Thank you very much for taking the time to write such a comprehensive response, and
I very much appreciate your taking the time to do so.
I’ve been fascinated by ancient coins since I was a child, saving up my pocket money to buy ‘unsorted’ Roman copper with the chance of finding the occasional denarius. Now as an old geezer with a few more resources, I look out for Bulgari’s ‘Moneta’ collection. There’s a great pic of Goldie Hawn in the Forum wearing a necklace (as I recall) incorporating an Athenian gold stater - well worth a look :)
You're totally right - eBay is littered with many fakes of ancient coins. It does certainly have benefits too, though, like the ease of purchase and possibility of getting great deals, so I understand the appeal. If you really want to buy from the site, I'd recommend either putting together a list of reputable dealers (the 'BNTA' label, for example, tells you that they're a registered professional dealer) by talking to other proficient collectors or figuring out how to accurately spot fakes. The best advice I have for the second approach is to spend lots of time at coin shows, handling genuine ancient coins and chatting to dealers, to become familiar with what a real piece should look like. I'm sure there are lots of resources online to help you spot fakes, but some counterfeits can unfortunately be very convincing. Perhaps I'll write an article on the topic in the future if that's helpful... In any case, the best guarantee you won't get totally scammed is to not spend too much money on sites like eBay buying ancient coins; I personally just use it to place bids on cheap coins that catch my eye.
Fortunately, there are lots of great alternatives. If you're keen on purchasing without hassle, then dealer aggregators like https://www.ma-shops.co.uk/ and https://www.vcoins.com/en/Default.aspx offer you the opportunity to browse a massive selection of pieces, some very appealing, all offered by expert sellers around the world that guarantee their authenticity (they have to agree to a code of ethics). The coins offered on sites like these tend to be relatively expensive, marked up by dealers, but at least you have peace of mind that they'll be real. You could also check out individual fixed price sites: this page has a great list of them: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/dealers.html.
If you want to get good deals for coins, or find the very best pieces, then I'd recommend looking at auction sites. This requires patience (as you have to wait for the auction and coins can take a while to be shipped) and you'll have to be aware of each website's additional fees (you'll end up paying far more than what you bid with buyer's premium, shipping costs, customs, etc.). Many of these, however, are where dealers get their stock so you should definitely be able to find some solid prices. You use an auction site consolidator like https://www.numisbids.com/ to browse these; I personally like to find a couple favourites that I know well and can trust, and stick to buying from them. If you purchase from a reputable auction house - CNG, Nomos, Leu, NAC to name a few high-ish end ones - then you can also be sure that a lot of care has been taken in ensuring authenticity.
Awesome write-up! What's your dream electrum coin if you have one? I think a Carthaginian stater would be a neat addition to my collection, but they're a bit pricey for me.
Thanks! I'd love to own a Carthaginian stater one day too - such beautiful coins, especially with their simple yet elegant design. Personally, my favourite electrum coin would be an early Cyzikene full stater featuring an interesting mythological creature (so many great ones: double-bodied winged sphinx, cerberus, theriocephalic figure, etc.). I imagine they're nice to hold too, as 16g lumps of metal. Very expensive, of course, but one can dream!
Really interesting post. What sort of transactions would these coins have been used for. Presumably fairly large ones like , land , horses , grain in bulk, …., and how would they have been stored . In leather pouches in strong boxes?
Yes, these hektai would certainly have been used for relatively large transactions. According to some sources, horses were actually very expensive at 1,200 drachms (half as much as a small house). If we say one hekte was worth maybe 5 drachms, then you could have bought a few axes or 100+ kg of dried figs or 15 fish or 25 litres of wine or maybe a cheap pair of shoes (clothing was very expensive) with just one [very roughly]. As for how they were stored, I'm not too sure - I think that you're right that they would have been carried around in pouches, though.
Thank you very much for taking the time to write such a comprehensive response, and
I very much appreciate your taking the time to do so.
