Newbie ?: Ancient coins - Best Resources

jskirwin

Hi
I'm from the PSA card boards but have always had an affinity for coins. I recently received a Littleton catalog and saw some ancient Roman and Greek coins for sale.
Owning something 2000 years old really appeals to me, so before I go out and spend, I was wondering if you'all would share some advice for newbies.

What are the best online resources to learn about ancient coins? I assume that knowledge is the best defense against counterfeits and ripoffs just as it is for American coins and sports cards.

Any other advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!

ajaan

Others can recommend a reference, I believe a book by Sear? I can recommend a source for ancient coins, Civitas is a member here and as honest as the day is long.

JZrarities

I ALSO recommend Civitas.

My first (and best) ancients were purchased from Josh and Ben at Civitas...

Aethelred

In addition to Civitas you should look at the following:

DAVID HENDIN I have been dealing with David for about 20 years and in my view there is not another living dealer who is as honest or has a better grasp of his subject than this one.

hyperizer

Wayne G. Sayles wrote a series of good books for beginners. Doug Smith has an online guide. FORVM runs a popular board, while Ancients.info gets less traffic.

CoinArchives.com and Wildwinds are good places to look up values and identifications. As you start to specialize, you're likely to find sites which focus on your area of interest.

spoon

Since no one else mentioned it yet, VCoins is a good place to browse and drool

(and hopefully it helps give you a feel for what's out there as the site has a wide range of respectable sellers (including some mentioned above) and material)

jskirwin

This is a dumb question, but how do these coins survive 2000 years?
Are they from sunken ships? Graves?

hyperizer

Some are found in pots, but a lot are just in the ground in hoards that were buried and lost. In dry conditions, without oxygen, most metals are quite durable! Depending on soil conditions (and alloy), the coins might be crusted together and take a lot of cleaning. You can buy uncleaned lots that need to be soaked and scraped. Needless to say, you don't often see original surfaces on ancients, but that means you can handle them without harm.

hyperizer

I'm no expert, though. You might want to re-ask your question on one of the forums I mentioned above

laurentyvan

Littleton charges a lot for their coins-I'm pretty sure almost any reliable source would be better than Littleton.

rhound1977

I have about a dozen ancients, all purchased from Joe Sermarini he has a good WEB site with a lot of references as
well as coins and books for sale >>>>>Forum Ancient Coins

He is a member of our local club, and a resepected and trusted dealer.

Sapyx

If you're after a good reference book, the Sear catalogue "Roman Coins and their Values" is the collector's standard. If you've only got a passing interest in ancient Roman, try to get a earlier all-in-one copy, rather than the latest four-volume edition. Much the same information, but a lot cheaper (and a lot less space taken up on the ol' shelf). Sear also wrote the "standard works" on Greek, Roman Provincial and Byzantine coins, but those are all in separate books.

How do coins survive? Buried, mostly - usually deliberately, by the coin's ancient owners, who never came back to dig the hoard up again. There certainly aren't any 2,000 year old collections of mint state coins. Gold and silver aren't too badly damaged, but coppers are almost always green - except in Egypt or some such places where it don't rain much.

Shipwreck coins almost always show signs of salt-water immersion - gold is largely unscathed, silver tends to congeal together in a huge mass and coppers effectively disappear completely unless they were somehow protected. Shipwrecks aren't a major source of ancients, largely because the ships themselves rarely survive in recognizable state that long.

And yes, some are found in graves. The ancient Greek practice of placing two coins over the eyes of the deceased to "pay the ferryman" is the source of many of the surviving large bronze coins in collections today - but we ancients collectors try not to think about that too much...

jskirwin

<< <i> The ancient Greek practice of placing two coins over the eyes of the deceased to "pay the ferryman" is the source of many of the surviving large bronze coins in collections today - but we ancients collectors try not to think about that too much... >>



What a fascinating hobby!

DeutscherGeist

Another baseball card collector like myself tying to get in on coins.

Hello there and Welcome.

We both know about what scandals go on with doctoring cards. In the coin world, similar things also happen. If you purchase a coin that is gold or silver for an amount not much deviated from the current trading prices of the precious metal, then condition is not a big deal. At worst, it will be considered precious metal scrap and that has commodity value in it of itself.

I always thought it was a good idea to clean silver coins in order to make them look shiny. WRONG. better leave them alone. Improper cleaning will lower its collector's value, but not scrap metal value. Apparently, I have learned that the original toning/tarnish is what gives a silver coin its historical charm. There is a lot to learn in this hobby, but the first thing for newbies is not to clean coins and handle them from the sides. You may hear about cleaning techniques, but that comes with veteran status. Right now, we both know so little, so we best not touch our coins until much much later. That is my 2 cents.

jskirwin

DG
Thanks DG. True newbie words of wisdom.

I learned that from watching Antiques Roadshow: Never clean a collectible or antique!