Looking To Add An Ancient Coin

If you are STARTING into ancients with that price level I am assuming that you have a lot to learn. Because of this it is essential that you must rely on someone else's expert opinion to ensure that your proposed purchase is genuine.

Years down the track, you will be glad you did, and your first ancient acquisition will be a source of satisfaction as a result.

That means your first purchase should come from an ancients dealer whose reputation is above reproach.

It is a bit like buying a used Mercedes with an excellent log book history.

I have both.

A nice didrachm or a Corinthian stater? How about a nice sestertius?

Have a look at the 'VCOINS' website, in the 'search' option. The vcoins website has ancient for sale with a combined value of around $30 million.

If I am thinking of buying a particular ancient, I always check here first to find if my proposed purchase is good value or not.

This site has a very large number of reputable dealers from all over the World competing for your custom.

To be honest, I personally am not keen on ebay for ancients, unless the seller also lists as dealer on the vcoins website or has advertised in 'The Numismatist' or suchlike. And I really prefer to see the coin in hand before deciding, unless like I said, the seller's reputation is beyond reproach.

I don't think you'll find too many coins that match all of your criteria, but you should still be able to find something that pleases.

For a "bust with a helmet (Athena?) and an animal on the reverse (owl or horse)", you're probably hoping for an Athenian "owl" or Corinthian "pony". Both are classic ancients with solid history, and reasonably plentiful. They're also both quite expensive, due to the demand. I paid $700 for my owl, and it wasn't in particularly high grade.

The Romans didn't make too many large silver coins. The standard silver coin of the Republic and early Empire, the denarius, was only about dime-sized. Denarii from the Empire's "golden age", roughly 100-200 AD, are cheapest; you can get a nice condition piece for less than $100 from most emperors of this period. However, they won't fit your size and design specifications. A denarius from the Republic period might be more to your liking, one like this, though the artwork usually isn't of the same quality as Greek classical or Roman Imperial.

The antoninianus (double denarius) of the early 200s is nickel sized and coins of the Philips and Gordian III are readily available in super-high grades, though the silver fineness is starting to fall by then.

As for gold, you might find mediaeval Byzantine and Islamic gold coins for 1.5x melt, but you won't find Greek or Roman. Even the commonest ancient gold coins usually sell for thousands.

For certification, most ancients collectors still don't like slabs. NGC will slab ancients and ICG used to, but finding an already-slabbed ancient probably won't be easy. For third-party identification and authentication, David Sear's ACCS is far more respected than the "mainstream" TPGs.