Ok, you got me

WestySteve

Yep. I haven't bought a coin in over a year, because I've been spending my time playing around with currency.

But you got me. I went to a coin club meeting and one of the guys started showing me his ancients. We started talking and he started quoting prices and it made me wonder about the very few ancients I have...I started wondering what they were worth these days since I bought them 10 or 15 years ago. A few nice Greeks and some Super nice Constantine issues... (I'll have to post a picture when I drag them back out of my safe deposit box.)

Anyway, so I looked up my collection and then started cruising ebay.

You know what happened...we've all been there.

First I saw this one...seemed like a bargain:

Cheap Date

So then I started looking at what else the seller had. And I didn't want to buy it, but it just seemed too nice (for the money) to walk away.

Couldn't leave it there

Dang it! I'm trying to focus on currency! It's a sickness, I tell you!

So...any ancient guys out there want to tell me how I did? Seemed like a lot of detail for the $$$.

Now...back to buying Canadian and Mexican currency!

Steve

TexasNationals

IMO the coin market is hot, hot hot compared to currency. Currency, to me is a great bargain right now. Looking at Nationals and small U.S. prices are 1/2 to 1/5 of what they were a few years ago, even for choice stuff. Yet choice U.S. coins haven't really gone up, but went really up. The there are stamps, oh my, 1/10 20 years ago pricing is high! There are some rare stamps and notes out there. Do you have Mexican Paper Money by Grove? Released in 2010 and not cheap at $125 is huge IMO. Well worth every cent and there has been nada since the early 80's on Mexican Paper. I had no idea there were so many varieties on each note!

Edit- I don't know anything about ancients and the links you provided I couldn't tell you if those were real or fakes if there was a gun to my head!

WestySteve

Shhh! Don't tell them. I'm still trying to buy all that stuff up before the coin guys figure it out.

This economy is really hurting most everything except U.S. coins....or so it seems to me from limited data.

The ancients are getting stronger money than I remember for the really nice stuff...like XF or better (hence the shopping spree last night). In the past, I considered the condition of ancients only as an after-thought...but it seems like it is more relevant today.

P.S....I didn't realize there was an ancients forum, so I've moved this conversation over there.

astrorat

Nice pickup and I think a good value assuming it is authentic. I can't tell from the image, but it probably is authentic. The voracity (and intelligence) of the ancient collecting community is, well, stunning.

WestySteve

Hopefully they are authentic. As with all coins, I try to look at what types of coins the seller is selling, feedback scores, etc. If they have a boatload of the item I am looking at, it raises red flags. Lucky for me (or perhaps sad for me) is that I tend to dabble in the cheaper stuff. Though the cheap stuff is faked, you seldom see less than perfect specimens of a less popular series.

I think when I get them, I'll send them off to a slabbing service for peace of mind.

Steve