New collector of ancients needs guidance

FilthyBroke

As some of you know, I just started collecting ancient coins a few months ago. I am considering my best approach at collecting, but would appreciate advice from those who have already been through this.

My question is --

1. Would I be better off collecting more coins of interest or a few higher grade coins? I have a modest budget, bear that in mind.

2. Should I localize to a specific area of collecting, or continue my "willie-nillie" collection? My interests seem to be in medieval England, coins of biblical significance, and Greek coins as art and mythological interest.

Here is my collection as of today--







Any advice will be appreciated, or just let me know how you do your collection.

William

coachleonard

i think ancient coins area way too fascinating to limit yourself to "localizing." That's just me though. I'm kinda willy nellie, though i guess my "theme(s)" would be any ancient coin connected to fascinating history (the Dark Ages, biblical history, famous roman emperors, the fall of the roman empire, the REALY old greek coins, etc). I also like the Twelve Caesars, though now i don't know if i'll ever get otho and galba.

Sapyx

1. The answer to this question partly depends on your answer to the second. If you have a particular "theme" you want your coins to belong to, then you'll have to acquire coins which are in good enough condition so you can clearly see the "theme". For instance, there's no point acquiring a coin for your mythology collection if you can't actually make out the figures depicted and/or read their names.

2. As always with numismatics, you should feel free to collect "what you like". For me, my ancients collection is an extension of my mediaeval and modern OFEC (one from every country) collections, so I prefer to acquire coins which you can clearly decipher the city or country of origin.

I should add that not specializing, and staying a generalist, isn't easy - and I knkow this from experience. It makes it much harder to become knowledgeable in any one particular field. And it's much more expensive to buy all the reference works you need, because you need to buy them all. But I still can't bring myself to narrow down my focus.

FilthyBroke

<< <i>i think ancient coins area way too fascinating to limit yourself to "localizing." >>



Yeah, that's my thought at the moment, too. I remember starting a US coin collection, buying this and that, and then deciding on a focal point. I ended up selling some of my early aquisitions to fund a higher grade collection of IHC and a partial type set of gold coins. I'm totally pleased with where I'm at with the US coin set, but can't help but feel that I'm going to repeat the process here.

I'm having fun, though, and learning along the way. Maybe that is the point here, and I'll learn with the cheaper stuff and not jump in too fast.

johnsim03

<< <i>

<< <i>i think ancient coins area way too fascinating to limit yourself to "localizing." >>



Yeah, that's my thought at the moment, too. I remember starting a US coin collection, buying this and that, and then deciding on a focal point. I ended up selling some of my early aquisitions to fund a higher grade collection of IHC and a partial type set of gold coins. I'm totally pleased with where I'm at with the US coin set, but can't help but feel that I'm going to repeat the process here.

I'm having fun, though, and learning along the way. Maybe that is the point here, and I'll learn with the cheaper stuff and not jump in too fast. >>



Hi FB (and anyone else presently interested in Ancients):

One important factor to consider, just now, is the economic impact of the Dollar's tanking versus the Euro. Obviously,
there are no ancient coins, per se, on the North American continent. What this means for the average collector is that prices
on VCoins, for example, are up 20-40% right now compared to just seven or eight months ago. Since most supplies come from
Europe, this is actually a poor time to buy ancients, unless you can get a choice item for a decent price.

John

FilthyBroke

<< <i>

Hi FB (and anyone else presently interest in Ancients):

One important factor to consider, just now, is the economic impact of the Dollar's tanking versus the Euro. Obviously,
there are no ancient coins, per se, on the North American continent. What this means for the average collector is that prices
on VCoins, for example, are up 20-40% right now compared to just seven or eight months ago. Since most supplies come from
Europe, this is actually a poor time to buy ancients, unless you can get a choice item for a decent price.

John >>



I've noticed this in the few short months that I've been looking at ancients. I thought it was due to an increase in interest, but you're right in that it would also follow the decline of the dollar. Tough time for us all, I'm sure. My purchases have been more thought out recently, due to pricing.

Aethelred

When I began collecting ancient coins, more years ago than I care to think about, any ancient coin from any location was a thrill to me. As time went by and I built my collection (both of coins and books) my interest began to narrow until I was only collecting Roman coins, then only Roman Imperial coins, then 1st Century AD Roman coins only and at last no coins at all, I had moved on to medieval England. In time I sold all but a select few of my ancients.

A few years ago I was offered a small collection of ancient coins, which I bought with the intention of reselling. I did end up selling most of those, but held on to a few that I thought were nice. A short time later I ran across a copy of the new 4th edition of "Guide to Biblical Coins" by David Hendin at an ANA show, while I was still concentrating on English coins, I knew from my well worn second edition of that book from the 1980s that David is a great author and the 4th edition had been expanded to about 3x the size of the 2nd edition. Even though I was not collecting Biblical coins at the time I bought the book thinking it would be an interesting read.

That book pushed me over the edge and back into ancients. I am now working on a collection of coins that relate in one way or another to the Bible, coin types mentioned in the Bible, coins issued by rulers mentioned in the Bible, coins from places mentioned in the Bible et cetera. This time, in addition to coins, I am also collecting artifacts, coins after all are only part of the picture of life in ancient times.

My advice is to collect what you are interested in, buy (and read) a lot of books, not only coin books, but history books as well. In time you'll find a period or location that you are most interested in, when you do jump in with both feet.

woodardcoin

Just treat them as Pokemon (gotta catch 'em all )