Newbie introduction and first dumb questiom

[Norman F]

I live in the UK and I have decided to begin collecting Roman Coins. I have zero prior knowledge of the subject. First of all I would like to thank all of you for contributing to the wealth of information on the subject. It makes me realise how much I have to learn. Based on what I have read so far, I have decided to avoid eBay, Esty, auctions and suppliers who are not UK based. I intend to further restrict my purchases to suppliers who are BNTA members.

Now comes the first dumb question: I have visited the Fake Sellers List and I began to wonder if it would be quicker to list reputable dealers who sell on eBay/Etsy? I can understand that there will be reluctance to name names but one way around this is to ask a purely factual question: Can you name any firm that sells on eBay/Etsy AND is a BNTA member?
Thanks
Norman

[Molinari]

This site is (very generously) run by a coin shop so we do not recommend other dealers here.  Buying from Joe (the owner) is a great start, but if you are restricting yourself to the UK he is a US dealer. 

[Jay GT4]

Welcome to Forum.  This site has great resources and I would highly recommend purchasing from here.  Shipping is always quick and secure.

Perhaps it would be  a good idea to go to a local coin show in the UK. 

[Tracy Aiello]

Welcome Norman,

I cannot echo enough what Molinari and Jay said: Joe's shop is a wonderful place to start although as Molinari stated, he is a US dealer.

In case you haven't seen it yet the NumisWiki landing page (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp) has links for the new collector. Check it out.

All the best,

Tracy

[Norman F]

My apologies.  I have been so busy reading all the excellent articles here that I have not yet visited the shop. I think that subconsciously I had assumed that this forum was similar to one that I know well which deals with metal detecting . The metal detecting forum has a shop where members buy and sell equipment: hence my confusion. I will certainly check out the shop.

Special thanks to Jay and Tracy for their welcome and for their valuable tips.

Kind regards
Norman

[Virgil H]

Hi Norman,

Welcome. I echo what the others have said. Both the Forum here and the Numiswiki are incredible resources and both are searchable (old threads are very worth reading). I consider myself a mid-level collector (in terms of my numismatic knowledge in my areas of specialization) at best and I doubt I would be collecting at all if it weren't for this Forum. I was a total newbie and had no real idea about the range and depth of knowledge involved if you want to go in that direction. You can also take a more simple approach and collect coins that you like from reputable dealers where you can trust that what you are buying is both authentic and correctly attributed. No question is dumb and serious collecting does require a lot of study, which I find enjoyable as part of the hobby. I also buy quite a lot from the Forum shop. I completely stay away from EBay and Etsy. Even in the areas I know well, I am afraid to take a chance since there are just so many fakes and prices are often higher than they should be (or sometimes so low as to immediately suspect a fake). In any case, happy to have you here, it is a great community and we are always happy to have new collectors join us.

Virgil

[Norman F]

H Virgil

Many thanks for your warm welcome. I have now visited the Forum Shop and I am very impressed by the range and quality of the coins on offer. In particular I liked the very detailed description that comes with each coin even the least expensive ones. Another welcome feature is the grading system which avoids the use of "Good" and "Very Good" for coins where such a description is difficult to justify.

Norman

[Paul B11]

I live in the UK and I have decided to begin collecting Roman Coins. I have zero prior knowledge of the subject. First of all I would like to thank all of you for contributing to the wealth of information on the subject. It makes me realise how much I have to learn. Based on what I have read so far, I have decided to avoid eBay, Esty, auctions and suppliers who are not UK based. I intend to further restrict my purchases to suppliers who are BNTA members.

Now comes the first dumb question: I have visited the Fake Sellers List and I began to wonder if it would be quicker to list reputable dealers who sell on eBay/Etsy? I can understand that there will be reluctance to name names but one way around this is to ask a purely factual question: Can you name any firm that sells on eBay/Etsy AND is a BNTA member?
Thanks
Norman

Hi Norman. I'm new too. I can't afford expensive/popular stuff like gold or high-quality sliver owls from Athena and temple tax coins, etc. I gave up on Roman because there are so many (nearly a million) and I couldn't pick a theme (campgates, etc.). I cleaned my own coins which were mostly worthless and that gave me some assurance but I could not identify all of them (exergue not clear etc.). I've sent back a suspected fake or two but I think they may have just been cleaned improperly and fake patina added. I won't keep anything I have doubts about. I've kept some fake desert patina made of sand and glue or similar that can be washed off (pretty common, unfortunately) because the coins seem real. Generally I stay away from stuff that is highly collectible and likely to be faked. So I have a bunch of fair quality unpopular coins. That led me to my favorite now: Byzantine bronze/copper coinage. Usually not worth faking. Even cheap coins are fairly easily identified - big with regnal year marks, denomination marks, mint marks. Fascinating history - and a bizarre mix of exquisite art and flat-out incompetence/laziness, sometimes in a single coin. I am sure none of my 200 or so are faked. It helps that I have a number that were found by me or bought from local diggers in the early 70's so I know what (some) real coins look like. So my point is that the answer to your question is probably better defining what you plan to collect first. Hope that helps! If you have to buy very specific coins, be prepared to pay. Potluck and identify is cheaper.