Scott,
Every
collectible area has its
fakes, whether
ancient coins, modern coins, Dutch master oil paintings, or antiques. The fact is, genuine
ancient coins are common and affordable to all levels of collectors. The key is to either buy from expert, trustworthy sellers who can weed-out the occasional
fakes for you, or learn enough about your collecting
area so that you can spot the
fakes yourself. Many beginning collectors make the mistake of
buying from inexpert sellers (i.e.
eBay) and may get burned from time to time - they may feel dejected and assume
fakes are everywhere. Modern coin dealers might read articles about million dollar ancient coin
fakes, and assume that such sales are the norm in the ancient coin marketplace. Actually, such
fakes are aberrations if you either buy from expert ancient coin sellers or do the homework to learn what real coins look and feel like. Bottom line is that statements about the high percentage of
fakes in the ancient coin marketplace are generally made out of ignorance about the coins and the marketplace. The coins are common and easily authenticated with experience. The marketplace of dedicated, expert dealers and collectors is large and strong.
Selling ancient coins to your modern dealer friend would be like trying to sell a Rembrandt to a print
shop. Dealers generally only buy what they know. A quick internet
search will show you that there are
plenty of dedicated ancient coin dealers. So, there should be no difficulty
selling genuine
ancient coins to ancient coin dealers or ancient coin collectors, if the coins are desirable. Like all collectibles, desirability is a function of condition,
rarity and demand at the time of sale. Of course there are other desirability factors (
style, strike etc.) that are specific to
ancient coins as well. If resale is a particular concern of yours, many will advise to buy the best
quality coins you can afford, as these will be easiest to sell later. Others may advise to not buy
ancient coins (or, really, any coins) for investment because it is difficult to buy coins at retail and expect to sell them for a profit in the short term. Long term profits are possible, but probably slim compared to long term investment in the stock market or real estate. Collect because you enjoy the coins, the process, the research and the camaraderie.