Ancient Coins and TPG

PaleElf · January 9, 2009 11:07AM

I am not familiar with ancient coins, but I have a buddy at work that has some ancient gold and silver coins he would like to have certified and slabbed. Which companies, if any, slab and attribute ancient coins? Which would you recommend?

Thanks

lordmarcovan · January 9, 2009 11:55AM

NGC has just begun slabbing ancients as of the new year. I have been meaning to check into their service since I have some leftovers from my old Roman collection to slab.

Slabbing has not caught on as much in ancients as it has in other sectors of the market. Like the collectors of early American copper cents, the collectors of ancient coins are for the most part an old-school, traditionalist bunch, who like to handle their coins without any intervening plastic.

That being said, the combination of slabs and eBay can be a good thing. I am coming around to the idea a little bit. When I collected the Romans I preferred to keep all 100+ coins in a binder, and slabbing them all was not feasible. Now that I have downsized and moved from collector to accumulator status there, though, I might give slabbing a go.

Doogy · January 9, 2009 11:55AM

NGC is the only company that slabs ancients, and have some very high dollar examples in their slabs (including two $1 million + coins).

FilthyBroke · January 9, 2009 12:00PM

I'm also a little confused as to the answer to this one. As far as I can tell, each of the other three TPGs (NGC, ANACS, and ICG) do a few, but do not have any sort of comprehensive list. As I understand, PCGS won't do anything ancient, and you'd probably have to call customer service to get a detailed list from the others.

FilthyBroke · January 9, 2009 12:05PM

From the ICG site, they say they'll do Ancient Roman Silver: AD69 - AD307.

ANACS list of coins they won't slab.

ajaan · January 9, 2009 12:45PM

The last time I talked to ANACS they said they would grade Ancient coins as long as you don't send too many in. He said 5 coins should be the max. Remember, the ANACS graders are the same ICG graders who graded Ancient coins.

PaleElf · January 9, 2009 1:01PM

<< NGC has just begun slabbing ancients as of the new year. >>

Do you have any idea what kind of prices he would be looking at?

Sapyx · January 9, 2009 2:05PM

If you just want them attributed / authenticated, without slabs, then David Sear's ACCS is sufficient. ACCS costs $40 per coin, and for an extra $10 you'll get some background info on the city or ruler that issued the coin. Your typical ancients collector will trust the opinion of ACCS more than they would trust any of the "modern coin" TPGs. And yes, your typical ancients collector will also loathe slabs and avoid them like the plague.

Meanwhile, across the street, the ancients grading service doesn't seem to appear on their price list yet.

PaleElf · January 9, 2009 5:35PM

Has anyone submitted ancients to NGC yet?

BillyKingsley · January 9, 2009 6:01PM

On that list on ANACS website, it has a term I've not heard before. What is "Ghetto Coins"?

PaleElf · January 9, 2009 6:21PM

From what I have read, I am assuming that the ancient coins fall under the same pricing as World coins?

Sapyx · January 9, 2009 7:47PM

<< ...What is "Ghetto Coins"? >>

Ghetto coins were tokens issued by the Nazis for use in Jewish ghettoes. They're normally classed with notgeld as a form of "emergency money".

BillyKingsley · January 10, 2009 1:50AM

Thank you, again, Sapyx for the helpfull info. I just read the article in the Numismatist and didn't put 2 + 2 togther.

ajaan · January 10, 2009 3:31AM

Kind of strange ANACS (old ICG) doesn't slab ghetto coins. ICG did.

Doogy · January 10, 2009 6:28AM

<< 

<< NGC has just begun slabbing ancients as of the new year. >>

Do you have any idea what kind of prices he would be looking at? >>

I would email David, I don't have his email, but i've emailed finalizers before with questions and they are always helpful. Customer service could probably provide you with info, or give you his email address

David Vagi, Finalizer and Director of NGC Ancients

A lifelong numismatist, David Vagi has been studying ancient Greek and Roman coins since 1985. He entered the field as a staff writer for Coin World, and later worked as a numismatist for Christie’s, Superior Stamp and Coin, Spink America and Smythe before opening Delphi International Ancient Arts. For more than 15 years he has penned columns for The Celator, Numismatic News, World Coin News and The Numismatist, and his two-volume Coinage and History of the Roman Empire received ‘book of the year’ awards from the IAPN, PNG and NLG. He is a life member and Fellow of the ANS, and a life member of the ANA, for which he has taught courses on ancient coins at its Summer Seminars since 1994.

docday2003 · January 10, 2009 7:04AM

it's interesting that so few ancients collectors are interested in TPG. IMO this would be an area which could easily be attacked by the nefarious counterfeiters.

lordmarcovan · January 10, 2009 8:48AM

<< IMO this would be an area which could easily be attacked by the nefarious counterfeiters. >>

And it has been. But for reasons of supply and demand (I guess), it's not a major problem until one starts looking at the rare stuff. You can say that about any field of numismatics- the rarities are gonna be the first target for counterfeiters- but with the ancient coins, there is a pretty good supply in general, and serious collectors of them tend to be better-educated folk who have already stockpiled some numismatic knowledge and are quicker to spot something suspicious. Which isn't to say that these savvy collectors and even the experts don't get fooled- it happens fairly often, I am sure. This is why provenance is important and buying coins from a knowledgeable and trustworthy source is vital.

Ancient Coins and TPG

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