Ok, i saw an auction on Ebay for ‘1000 Uncleaned Roman Coins’
they are at 2.00 each (Dutch Auction) and i was wondering if anyone could tell me if they would be real at that price?
i mean, $2.00?
the auction ends tomorrow and if anyone could give me some info it would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
When I was in Israel (this is about 11 years ago), I bought a coin that old for the equivalent of about $15 US. So as a starting bid in the auction (which is usually intentionally lower than market value in order to attract interest), $2 each doesn’t seem to me to be so low as to indicate fraud.
There are a truly amazing number of Roman coins still around. Many places sell uncleaned coins. These coins are all small bronze coins (about dime size or smaller) that aren’t worth much. Think about it, it’s not even worth the dealer’s time to clean them.
Here is a site that sells them. I don’t know anything about this person, but this page has a lot of information. For example, slugs may be mixed in with the coins. It also discusses the grade of the coins.
http://members.spree.com/business/magic1112/coins.htm
The most expensive coins on this site are only $1.50. So the ebay auction is actually more expensive. If you buy from the auction, make sure what grade of coin you are buying. You probably won’t be happy with a low grade coin, which may be broken or have a hole in it.
Go ahead and buy a coin like this if you want. Read up on the proper way to clean it and enjoy owning a real coin from ancient Rome. Just understand that the coin is only worth a dollar or so.
Do a search for roman coins on ebay - I suspect you will find that they are constantly being auctioned off. So you don’t stand to lose much by thinking things over.
The oldest Roman coin I have seen is over 2200 years old. (It’s stamped “225 BC”) It cost a few bucks, but hey - it probably went a long way in ancient Rome.
“225 BC”? That sounds a bit fishy. How did the Romans know it was 225 BC if Christ had not been born yet.Me-thinks you have a fake.
Hey, I’d like to get me one of those. I could keep it in the display case with my skeleton of Columbus when he was a child. 
I actually have a bronze roman coin hanging up on my wall. My grandfather bought it. Being the restrained tasteful sort, he noticed the reign it was under, then pasted it next to the excerpt from the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not about the “Emperor Who Strangled Himself With His Own Hands!!!” <---- the exclamation points are important. 
It would go well with the Ming Vase that has "dishwasher safe" engraved on itAnd, of course, don’t forget the 19th C. Navajo earthenware plates marked “microwave safe.”
Jesus’ high school graduation picture was available a few years ago but I think the Vatican bought it.
…from an e-bay merchant, and really, only one or two looked authentic enough to be from Roman times. I cleaned them as best I could, however, and gave them as Christmas presents. (I wrapped the presents and then used the coin as a “seal” on the ribbon! - I’m not thatcheap!:D)
Quasi
Did you buy 'em?
This might be a good investment if you find away to sell them for $4 a piece. I think if you’re looking for invesmenting in Roman coins silver or gold might be better. But those can be real expensive. I only have 1 roman coin. A copper from the Emperor P… damn, forgot his name. He didn’t live very long but he did beat a German army so he put that on the back of his coin.
Investmenting?
Well, I saw it and figured it was obvious what I meant and decided not to take up space but since you asked.
I orginally was going to type investment, and then changed my mind to investing as I was typing it.
BR
Sorry, thought it was just one of those annoying made-up words like ‘Leveraging’ and ‘educationalizing’
quite alright. I had a problem of double or triple posting with little add-ons saying stuff like “when I said ‘teh tree’ I meant ‘the tree.’” And I thought that was really annoying people. no biggie, salam
I’m not an expert, here, but I have talked to experts. As a very rough rule of thumb, anything older than 300 years that is uncorroded, costs $2 and has recognizable faces is very likely to be fake.
$2 buys you, from a reputable dealer, a heavily corroded coin which is liable to have been very common in its day. In the way of perspective, it’s hard to imagine getting excited about a buying a $2 Lincoln cent that’s so destroyed no words can be recognized.
There are factories in Europe that turn out “antiques”. $2 may not seem like a lot to pay, but if the cost of producing the fake is only 10 cents, then it’s a viable business.
In the way of comparison, it’s estimated that something like 60%-75% of Impressionist paintings on the market are fake. It’s a big industry, and not the place for novices to go shopping for deals.
this isn’t to say that there aren’t a lot of Roman coins out there. Rome was a country of up to 50 million people. And the coined coins for about 1,000 years. That’s a lot of coins out there. They still find hidden cashes of coins in Britain, buried when the Romans left and the Anglo-Saxons attacked. So there were probably billions of coins minted under Rome, which might be part of the reason why they’re so cheap. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s expensive. It’s supply/demand. If there’s not enough demand, prices will fall. I think a good Roman copper would go from 40 to 150 dollars, depending on its era and number of coins in the production. But P. Warmer is right, it is easy to make fakes and sell to rubes. You should buy from a dealer who has a history and gives you a certificate of authenticity.
I just HAVE to know if you were serious about that 225BC coin lucwarm???
If so, I REALLY want one, for it is one of the funniest things I have heard in a long time!
Where did you see it?
— G. Raven
I used to work in for an ancient coin firm. But while I probably know more than most people, I’m not an expert per se. My background was more administrative assistant than coin cataloguer, dealer or numismatist.
The coins are likely real, albeit low grade and common (as far as Roman coins go). I doubt it’s economically feasible to forge low grade coins. More expensive coins are more popular forgery items. (By the way, one quick and dirty way to check if a coin is a forgery is to check if there’s a “seam” along the edge of the coin. However, no one way is foolproof).
My advice is not to buy ancient coins as an investment. The relatively illiquid market (a coin may be listed as being worth X dollars, but that doesn’t do you any good if you can’t find a buyer. Generally, American coins have a more reliable market, for example). I enjoy Roman and Greek coins, and have a handful myself, so I’m not recommending against collecting them–just investing. And yes, it IS possible to make money–it’s just not easy.
brother rat, do you still have the coin? If so, can you look up (and post) the legend (on the obverse- “heads” side of the coin)? I could probably tell you who the emperor is with that info. The guess here is that it’s Postumus or Probus…most of the other candidates, such as Pertinax or Pescennius Niger, weren’t around very long. Their coins would be expensive.
Um, most Greek and Pre Roman Empire (ie, Roman Republic) coins are undated. The Roman Empire coins are usually dated by the ruler’s regnal year (eg. “COS XII”). There won’t be a “BC” or “AD”…