A Fascinating and Affordable Hobby
It is easy to get started collecting these authentic artifacts of history. They are surprisingly inexpensive
and you don’t have to worry about being sold a fake if you follow a few simple
steps. The best investment at first would be $15.00 to $25.00 for a good
general reference on ancient or Roman coins. There are three titles that
represent excellent value for the price you will pay for them. These are:
Handbook of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins by Zander H. Klawans, The Handbook of
Roman Imperial Coins by David Van Meter, and Ancient Coin Collecting by Wayne
G. Sayles.
The coins vary in price over an extremely wide range. Because a coin is old does not guarantee that
it will be expensive. You can get coins for as little as a dollar in some
cases, but you can get ones that are in remarkably nice condition for as little
as $15 in most dealer's shops. For $50, you can get most of the common ones
after A. D. 260 in "uncirculated" condition. These are well struck up
with a beautiful glossy brown patina on Fourth Century coins or with most of
the silver plating intact on late Third Century pieces. For the collector of Late Roman coins there are
several good references, though most are written for scholars and even the ones
written for beginners do not provide introductory material to help the beginner
make sense out of what he or she is seeing wen looking at these coins for the
first time.
It must be remembered that these coins were meant to both serve as
money, and to spread government propaganda (patriotic messages?) to people in
all corners of the empire who spoke a wide variety of languages. Since few of
the common people could read, the art on coins consisted of symbolic devices
that carried a standard meaning. Also, the symbols and shorthand on coins were
intended to convey meaning to the vast majority of the population who could not
read. Lest the modern collector look
at an image of a temple on a Roman coin showing both the inside and outside of
the building, or a figure with oversize hands and come to the conclusion that
the Roman mint artists were primitive, it should be realized that art on the
coins was a sophisticated mode of visual communication. By grouping certain
symbols together, a coin could convey a very complex message.
Source: jaysromanhistory.com