| Author |
 Replies: 17 / Views: 2,960 |
|
New Member
United States
5 Posts |
Hello everyone!! I'm completely new to this, I was browsing e-bay a couple of days ago for electronics and somehow stumbled into the ancient coin section. I fell instantly in love with some unidentified coin supposedly from the 1st century BC and bought it for $8.00. I know that's not how you're supposed to do it, but it was fun! Now, I'm completely hooked. I've got a lot of questions, but I think I should only do one at the time, so here's the first. I've noticed at e-bay that some of the coins are listed as AE27 or AE18, what does that mean? Is it the measurement of the coin? I read here that AE4 was 19-24mm (approx). and AE3 was 12-18mm (approx) and AE2 was 2 small for me to see.  Using this logic an AE27 would be as big my head! Thanks! |
|
|
|
Valued Member
Canada
268 Posts |
AE refers to copper and 27 indicates the coin is 27 mm. Even though there has been much research certain coins have no names or denominations. Therefore, they use the generic terms such as AE3 and AE4 to indicate size and composition. Welcome to the hobby.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
397 Posts |
Take a look here http://dougsmith.ancients.info/acmsize.htmlBasically, if you're looking at AE1 - AE4, you're looking at a late Roman bronze coin. Anything AE5 and up and you're looking at an ancient Greek coin, where the number after the AE refers to size in millimeters. So, a coin listed as AE27 would be 27 millimeters. Hope this helps! |
|
New Member
 United States
5 Posts |
Thank you so much for answers both of you! I thought that the AE referred to copper, but I didn't know for sure. You can never tell with e-bay. AR is silver then and AU gold right?
Thanks for the link Waredu! most informative!
I'm buying Christmas presents for the family first, they'll get a real kick out of having a piece of ancient history. Well,.... most of them anyway. :)
I plan on buying uncleaned coins next. Small lots to begin with, of course, but this seems like the perfect hobby for me. I'm a history fanatic with a whole lot of patience.
So my next question would be,
Where is the best place to buy uncleaned coins online? I see a seller on e-bay that seems perfect but alas, I am a newb..
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Welcome to the CCF!
There are quite a few uf us in the CCF who can help you learn about ancient coins. My advice initially is don't spend too much money until you feel you can buy more expensive items with confidence. Subscribe to a good coin magazine that has articles and advertisers of ancient material.
Have a look at the vcoins website. There are dealers from all over the world that have a total of something like a total of $30 million worth of ancient coins for sale. Browsing this site is also a good education.
If I am thinking of bidding in an auction that has ancient coins, I will check the vcoins site first and have even changed my mind and bought the item available on the vcoins website instead!
|
|
Rest in Peace
United States
1729 Posts |
Uncleaned Romans ... I personally can recommend oldcoinman on ebay, although there are others who are honest. Do NOT buy from any seller who hints that people who buy from him have found gold - you can bet that the person who unearthed the coins in Serbia or wherever spotted any gold coins during the first wash (dirt doesn't stick to gold as it does to bronze or even silver or silver-washed coins) and kept them. And welcome to Hooked-on-Uncleaned-Coins. There's no cure, so just enjoy the rush! |
|
New Member
United States
5 Posts |
@sel_691 Thank you for the excellent advice. I spent hours at the vcoins website, amazing! It's an excellent reference point, I noticed discrepancies between the identifications of coins on ebay right away. Not that I'm saying anything bad about the ebayers, they are trying to sell a coin. It's my responsibility to know what I'm buying. I set myself a limit of $25 per coin, including shipping, until I know what I'm doing. :) @pls Your recommendation of oldcoinman is probably the 5th or 6th time I've seen him recommended on the web since I started researching last week. That says a lot about his reputation! He's not the same seller as I mentioned in the above post, but I'll definitely look him up after Christmas, as the uncleaned-coins siren is singing to me constantly. I was pretty sure that the "Look someone found Gold!" sellers were questionable. I didn't know about the dirt not sticking though, I just figured that they would scratch enough dirt off to be sure it wasn't gold before they mailed them out. I know I would.:) I got my first coin in the mail today! I am so excited! It's beautiful! Here's a picture of it.  Now don't laugh. I already know that it's not worth anything as far as money goes, but I like it and I'm ecstatic to have it! You guys are great! Thanks for all the info! |
