Ancient Coin Dealers In Rome

[rmrxiv]

For many, a trip to Rome will be a once in a lifetime trip and for collectors of ancient Roman coins, there is an irresistable appeal to buying Roman coins in Rome itself. I hope that I am not violating FAC rules about promoting other dealers. That is not the intent of this message. Rather it is about fulfilling that special once in a lifetime experience. If I have violated the rules, the moderator is welcome to delete the message.

I have had two occasions to visit Rome this year so took advantage to figure out where the ancient coin dealers are in Rome. My research was limited to the well travelled tourist historic areas but there are other dealers in the city so this list is by no means complete. My collecting interest is very narrow (Hadrian) so my impressions are colored by that bias and each collector will have to make their own judgement based on their collecting interests.

Here are the results in no particular order;

There is a cluster in close proximity to the Piazza di Spagna.

1. Bolaffi
Via Condotti, 23 (directly across the Spanish Steps - don't bring your wife along otherwise you will never make it past Prada and the other luxury shops on this high end shopping road)
Based in Turin with shops in Turin, Milan, Rome and Verona.
Has some coins available in the shop but is mostly a long established auction house. High end and a bit overpriced in my opinion.

2. ArtCoins Roma
Via del Babuino, 89 (descend the Spanish Steps and right turn)
Also has a presence in Milan.
Strictly an auction house with two main auctions per year and monthly electronic auctions.

3. Filatelia Numismatica Centrale   
Vie Due Macelli, 106 (descend the Spanish Steps and left turn)
Coin shop with a decent selection. Visited twice and bought a coin each time.

Next there is one shop in the Quirinale area. 

4. Diana Numismatica
Via Delle Quattro Fontane, 20B
Strictly a coin shop that in my opinion has the largest and most diverse inventory.

One shop near Parliament.

5. Baranowsky Numismatica
Via del Corso, 184 (this is the main road that leads to Piazza Venezia)
Coin shop and holds two fixed price catalogue sales per year.

One near the Vatican.

6. Roberto Pedoni Numismatica
Via Vespasiano, 7 (follow the external walls of Vatican City on the way to the Vatican Museums)
Coin shop only.

Lastly there are a number of foreign exchange places outside the Termini Rail Station (incidently, this is also where the Palazzo Massimo with its collection of 'Italian' coins through the ages is located). There I found a small selection of ancients (roughly 30 each) at Piazza del Cinquecento, 58 and Via Giovanni Giolitti, 97.

Overall, there is something for everyone and did not find that prices were outrageous.

Please feel free to add to this list for the enjoyment of numismatists who want to make a trip to the Eternal City that much more memorable.

[Carausius]

Will all these Rome dealers provide export documentation with their coins?  It would not be worth visiting them if the coins could not leave the country legally.

[rmrxiv]

The discussion is two fold when discussing moving coins from Italy. Firstly, can they be exported from Italy and then can they be imported into your country of residence. 

I asked the export question to a few of the dealers, in particular those that sold outside of Italy. The good people at Bolaffi as the most senior of the dealers replied that anything that is in their catalogue is exportable so assumed that if a permit is needed, they will take care of it. I must admit that this is a question that I will continue to ask as I meet more dealers to gain a better understanding on the topic and a greater level of comfort.

As a collector of Hadrian, there are no export restrictions on roman imperials so I picked up a few coins and brought them home with a clear conscience. 

So there is opportunity to get coins legally and without fuss. Engaging a dealer on export restricted coins would be prudent if your interests lie in these types.   

[Andrew McCabe]

I know a reasonable amount about the actual process for export-control documentation in Italy (the paper flow etc.). It's pretty labourious and slow, as those who've had to wait months for auction coins from Italy will be able to confirm. Hence, you should not think any firm is going to offer export control documentation for any except top-end coins (they might offer to post them at your risk but that's another story) or a group of lower end coins, and for those items you'll have to wait a long time before you get your coin. I had a look at the Bolaffi website and there's few ancients below $500. If that price level appeals to you (and frankly from what I saw, mostly common Trajanic stuff, you'd get better value here, https://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?vpar=409&pos=0#The-Adoptive-Emperors ), they'd probably go to some effort to make sure you got them.

[rmrxiv]

Andrew,

The buyer beware caution applies to export restricted coins. Buyers assume the risk of ponderous bureaucratic delays and possible outright rejection. And thanks for sharing your experience in the area, a very valuable cauition to those who have not gone down that road.

