Buying Ancient Coins

TheRaven

What are some of the best websites to get Ancient coins. Roman specifically.

Oldhoopster

V Coins has a number of good dealers

Namvet69

Take your time, there's lots to see. Peace Roy

happycollecting

CNG also has a lot of nice Roman coins. Just have to wait for the auctions to end though.

TheRaven

Will have to check that site out. Was looking at V Coins and it has all kinds of cool stuff.

bidask

@TheRaven said:
What are some of the best websites to get Ancient coins. Roman specifically.

Not sure who sells them but I liked thls one struck during the Jewish wars.

TheRaven

that looks like a cool coin.

bidask

@TheRaven said:
that looks like a cool coin.

Thanks

TheRaven

CNG has pricey stuff. Sweet stuff, but pricey

MrMonkeySwag96

@TheRaven said:
CNG has pricey stuff. Sweet stuff, but pricey

Are you looking at CNG's retail store or their e-auctions? The BIN items in their store is expensive. Most people buy coins from their auctions instead. Vcoins and Ma-shops also carry ancient coins. It's advised that you avoid eBay unless you know how to distinguish counterfeits.

I'm starting to get into ancient coins myself. I'm taking a break from US type coins. Specifically what type of Roman coins are you planning to collect? There are many different Roman coin series: Roman Republican, Roman Imperial, Roman Provincial, and Byzantine.

The Republican coinage were the earliest silver coins minted by Rome. The first Republican silver coins were didrachms. Eventually, the didrachm got replaced with the denarius and quinarius. Republican coins tend to depict gods and wildlife. Most Republican coins were issued by moneyers. The moneyers had the freedom to design the coins as they see fit. Most moneyers minted coins honoring their famous ancestors. A subset of the Republican series are the Imperatorial issues of Julius Caesar, Sulla, and Marc Antony.

After the Republic collapsed, it was replaced with the Roman Empire in 27 BC. The coins of the Empire are known as Roman Imperial coins. Roman Imperial coins often depict a portrait of the Augustus (senior emperor), Augusta (empress), or Caesar (junior emperor, heir). The Roman Imperial series had many different denominations, due to the emperors often making reforms of the coinage.

Roman Provincial coins refer to coins minted at the provinces, rather than by imperial mints. The Roman government allowed the eastern provinces to produce their own coinage for local circulation. Most of the eastern provinces were populated by Greek speakers. Thus Roman Provincial coins often had Greek inscriptions instead of Latin. For this reason, Roman Provincial coins were also known as "Greek Imperial coins".

Contrary to popular belief, the Roman Empire didn't collapse in 476 AD. The barbarians only conquered the Western Roman Empire. In contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire survived for another 1000 years. Historians refer to the surviving Eastern Roman Empire as the "Byzantine Empire." The Byzantine coin series begin in 498 AD when the Eastern emperor Anastasius reformed the old Roman coinage. In contrast to the pagan symbolism of older Roman coins, Byzantine coins often depict Christian designs such as Christ, Virgin Mary, angels, the cross, and the Chi-Rho. The Byzantine solidus is the most affordable ancient gold coin. A gold solidus can be had for under $500.

When collecting ancients, the grade isn't that important. In fact, some ancient dealers don't list the grade of their inventory. That's because eye appeal is more important than grade. One criteria for eye appeal is "artistic style." "Artistic style" refers to how the design was executed by the die. Some coins would have realistic and beautiful designs. Other times, the design would look cartoonish. Keep in mind, ancient coins were hand struck. The dies were engraved by hand. Thus the level of "artistic style" would vary for each coin. Two coins of the same type can look dramatically different. The coins that were struck with the most artistic dies are regarded as having "fine style." Most serious collectors of ancients desire coins with fine style over higher graded coins with inferior style.

Unlike US and world coins, slabs were never popular with ancient numismatists. Ancient numismatists prefer holding the coins in their hands. They often refer to slabs as "plastic prisons." There are many reasons why they dislike slabs. As I said earlier, an ancient coin's grade isn't that important. Strike, centering, and artistic style are prioritized over grade. In addition, grading services like NGC don't guarantee the authenticity of ancient coins. Thus getting an ancient coin graded is somewhat redundant. When detecting counterfeits, it's important to weigh the coin and examine the coin's edges. The slab prevents collectors from weighing the coins. Even NGC's Edge View slabs makes it difficult to examine the coin's edges. Thus slabs were never popular with serious ancient collectors. When collectors buy slabbed ancients from Heritage, they often crack the coins out and keep them raw. At first, I was confused why the ancient folks dislike slabs so much. After I did some research, I understood why slabs aren't good for ancients.

atom

@bidask said:

@TheRaven said:
What are some of the best websites to get Ancient coins. Roman specifically.

Not sure who sells them but I liked thls one struck during the Jewish wars.