|
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2838 Posts |
Hello and welcome to the forum. This is a great place for info and to ask questions and unlike a lot of forums there is no snobbery towards novices, at least this is what I've found in the 12 months or so I've been here. Your coin looks Greek to me, helmeted head of Athena perhaps, this would roughly tie in with the date given for it. Oldcoinman is good but as already said above all the coins from these high volume sellers have been searched (prob 2 or 3 times) for anything rare or high value. Some of the sellers are terrible and only send 'slugs' - unidentifiable badly worn coins. I search ebay for 'Metal detecting finds' as often the people selling them dont have a clue themselves what they have or they are not interested in ancients so sell them on in smaller sized uncleaned lots. Its also nice to deal with the person that found them as you can get info on where they were found etc, I think its a good way to confirm authenticity. And you get the benefit of seeing the actual coins your buying rather than just a stock photo! I'm a history fanatic too and came into the hobby much the same way as you. |
|
Valued Member
Malaysia
59 Posts |
Hi nice to meet u...and welcome to our hobby...buying ancient coin is quite risky especially from the net...If for me I mostly would buy ancient coins from the dealer I familiar with or in a coin show...  |
|
Valued Member
Malaysia
59 Posts |
Erm...i would like to ask this question to PLS..frm the comment above you said tat dirt wont stick to gold coin...is it even for oxide?cause I gt one silver coin and some oxide just stick on it...  |
|
Valued Member
Canada
268 Posts |
In all due respect. I have purchased several ancient coins from the internet, including ebay, and have had a great deal of success. My rule of thumb is an old axiom delivered by my father that says "if it is too good to be true, it is". I don't buy from China, again with due respect. There are far too many copies coming from this country. It is unfortunate that the Chinese government will, or can not, clamp down on this illegal practice. There has been a great deal of work by the Canadian government to put a stop to the import of this garbage. The RCMP got involved due to the hard work of collector organizations in Canada. In my humble opinion, NO copies, marked or not, should be sold on ebay. Any ancient coin dealer worth his salt will not sell copies or fantasy coins. Contemporary forgeries are a different animal and have found a resected place in the numismatics world. My first ancient coin was a copy. You will learn fast. It's a part of the process. Set a budget and stick to it. This will mitigate any mistakes you may make in the early stages. This is a great hobby. Enjoy! |
|
Rest in Peace
United States
1729 Posts |
xiang, silver or silver-washed (coated) coins will retain dirt. Consider that these coins (if authentic) have been buried for something like 1,700 years, and that dirt compacts to a concrete-like consistency when it coats coins and other metallic objects. Dirt can be removed much more easily from gold objects than from silver, copper, bronze, brass, etc. If your silver coin is oxidized, don't try to remove or clean it, as the oxide has become part of the coin's surface.
|
|
Valued Member
Malaysia
59 Posts |
o.o thanks dude...but since I'm not pro in cleaning coin I might as well leave it...btw I heard that some people uses olive oil is that possible?
|
|
Rest in Peace
United States
1729 Posts |
Olive oil soaking - we're talking months and months, now - is probably the preferred method to soften encrustations of dirt. Then I follow with further soaking in distilled water.
"Cleaning" a coin tends to refer to scrubbing, polishing, etc., of the surface of a coin - and that's a NO-NO as once the surface of the coin is altered, the value of the coin is decreased tremendously. Removing encrusted dirt from a coin so that you can view and identify it is another matter.
|
|
Valued Member
Malaysia
59 Posts |
thanks again for sharing info....i once nearly clean off the mint of my 1920 silver coin with colgate(is that possible?) haha.. |
|
Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Meldercat: Your father and I may be of the same age group. Have a look at my User profile!
|
| |
Replies: 17 / Views: 2,960 |
Posted 11/27/2010 10:29 pm
