My First Ancient, Roman Gordian III

Welcome to the fold.

Collecting ancients is facinating - much better than collecting all that modern rubbish :)

That's heracles on the reverse - leaning on his club.

I'm sure you know about the Wildwinds site

http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/...n_III/i.html

but if you dont - then it's a great place to help in completely attributing your coin.

I'm not going to tell you exactly what it is as looking it up is half the fun - but the link above will help - just click on the "inages" option and scan down.

Gordian III issued a lot of coins so it's a long list.

Glad your posting Cali_Nick...Nice photos

I wouldn't go so far as to say all moderns are rubbish, but compared to ancients I find them a bit boring now.

Your right about the net...we owe a great deal of gratitude to those guys who had to research without the internet, coin by coin, ruler by ruler, and write it all down to make the foundations for what we now have at our fingertips.

It's just amazing!

Gordian 111 is a good place to start with Roman coins. You gan get a reasonably nice silver coin for not too much money.

I bid for ancients 2 or 3 times a year. Before I make a bid, I check out the 'VCOINS' website, using the search function. Coins on this site are currently for sale, so you can compare at what price you want to bid at, with a similar coin currently for sale.
You can always buy the coin offered on the 'VCOINS' website instead, if you wish.

I never buy on ebay, not with ancients. Buying within the CCF I think would be safer. I like to see the coin in hand on the view day before I register a bid on a bidding sheet. With expensive ancients, I think there may be too many 'iffy' coins out there. Can't do that with ebay. Mostly, I leave a bid sheet on the view day, and don't attend the auction itself. That way, I am not caught up in a sentiment driven bidding war on the floor. That way, you allow yourself to keep within a biding budget.

If my bids are successful, I feel reasonably certain that I have acquired the coin I want at a good price. If my bids are unsuccessful, I feel satisfied that I have escaped, by not paying too much for the coin. Either way, that's a bonus.

This method also allows you to still going to your job each day, without taking time off work.

I always keep all of my purchase information, if I need to prove provenance later on.