I’ve been fascinated by ancient coins since I was a child, saving up my pocket money to buy ‘unsorted’ Roman copper with the chance of finding the occasional denarius. Now as an old geezer with a few more resources, I look out for Bulgari’s ‘Moneta’ collection. There’s a great pic of Goldie Hawn in the Forum wearing a necklace (as I recall) incorporating an Athenian gold stater - well worth a look :)
Thanks once again, and best wishes.
LF
Thanks for your writings.
I’ve always been a bit reluctant to buy ancient coins on eBay or other sites as I believe that fakes are quite common.
Do you have any thoughts about this, or advice that you could offer?
You're totally right - eBay is littered with many fakes of ancient coins. It does certainly have benefits too, though, like the ease of purchase and possibility of getting great deals, so I understand the appeal. If you really want to buy from the site, I'd recommend either putting together a list of reputable dealers (the 'BNTA' label, for example, tells you that they're a registered professional dealer) by talking to other proficient collectors or figuring out how to accurately spot fakes. The best advice I have for the second approach is to spend lots of time at coin shows, handling genuine ancient coins and chatting to dealers, to become familiar with what a real piece should look like. I'm sure there are lots of resources online to help you spot fakes, but some counterfeits can unfortunately be very convincing. Perhaps I'll write an article on the topic in the future if that's helpful... In any case, the best guarantee you won't get totally scammed is to not spend too much money on sites like eBay buying ancient coins; I personally just use it to place bids on cheap coins that catch my eye.
Fortunately, there are lots of great alternatives. If you're keen on purchasing without hassle, then dealer aggregators like https://www.ma-shops.co.uk/ and https://www.vcoins.com/en/Default.aspx offer you the opportunity to browse a massive selection of pieces, some very appealing, all offered by expert sellers around the world that guarantee their authenticity (they have to agree to a code of ethics). The coins offered on sites like these tend to be relatively expensive, marked up by dealers, but at least you have peace of mind that they'll be real. You could also check out individual fixed price sites: this page has a great list of them: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/dealers.html.
If you want to get good deals for coins, or find the very best pieces, then I'd recommend looking at auction sites. This requires patience (as you have to wait for the auction and coins can take a while to be shipped) and you'll have to be aware of each website's additional fees (you'll end up paying far more than what you bid with buyer's premium, shipping costs, customs, etc.). Many of these, however, are where dealers get their stock so you should definitely be able to find some solid prices. You use an auction site consolidator like https://www.numisbids.com/ to browse these; I personally like to find a couple favourites that I know well and can trust, and stick to buying from them. If you purchase from a reputable auction house - CNG, Nomos, Leu, NAC to name a few high-ish end ones - then you can also be sure that a lot of care has been taken in ensuring authenticity.
Awesome write-up! What's your dream electrum coin if you have one? I think a Carthaginian stater would be a neat addition to my collection, but they're a bit pricey for me.
Thanks! I'd love to own a Carthaginian stater one day too - such beautiful coins, especially with their simple yet elegant design. Personally, my favourite electrum coin would be an early Cyzikene full stater featuring an interesting mythological creature (so many great ones: double-bodied winged sphinx, cerberus, theriocephalic figure, etc.). I imagine they're nice to hold too, as 16g lumps of metal. Very expensive, of course, but one can dream!
Really interesting post. What sort of transactions would these coins have been used for. Presumably fairly large ones like , land , horses , grain in bulk, …., and how would they have been stored . In leather pouches in strong boxes?
Yes, these hektai would certainly have been used for relatively large transactions. According to some sources, horses were actually very expensive at 1,200 drachms (half as much as a small house). If we say one hekte was worth maybe 5 drachms, then you could have bought a few axes or 100+ kg of dried figs or 15 fish or 25 litres of wine or maybe a cheap pair of shoes (clothing was very expensive) with just one [very roughly]. As for how they were stored, I'm not too sure - I think that you're right that they would have been carried around in pouches, though.