Hi Sebastian V,
Something that you'll see people saying here quite often is the phrase "Know the coin or know the seller". At this stage, it's somewhat unlikely that you will know the coin or coins in question well enough to feel certain about what you are purchasing. For example, a relative novice like myself is not well suited to be certain about a coin
type I've not looked at extensively. So, you are on the right track by trying to "Know the seller" instead.
Forvm and its
members usually can't endorse particular dealers since
Forvm itself is a coin dealer. There are occasionally
members of
Forvm who have such a long standing relationship with
Forvm that they are allowed to link to their own coins for sale outside of this website. There is also the
members auction hosted by
Forvm, wherein some
members sell their coins.
As PMah said though, you should really look for coin dealers that offer guarantees. That way, even if your purchase turns out to be fake or misattributed, you have the option of getting your
money back. Generic, large online
auction websites are pretty risky for new collectors, since you would have a hard time getting a dealer there to enforce a return policy and since there are
plenty of
fake coins floating around. One
good idea is to try to use paypal or something similar when purchasing so you will have an extra layer of protection.
There are
plenty of legitimate dealers who meet the criteria mentioned above, and you happen to be visiting one of (the, IMO) best. The selection here is very broad, so you could surely find something that interests you. I started out
buying uncleaned coins, which is, frankly, a pretty lousy investment, but a
good way to learn how to identify common coins, providing what you are
buying is of decent
quality. I
still occasionally buy a small lot of them because cleaning them up can be pretty fun. Most people transition to more specialized areas - for instance I like to collect coins related to
Roman legions. I've bought three of them and around a dozen other coins from
Forvm.
Finally, read and learn! Books are great, but so is just reading this message board.
Identification help,
Fake Coin Reports and Discussion, and
Ancient Coins Forum board sections are especially helpful for new people to the hobby.
Good luck!
