popular one (Tiberius, Caligula, Hadrian) and/or a rare one (Galba, Carausius, Pescennius Niger). Julius Caesar, of course, is high on both scores, as is Romulus Augustulus (but good luck getting one of his coins).

Good looking coins!

It's quite nice, although pricey, and the portraits on the two above might be a tad sharper. Does the rarity of the variety, with the elephant reverse, account for the steeper price?

Makes sense.

BTW, will you be retiring (replacing) the Celtic avatar now that your direction has shifted?

I started off as a specialist (Australian gold) in my mid 'teens. That collection was sold to to meet mortgage set-up requirements to satisfy the bank.

So, I needed to ask myself: 'Where to from here?'

By opening up your interests to the whole range of numismatics, good value for money purchases are far easier to find. That is been my 'focus' (if you can call it that), for more than 40 years.
To remind myself: Always research an intended purchase first - it's numismatic background, and it's price in the current market structure.

Although the value of my collection has done a bit better than whatever the current variable inflation rate may be over the last 5 decades,
the investment motivation has never been significant.
Relevant numismatic information, the price paid and date acquired is written on the 2x2 for every coin of significant value.

Now, I need the expertise of the specialists here in the CCF, in every area of numismatics. That is why I have so many posts here in the CCF.

I have built an extensive numismatic library, and my learning curve is still steep, despite a lifetime of numismatic study and collecting experience.

Always learning something new on a continuous basis
is the reason why my interest in numismatics is as fresh as it was more than 50 years ago, when I first started out on this adventure.

Yet another Philip Ant., seems to be a theme here lol.
This one arrived this morning.

Thanks Sel, I am more than happy with it. Got a few more that I am waiting to be delivered. Will post them here when they land.
I decided not to buy the one on V coins, it was a bit too much for the type IMO.