Interested in getting into Ancient coins, where to start?

mnmcoin

I would like to get some more info on collecting and dealing with ancient coins. So far I have been told that "Roman Coins and Their Values" is the place to start as well as being the authority on pricing. Is that true?

Anything else I should check out as far as books or catalogs?

For pricing, what edition of the Sear book is acceptable...1974 too old?

morris

lordmarcovan

That book is indeed a good place to start.

No edition of Sear is unacceptable- you'll need to sort of extrapolate pricing no matter what, so enjoy that 1974 edition and use the non-price related info in it, if that's what you have. If nothing else, it can give you a relative idea of what is scarce and what is common, which is all you really need to go on anyway, in my opinion. There is wide variance in the valuation of ancient coins on an individual coin-by-coin basis, which no priceguide could help you with. I suppose. I guess it makes them more like tokens and other exonumia.

Basically, my philosophy so far, in about ten months as a serious collector of Roman coins, has been to gauge the relative eye appeal of a coin listed on a reputable dealer's site, and if the price sounds good to me on a gut level, I buy it. If it seems steep, I usually will pass on it.

Here are some online references you should find useful.

FORVM Ancient Coins

Wildwinds.com

VCoins is where I do most of my buying. Favorite dealers include CIVITAS (also a member here), Ancient Imports, and Incitatus Coins.

The ruler rarity scale, from dirtyoldcoins.com (some omissions, but still a useful tool for those like me who are working on sets by portrait/emperor)

Sapyx

Ancients don't really have an "authority on pricing"; the Sear catalogues are the closest we have.

As far as Roman is concerned, the older editions are actually more useful than the later ones, because it's all in one volume, even if you do have to do as LordM suggests and apply a conversion factor to arrive at a current price. The "millennium edition" of Sear is more comprehensive, but currently comprises 3 volumes and is still incomplete.

Sear's Ancient Greek catalogues (2 volumes, "Europe" and "Asia-Africa" are excellent works, too, and cover reasonably well some of the other ancient series that aren't technically "Greek" (like Carthaginian, Celtic, Parthian, etc).

Sear's "Greek Imperial" is less useful, because in attempting to squeeze the entire Roman Provincial series into a single volume, a lot has been left out. Still, it gives you a general idea of the kinds of provincial coins issued down through the years.

The "Ancient Coin Collecting" series of books by Wayne G. Sayles are excellent for anyone thinking of starting out in ancients. They're relatively cheap and give good overviews of the topic under discussion and explain a lot of background information on ancient coins. They aren't, however, a "catalogue" or "price guide".

"Classical Deception", also by Wayne G. Sayles, is an informative read about the various categories of counterfeit and reproduction ancients. Well worth a look.

OnlyBuffalos

Definitely agree with the advice offered so far. Encourage you to also join the following Yahoo groups before purchasing any coins.
Moneta-L (2,269 members); ACM-L (1,822 members); CoinsRoman (760 members); CoinForgeryDiscussionList (1,440 members)

Coin forgeries of ancient coins are numerous and are a very significant hazard especially on eBay. When starting out, acquire coins only from reputable dealers or collectors. The Yahoo Group - Coin Forgery Discussion List is very helpful in learning about ancient reproductions and doctored coins. Members are happy to assist newcomers and can provide valuable guidance. The members also monitor coin offerings on eBay and are very adept at identifying coins to avoid. Unfortunately, this is a large majority of coins listed on eBay.

Ancients are fun, very historically significant, and numerous relatively inexpensive coins exist. They are highly reommended. It will take effort to learn which coins are real and which are fake. The rewards are certainly worth it.

JoeBoat

This is one of the best sources of information I know of.

http://www.vcoins.com/celator/

http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/

mnmcoin

Thank you all so much.

morris