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Helpful Guide to Ancients

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Giga

Giga

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177 • 7 min

A Beginner's Guide to Collecting Ancient Coins

So you've discovered ancient coins — welcome to one of the most rewarding hobbies in the world. Holding a coin that was struck two thousand years ago, handled by soldiers, merchants, and emperors, is unlike anything else. This guide will walk you through everything you need to get started: where to buy, how to research, how to avoid fakes, and how to connect with the broader community.

1. Where to Find Upcoming Auctions

Most ancient coins are sold through auction, so knowing where to look is your first skill to develop. These aggregator sites pull listings from dozens of auction houses into one place:

  • Sixbid — sixbid.com — Great overview of upcoming sales

  • Biddr — biddr.com — Best all-around for both budget and high-end bidding

  • NumisBids — numisbids.com — A strong second option, similar coverage

  • Dea Moneta — deamoneta.com — Aggregator platform for Italian auction houses "Often do not ship outside of Italy"

  • CoinWeek — coinweek.com — Good editorial coverage of the auction world

2. Auction Houses

Once you know where auctions are listed, you'll want to learn which houses are worth watching. Quality varies enormously.

High-End Houses

These carry thoroughly vetted, well-attributed coins with detailed descriptions. Prices reflect this — but so does the quality and provenance documentation.

  • NAC (Numismatica Ars Classica) — arsclassicacoins.com — Among the most prestigious ancient coin auctions in the world

  • CNG (Classical Numismatic Group) — cngcoins.com — The gold standard for serious ancient coin auctions

  • Leu Numismatik — leunumismatik.com — Top-tier Swiss house, excellent Greek and Roman material

  • Künker — kuenker.de — One of Europe's largest and most respected numismatic auction houses

  • Gorny & Mosch — gmcoinart.de — Major German house, strong ancient coin sales out of Munich

  • CGB Numismatics — cgbfr.com — Paris-based; enormous selection across ancient, medieval, and modern coinage

  • Heritage Auctions — coins.ha.com — Large American house; strong in slabbed/certified coins

  • HJB (Harlan J. Berk) — hjbltd.com — Auctions personally run by one of the legends of the field

  • Nomos AG — nomosag.com — Swiss house with exceptional Greek coinage

  • Artemide Aste — artemideaste.com — Italian house, solid selection

Note on Italian dealers: Most Italian auction houses and dealers do not ship outside Italy due to strict cultural-property export rules. Always check shipping policies before bidding.

Mid-Range & Budget-Friendly

  • VAuctions — vauctions.com — VCoins' auction arm; accessible for newer collectors

  • Frank Robinson — fsrcoin.com — Not the prettiest website, but genuinely good material at fair prices

3. Fixed-Price Dealers (No Bidding Required)

Auctions can be stressful or fast-moving. Fixed-price shops let you browse and buy at your own pace. Coins on these platforms typically come with a guarantee of authenticity.

  • VCoins — vcoins.com — The largest ancient coin marketplace; coins guaranteed for life; primarily North American dealers

  • MA-Shops — ma-shops.com — Similar concept, primarily European dealers

  • CNG Fixed Price — cngcoins.com — High-end fixed-price stock from CNG

  • The Numis Place — thenumisplace.com

  • Forum Ancient Coins — forumancientcoins.com — Excellent dealer with a huge community attached

  • Scott Semans — coincoin.com — Specialist in Asian and African coins

  • Roman Coin Shop — romancoinshop.com — Dutch dealer focused on Roman material

  • Golden Rule Enterprises — goldenruleenterprises.org

  • CoinFoxa — coinfoxa.com — Searches across the entire numismatic market at once; useful for price comparisons

4. Uncleaned Coins (Buyer Beware)

You can buy bags of uncleaned, unattributed coins dug from the ground. It sounds exciting — and sometimes it is — but be aware that most sellers have already picked out the best pieces before selling the rest in bulk. Treat it as a fun experiment, not an investment.

5. Researching & Identifying Coins

This is where the real hobby begins. Attribution — figuring out exactly what you have — is a skill that takes years to develop, but these resources will get you started fast.

General References

Roman Coins

Greek & Hellenistic Coins

Roman Provincial Coins

  • RPC (Roman Provincial Coinage) — rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk — The searchable database for provincials; essential

Specialized References

6. Searching Previous Auction Results

Before buying anything, check what similar coins have sold for. This is how you learn fair market value and avoid overpaying.

  • acsearch.info — acsearch.info — The best archive by far; subscription required for prices, but worth it

  • CoinArchives — coinarchives.com — Best free alternative; six months of results with prices

  • Sixbid Coin Archive — sixbid-coin-archive.com — Another solid free option

  • RNumis — rnumis.com — Scanned old auctions; useful for provenance research

7. Avoiding Fakes

Fakes are a real problem in ancient coins. Learn early, before spending serious money. The following resources document known fakes, forgeries, and bad sellers:

8. Community & Forums

Ancient coin collectors are a genuinely welcoming community. Post your coins, ask questions, get attributions checked. These are the best places to do that:

9. Organizing Your Collection

You'll want a system early — trust us. Once your collection grows past a couple dozen coins, a spreadsheet starts to fall apart fast.

  • NumisVault — numisvault.com — Build your own personal numismatic website; handles historical currency conversion, provenance timelines, AI background removal, dashboards, printable tickets, and flexible sharing controls (private, themed sets, or public profile, with optional password locks). Free tier available.

  • Coin Cabinet — coincabinet.io — Subscription-based; polished, with AI-assisted attribution features

  • Open Numismat — opennumismat.github.io — Free and actively maintained; good desktop option if you prefer offline software

  • Mr. Collector Software — mrcollector.eu/software — Free

  • Obsidian — obsidian.md — Not coin-specific, but a powerful notes app that collectors use with plugins like Map View, Dataview, and Projects

10. Supplies & Cabinets

Store your coins properly. Ancient coins should be kept in inert, acid-free holders — never in cheap plastic flips. For display, wooden coin cabinets are the traditional and preferred method.

Cabinet Makers

Cleaning Tools

  • SE 51-Piece Hobby Set — Available on Amazon — Community-recommended starter kit for uncleaned coins

11. YouTube Channels

Sometimes a video explains things better than any text. These channels cover auctions, cleaning, history, and collecting:

  • Classical Numismatics (@leo) — General ancients

  • AncientNumis — Collecting & attribution

  • Coinman / Harlan Berk — The legend himself

  • Praefectus Coins — Live streams

  • History at Home — Coin cleaning

  • ICONIC COINS — Cleaning shorts

  • Original Skin Coins — Unboxing

  • Told in Stone — Mostly history now, still great

  • Ancient Coin Collector — General collecting

  • Treasure Town Coins — Coin sales & collecting

12. Literature & Further Reading

Good books make a huge difference. The standard references (Crawford for Roman Republican, RIC volumes for Imperial, Price for Alexander coinage) are cited constantly in the hobby.

  • Academia.edu — academia.edu — Free access to a huge range of numismatic papers and scholarship

  • Internet Archive — archive.org — Free, legitimate access to scanned public-domain numismatic books (BMC Greece volumes, Mionnet, Imhoof-Blumer, AMNG, older auction catalogs, and much more)

13. Collector Collections Worth Browsing

Learning to look at well-attributed, well-photographed coins is one of the fastest ways to train your eye:

14. Inspiration & Theme Ideas

Many collectors find it more satisfying to collect with a theme — all coins from one emperor, one city, one denomination, one time period. Here are some places to spark ideas:

Happy hunting — and remember, the best coin is the one that means something to you.