3 Steps to Start An Ancient Coin Collection
Museums are great places to see and learn about historical artefacts dating back thousands of years, but have you ever wondered what it would be like to hold such a thing rather than look at it behind a glass case?
Well, the truth is that anyone can do this by collecting ancient coins.
In fact, many coins from ancient civilisations such as the Romans and the Egyptians are not sitting in museums.
Instead, they are held in private collections or traded among the large community of ancient coin collectors around the globe.
This short guide will explain how you can get into ancient coin collecting and offer a few tips for success.
1. Choose a theme
“Ancient” coins is an extremely broad term that encompasses coin collection from many different civilizations across a huge expanse of time.
Rather than buying up anything that falls within this broad definition, most collectors find it a lot more fun and exciting to focus on a particular theme within it.
Some examples of themes might be particular denominations of coin, coins from specific periods of time, coins featuring the images of particular leaders, coins composed of particular metals such as silver or nickel, or coins which contain mistakes. See these 4 Mistakes To Avoid When Starting A Business.
One popular theme among ancient Roman coin collectors is to try and collect a coin featuring the image of each emperor.
Choose your theme based on what interests you, the level of challenge you are willing to accept, and the budget you have available, which brings us to the next step.
2. Set your budget
One of the most important decisions you will make is deciding how much you want to spend on your hobby. This will affect the theme you choose.
For example, on specialist auction sites like Coins Auctioned – ancient Roman coins can have an asking price of as little as $10, but old South American coins typically start at around $60.
The materials, age, and condition of the coins can affect their prices too.
When setting your budget, you should also factor in other things you will need like display albums or holders, as well as materials to clean and preserve your coins.
3. Scale up
We’ve all had hobbies that have captured our interest for a while but then didn’t work out.
While ancient coin collecting is a lot of fun for many people, there are inevitably some who will try it and then decide that it’s either not as interesting as they thought or who don’t have the time or money they’d really like to commit to it.
In case this happens to you, it is sensible to begin by collecting less expensive items such as lower-grade coins.
These are coins that are less well preserved. Once you are sure that it’s a hobby you want to pursue, you can spend more money. You can also check out these 25 Fun Classes To Take As Hobby.
Conclusion
There are a number of ways to collect coins, and ultimately you will want to find a way that fits with your personality, interests, and budget.
Then, you can start setting goals for your collection, such as collecting every denomination of coin issued during a certain emperor’s reign. Remember to start small and have fun.