From the label attached it sold at Heritage in January 2019 at the New York International:
https://coins.ha.com/itm/roman-imperial/ancient-coins-roman/ancients-vespasian-ad-69-79-ar-denarius-18mm-334-gm-6h-ngc-choice-au-5-5-5-5/a/3071-32065.s?ic4=ListView-Thumbnail-071515

TheRaven

@MrMonkeySwag96 said:

@TheRaven said:
CNG has pricey stuff. Sweet stuff, but pricey

Are you looking at CNG's retail store or their e-auctions? The BIN items in their store is expensive. Most people buy coins from their auctions instead. Vcoins and Ma-shops also carry ancient coins. It's advised that you avoid eBay unless you know how to distinguish counterfeits.

I'm starting to get into ancient coins myself. I'm taking a break from US type coins. Specifically what type of Roman coins are you planning to collect? There are many different Roman coin series: Roman Republican, Roman Imperial, Roman Provincial, and Byzantine.

The Republican coinage were the earliest silver coins minted by Rome. The first Republican silver coins were didrachms. Eventually, the didrachm got replaced with the denarius and quinarius. Republican coins tend to depict gods and wildlife. Most Republican coins were issued by moneyers. The moneyers had the freedom to design the coins as they see fit. Most moneyers minted coins honoring their famous ancestors. A subset of the Republican series are the Imperatorial issues of Julius Caesar, Sulla, and Marc Antony.

After the Republic collapsed, it was replaced with the Roman Empire in 27 BC. The coins of the Empire are known as Roman Imperial coins. Roman Imperial coins often depict a portrait of the Augustus (senior emperor), Augusta (empress), or Caesar (junior emperor, heir). The Roman Imperial series had many different denominations, due to the emperors often making reforms of the coinage.

Roman Provincial coins refer to coins minted at the provinces, rather than by imperial mints. The Roman government allowed the eastern provinces to produce their own coinage for local circulation. Most of the eastern provinces were populated by Greek speakers. Thus Roman Provincial coins often had Greek inscriptions instead of Latin. For this reason, Roman Provincial coins were also known as "Greek Imperial coins".

Contrary to popular belief, the Roman Empire didn't collapse in 476 AD. The barbarians only conquered the Western Roman Empire. In contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire survived for another 1000 years. Historians refer to the surviving Eastern Roman Empire as the "Byzantine Empire." The Byzantine coin series begin in 498 AD when the Eastern emperor Anastasius reformed the old Roman coinage. In contrast to the pagan symbolism of older Roman coins, Byzantine coins often depict Christian designs such as Christ, Virgin Mary, angels, the cross, and the Chi-Rho. The Byzantine solidus is the most affordable ancient gold coin. A gold solidus can be had for under $500.

When collecting ancients, the grade isn't that important. In fact, some ancient dealers don't list the grade of their inventory. That's because eye appeal is more important than grade. One criteria for eye appeal is "artistic style." "Artistic style" refers to how the design was executed by the die. Some coins would have realistic and beautiful designs. Other times, the design would look cartoonish. Keep in mind, ancient coins were hand struck. The dies were engraved by hand. Thus the level of "artistic style" would vary for each coin. Two coins of the same type can look dramatically different. The coins that were struck with the most artistic dies are regarded as having "fine style." Most serious collectors of ancients desire coins with fine style over higher graded coins with inferior style.

Unlike US and world coins, slabs were never popular with ancient numismatists. Ancient numismatists prefer holding the coins in their hands. They often refer to slabs as "plastic prisons." There are many reasons why they dislike slabs. As I said earlier, an ancient coin's grade isn't that important. Strike, centering, and artistic style are prioritized over grade. In addition, grading services like NGC don't guarantee the authenticity of ancient coins. Thus getting an ancient coin graded is somewhat redundant. When detecting counterfeits, it's important to weigh the coin and examine the coin's edges. The slab prevents collectors from weighing the coins. Even NGC's Edge View slabs makes it difficult to examine the coin's edges. Thus slabs were never popular with serious ancient collectors. When collectors buy slabbed ancients from Heritage, they often crack the coins out and keep them raw. At first, I was confused why the ancient folks dislike slabs so much. After I did some research, I understood why slabs aren't good for ancients.

I was just looking at their website. Will check it out again and look at the auctions.

I have a few ancient coins, some lower cost stuff from Gordian III, Philip the arab and Constantine. I also have a Athenian Owl coin and a Caesar crossing the rhine denaris coin (this one is graded). I always wanted a Greek Owl and a Caesar coin so I got those two years ago.

Which area to collect is a good question. 12 Caesars is always interesting, but pricey. Some nice Republic coins could be interesting as well. An Octavian or Augustus coin would be very high on my list I know that.

500Bay

You should look at Forum Ancient coins also - good selection, fair prices and lots of good collector information.