On starting a collection

[Jeff B]

I have accumulated a variety of modern silver and gold coins, and had assumed that anything ancient would almost certainly be quite rare and not affordable by me. But recently I accidentally came across some Roman coins for sale on another website, where I could get a supposedly ancient coin for under $5. You all can relate to what happened next: it instantly struck me how wondrous it would be to own such a thing, being ancient and of great historical significance, etc. In any case, I thought rather than buy from the other website, there must be a smarter way to go about it, and I found myself here.

So, I have been binging on the content here in the forvm for several days now. I don’t have any strategy for collecting, besides wanting the best specimens I can find for what I can afford. To me this means being able to see crisp detail in lettering and images on the coin. I don’t really have any other motivation or strategy to choose an ancient coin besides that.

So, I thought I’d bring up an example. This coin seems to have excellent detail for its price and age. In fact, it almost seems in too good of detail for its price. I think I probably know what the answer could be. Perhaps a great number of these exist. I see coins here that far more expensive that hardly even appear to be coins, with almost all detail gone (though I realize relative scarcity and other factors determine their price). In any case, I just thought I would ask for opinions on this. Otherwise, I just wanted to introduce myself and express some gratitude to the forvm. 

[Enodia]

welcome to Forvm Jeff!
do you have a picture of this coin?

~ Peter

[Jeff B]

Oh, yes. A link should be applied to the words "this coin" in my original post. Thanks again.

[Howard Cole]

Please upload your pictures to your posting.  The problem with links is that they don't always work and if you remove the coin at the link, other people reading the post can't learn from it.

Oh, I see you are looking at a Forum coin.
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?param=68311q00.jpg&vpar=55&zpg=78756&fld=https://www.forumancientcoins.com/Coins2/

Yes, coins with this amount of detail are reasonable in price.

[Britannicus]

This coin seems reasonably priced for the quality. It's a nice coin.

[Jeff B]

Thanks all. I see the coins here are guaranteed authentic for eternity. But the coin I mentioned just seemed amazingly well-preserved.   

[Molinari]

Welcome, Jeff!  It is a really well preserved example and would make a great first coin.  There are ancient coins in FDC condition, so you don't have to worry about a well preserved coin being fake simply because it is well preserved. The coin you linked to is surely genuine and Joe offers the best return policy in the business.  I say, if you like it, buy it!

[SC]

In starting a collection of ancients you should figure out what interests you.  Condition?  Rarity?  History?  Several of the above?

Rarity is more important in determining the value of any given coin compared to a completely different one, whereas condition is the important factor when comparing coins of the same type.  So you can get a small late Roman bronze (like the one you linked to) in great condition for much cheaper than you can get many a larger sestertius in poor condition.  This is because there are just so many more of the late Roman coins, including many in good condition. 

If you want to collect for condition you will want to pursue things like late Roman bronzes and silver denarii and antoniniani of the first half of the the third century, or be prepared to pay a lot of money.  If you want to go for size over condition look for sestertii.  If rarity or history then you need to work to determine a focus - specific rulers or period, the 12 ceasars, etc.

Just my view, but if you collect modern silver and gold you probably have many coins in beautiful condition.  Late Roman bronzes in great condition would make a nice contrast - the same quality but a different metal.

Shawn