Bolaffi is a source for high end coins and as noted in my comments, overpriced in my opinion.

I still maintain that prices were reasonable (Bolaffi aside) in my area of collecting noting that this is a bias given my narrow collecting interests. Everyone will have to view pricing and selection from their collecting viewpoint to form their conclusions.

Thanks

Tony

[Adrian W]

I had bought a coin at the Art Coins Roma sales without any shipping issues and I think they are in Rome

[Andrew McCabe]

I had bought a coin at the Art Coins Roma sales without any shipping issues and I think they are in Rome

They get export approval for their entire catalogue in advance. Which iss evidently more efficient but its not a simple process for them. It's any entirely different matter if you want to buy 1 coin at retail.

[Sosius]

This raises a question for me, as I am going to Rome this summer.  If I were to purchase bronze and silver Roman Imperial coins while in Rome, would I be able to legally export them to the US?  If so, should I mail them from Italy or carry them on my person? 

My understanding is that there are absolutely no restrictions on export of Roman Imperial coins from Italy to the US.  Is this correct? 

Thanks,
Sosius

[Andrew McCabe]

If I were to purchase bronze and silver Roman Imperial coins while in Rome, would I be able to legally export them to the US?  ...
My understanding is that there are absolutely no restrictions on export of Roman Imperial coins from Italy to the US.  Is this correct?  

No, not correct. You can import them into the USA without problem. You cannot export them from Italy without an export permit. Two entirely separate processes. See above thread for discussion. The only way the two processes interact is that an Italian export permit usually grants the right to import to the US. But there is no guarantee an export permit will be granted for any coin, even Roman Imperial.

How do you intend to get export permits? I am not aware of any private way to get such a permit, unless you are wholly comfortable with local bureaucracy and have months of time to wait.

If so, should I mail them from Italy or carry them on my person?  

Both are contrary to Italian law, lacking export permits. Read above thread - the recommendation is to put the export into the hands of a dealer who can follow the processes and get the permits and export with the correct paperwork. This can take months, and in relation to the above discussion on Bolaffi etc. you can be very sure the export process cost will be more than fully built into the price of the coins. Buying legally exported coins from Italy will be expensive. Of course you can always put some coins in a self-addressed envelope and hope for the best. At least that involves no personal risk although the coins may not ever arrive.

Why not just stick with your usual retail or auction sources? I wouldn't want to ruin a holiday in Italy by worrying about how to go about circumventing Italian and/or US law. Or else let the dealers handle export to the US.

[Sosius]

I'll stick to buying from the usual US dealers. I guess I misinterpreted the recent US import restrictions as matching the Italian export restrictions. What about all those Italian eBay sellers?  Are they just flouting the law?  If so, I'm shocked that they can get away with it.

[Andrew McCabe]

I'll stick to buying from the usual US dealers. I guess I misinterpreted the recent US import restrictions as matching the Italian export restrictions. What about all those Italian eBay sellers?  Are they just flouting the law?  If so, I'm shocked that they can get away with it.

Just as shocked as Captain Renard in Casablanca I dare say. Sellers' names and addresses are not publicised on eBay so it's almost impossible to control the sales, but customs checks and export permits might in principal impede the deliveries to customers.

From keeping my ears open I understand that eBay sellers are a principal target because they sell material direct from the ground, as well as those who drive bagfuls of newly dug coins across international borders and thus are a direct route for diggers to monetise their newly excavated material. For this reason all ancients and not just Magna Graecia coins (per the US MOU) need a permit, because the real target is the illegal digging rather than the ownership of a few sestertii. Your two or three sestertii may be granted a permit once you go through the right hoops, but a bag of 1000 sestertii with identical colour mud on them might not, because they are historically, numismatically and archaeologically a much more interesting group.

Professional coin dealers whose stock includes older provenance coins, who employ staff and pay taxes, whose quality threshold is probably the best 5% of coins (but not bags of newly dug crusties), who sell small numbers of coins openly and one by one, and who follow the rules, seem to be less of a target, as from what I can see, they are in practice granted export permits from time to time. The law isn't new, the new aspect is that permits are actually being granted for some coins, including material sold at auctions by Italian based professional dealers. Of course the UK regime, that encourages reporting but then allows finders to keep coins, sounds far more sane, but, to be fair, Italy has a much greater wealth of sites and potential dig locations, and in that find-rich environment detecting is less an innocent hobby done over empty fields whose remains consist of a midden pit and a road verge, but rather is more akin to an extractive industry and perhaps needs heavier controls.