Here's a list of really popular coins to get you started (it won't be
cheap!)
1.
Athens classical
tetradrachm (454-404 BC)
2.
Alexander the Great Lifetime
Tetradrachm (prior to 323 BC)
3.
Philip II (Macedon)
tetradrachm (there are lifetime issues here as well as many that were made in the following decades)
4.
Corinth Stater (5th or 4th century BC)
5. Thebes
stater (prior to the city's destruction in 335 BC)
6.
Aegina turtle stater (6th - 4th century BC)
7. Tarantum
dolphin stater (6th-3rd century BC)
8.
Man-faced bull coinage (lots of options) from either
Sicily or
Campania,
Italy.
9. Rhodes coinage with the rose on the
reverse.
10. Persian coinage -
siglos with the warrior with bow, lance, or dagger.
There's an almost limitless number of choices from here.
1. Collecting coinage of various rulers of
Syracuse down the centuries, not to mention coinage from all the other Sicilian cities.
2. Greek coinage from mainland
Italy (generally pre-Roman domination) - One mentioned above is the Tarantum
dolphin stater as well as the
man-faced bull coinage.
Kroton, Sybaris, and
Metapontion are also big and important issuers here.
3. You can collect
Alexander the Great successor coinage -
Lysimachus, Seleucus, and
Ptolemy are the two most popular. Ptolemy's successor coinage is also really popular all the way down to
Cleopatra! There's a
ton of Seleucus successor coinage as well.
4. There's lots of
Celtic coinage that imitates Greek coinage (particular
Philip II and
Alexander the Great tetradrachms) that is really cool.
5. There's all kinds of really interesting coinage from largely Greek colonies in
Asia Minor (pretty much limitless).
I also want to make clear that you can make an entire
collection out of any of these avenues! For instance, you could literally just focus on
Alexander the Great lifetime tetradrachms which have a huge number of variations from different mints and even within the same
mint. The most important thing is that you buy what you're interested in and from a reputable dealer. I can tell you that it's worth paying up for
quality, too.
Good luck!