Getting started as a collector & some coin deals

If you're not an experienced collector of ancient coins - or not yet a collector at all - finding and buying coins can be a fairly daunting task.

As a new collector you should:

• Avoid Ebay until you're more experienced. It is full of fakes, and positive feedback is meaningless. While you can find good deals there, you won't know them unless you have lots of experience.
• Use only trusted sellers such as those on vcoins or MA-shops . Vcoins is generally more used in the US, MA-shops is often used in Europe - but many sellers are present on both platforms. They typically all offer a lifetime 100% money back guarantee if a coins is found to be fake after they've sold it to you.

Here are some good deals from vcoins to get you started:

Under $30

• This Licinius I follis has a pleasing obverse and reverse and a fair price point.
• This Sasanian drachm of Khusro II is a nice large silver coin of one of the most famous Sasanian kings.
• This Constantine I follis features the popular camp gate reverse.
• This Kyzikos silver hemiobol has a nice stylized lion reverse and is really old, only maybe 150-200 years after the invention of coinage.

$30-50

• This silver diobol from Miletos features a lion mostly on-flan and a really pretty incuse reverse pattern. Also very old :D
• A nice portrait of Aurelian, one of the most overlooked emperors.
• Speaking of portraits, this Gordian III has a nice quality to it.
• A passable Hadrian denarius
• A provincial Augustus from Syria

$50-100

• An evocative portrait of Trajan
• A heavy syrian silver tetradrachm of Trajan Decius
• A lovely Maximinus Thrax
• A decent Philip I antoninianus with an Annona reverse
• A chunky Marcus Aurelius sestertius to hold while you read the Medidations perhaps.

In general, it is important to do a bit of research before making your first purchase, mainly by comparing coins at the same price point and decising which coin looks better to you. Condition is typically more important than rarity, but there's no formal system to classify what looks good to you. In the end, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and you set your own goals :)