I have begun a new phase in my coin addiction: ancient coins. I purchased some slabbed ancient coins that I got fairly cheap and it sparked an interest in these things. I doubt I will be shelling out much $$$ since I know very little about these. Wondering if we have any ancient coin collectors here? I got some Constantine 1 coins of some sort, and some 4th century BC Thracian Chersonesus coins (says test cut whatever that is). All are graded by NGC choice VF and also some VG. I plan on purchasing some books on this stuff and getting a better understanding.
I've often looked at websites selling ancient coins in various states of condition. Not sure if they're fake or not, but the non-PM ones are cheap and a handful of them would look good in a small treasure chest. You can get old, worn lumps of metal for under USD10!
I love the idea of them. Of holding a piece of history in my hand. However probably won't be purchasing any. Apart from some 4 for $10 ones I got at a trade shown that I was assured were ancient.
Since I have no way to verify any of this stuff, I will stick to NGC graded coins (maybe would consider ANACS as well. PCGS doesn't do ancients except special runs). The "ancients" market is generally down right now, which is a good time to buy. Any of this stuff I get I plan to keep for a while, although I will take some to the shows I do later in the year and try to sell. I'll find a couple that I like the best to save, but the rest I'm hoping to eventually make some $$$ and diversify a bit from my foreign bullion stuff I normally get.
I have some copper Venetian coins from 1600, a silver polish-ish coin from around the same time and some old english hammered coins. For anyone who collects slabbed MS70s these would be a nasty sight. Even a good coin will be unevenly struck, weekly struck or just generally nasty. I am keen on the siege pieces but most if not all will be out of my reach.
Here is some pictures of an ancient Massa coin I have, these are not that common Middle Period c. 950-1150 AD SILVER Massa Sandalwood Flower incuse, R: Nagari Ma Flan concave, thinner, broader & rounded; Ma cruder about 2.07-2.54 gm, 13-14m Wiicks (p.255) Class E, M730-731
Continuing my accumulations. Got a batch of a dozen or so Thracian Chersonesus per NGC graded XF, most with "test cut" denomination. All are different varieties of reverse designs. Had a couple before but were lower grades. On these you can clearly see the lion's head. Got them real cheap price (based on ebay auction prices). They look something like this: https://www.apmex.com/product/95908/thracian-chersonesus-silver-hemidrachm-lion-400-350-bc-xf-ngc
Very interesting Jim. My plan is to collect coins during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the great Stoic philosopher.
I don't have any real preferences, except I want the coins slabbed by NGC and for what I call "cheap" prices. I will keep a couple of the nicest for my collection and try to sell the rest at a show. I got these from a wholesale source for less than half of what they sell for on ebay, so I figured I couldn't really mess up too bad buying them. I turned down a few ANACS slabbed coins, they didn't look too nice (really beat up) plus I really only trust NGC for these types of coins. Luckily, I have two ancients experts that I know well, who have both offered some advice and to sell me real coins raw at decent prices if I choose, etc.
