/r/AncientCoins
A place to show off and discuss ancient and medieval coins from around the world, as well as to post links to articles and other references about them.
Need an ID? PLEASE HELP US HELP YOU BY POSTING PHOTOS OF BOTH SIDES OF EACH COIN & preferably photos of its edge as well. If you have trouble using reddit's own photo hosting please try the imgur app or go to https://imgur.com/upload.
Memes, joke posts & other shitposts may only be posted here on the last day of each Gregorian calendar month.
This is the place to show off and discuss ancient and medieval coins from around the world, as well as to post links to articles and other references about them. Posting non-coin antiquities is also OK, but we may not be able to tell you much about them.
If you would like our help in identifying a specimen PLEASE HELP US HELP YOU BY POSTING PHOTOS OF BOTH SIDES OF THE COIN and preferably photos of its edge as well. You can host the photos using the imgur app or by going to https://imgur.com/upload to make an album/gallery of them.
Please DON'T make more than one post for the same coin or group of coins unless asked specifically by a moderator. Use an imgur.com album/gallery to show multiple photos of the same coin(s).
This is a relatively small and slow-moving subreddit, so it may take a little while to get answers to your questions. If you are posting from a relatively new account and/or one low in karma your post will need to be manually approved. This usually shouldn't take more than 2 or 3 hours, and certainly no more than 24.
Please contact us via modmail if you think there's a problem.
Our Wiki/FAQ:
Can be found here. Among other things it contains links to galleries of some of our members' coins. Link to original "Post your gallery" thread - http://redd.it/2obp6t
Subreddit rules: /r/AncientCoins/about/rules/
It's fine to publicize your own ancient and medieval coin-related blogs, websites, YouTube channels, etc. or ones by other people. It's also fine to offer to buy and sell ancient and medieval coins here and discuss sales taking place on /r/CoinSales and on other websites.
Please just try to not be annoying about it.
If you'd like to publicize your coins for sale on eBay please use /r/CoinBay instead.
Thanks, and good luck with your projects and building your knowledge and collection.
Trusted sites to purchase coins
(You may want to purchase from sellers in your same country to simplify the transaction, but international sales are quite common.)
These venues are generally considered trustworthy and professional:
(Thanks to /u/KungFuPossum)
Related Discord https://discord.gg/erQ62ePm
Useful links to attribute (ID) ancient and medieval coins:
FORVM ANCIENT COINS: Imperial Roman Coin Attribution 101 - The Short Course and The Late Roman Bronze Coin Attribution Toolkit
Wildwinds ancient and medieval coins (This is a great site, and there are a lot of links at the bottom of that page to more great info)
The Ancient Coin Search Engine (acsearch.info) compiles auction results and information from a number of reliable sources.
CoinProject.com is billed as a free collaborative, non-commercial numismatic research website - check it out.
Helvetica's Identification Help Page is a very helpful resource for identifying Roman coins. The site hosts downloadable spreadsheets to help you attribute your coins.
The Encyclopedia of Roman Imperial Coins Vol. I is available from the author as a free and legal download in zipped PDF format HERE.
David M. Schaps' "The Invention of Coinage and the Monetization of Ancient Greece" is available online as a PDF file HERE, though it may be an unauthorized source.
Online booklet for beginners: How to Collect Ancient Roman Coins, in PDF format.
Deciphering Roman Coin Inscriptions By Kevin Barry.
/u/semicolonlife suggested the resource OCRE, the Online Coins of the Roman Empire at numismatics.org/ocre, as well as coinarchives.com.
/u/acs14 suggested the online edition of Identifying Late Roman Bronze Coins.
/u/StickyReggae suggests DirtyOldCoins.com's reference page with links to useful coin databases.
/u/jjlava suggests the Ancient Roman and Greek Coins FAQ. It's a nice little beginner's guide.
User /u/sir_squidz recommends these links for those of us who love British Celtic coinage: Van Arsdel Celtic Coinage of Britain and The UK Portable Antiquties Scheme
User /u/Savixe has a great new YouTube channel, Classical Numismatics, that goes over the basics: getting started in ancient Roman coins, attribution and reading them. This is a GREAT visual resource for beginners - exceedingly well done!
/u/MrCheesyfuntime reminds us to check Forum Ancients Coins' "Notorious Fake Sellers List" when buying coins online.
Thanks go to /u/Whizb4ng for helping us with this list. If any of you have suggestions to augment this list please message the mods, thanks.
Please be sure to visit these other fine subreddits:
/r/AncientCoins
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Tiberius Denarius
Picked up this lovely Tiberius today - my 37th emperor and priciest thus far, but the quality left me no choice. Hard to find Tiberius so fine!
Now to find similar quality Augustus…
14:00 UTC
MYSIA, Kyzikos. Circa 550-450 BC. EL Stater (23mm, 16.03 g).
Forepart of winged lioness left; to right, tunny upward / Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze I 96; Greenwell 117; cf. Boston MFA 1438 (hekte); SNG BN 237; BMC –; FSD –; Gillet –; Gulbenkian –; Jameson –; Myrmekion –; cf. Rosen 472 (hekte); Weber –. Edge splits. VF. Well centered.
Provenance: Numiscorner Vol#2, Los 981 Ex CNG Auction 120, Los 296 From the Siren Collection.
09:58 UTC
Where to start?
Hi everyone so I’ve always been a big history fan and I’ve decided to start collecting coins, any good sites where I could statr at?
05:58 UTC
Hi! I recently stumbled upon this book. Would you say it's a solid resource on the coinage of the late Roman Republic and early Empire?
I was wondering if this book provides a good starting point for exploring the topic.
Any advice would be appreciated!
04:44 UTC
A little late to the party, but here's my first coin of 2025!
00:12 UTC
Macedonia Roman protectorate tetradrachm
Hello, i got this one from my father, and was wondering how much is it worth? Prices online vary greatly, and I'm just curious about it
22:16 UTC
Seutes III uncertain coin
Hi all!
Can you please help me with some opinions.
I've bought this coin from ebay shop, where is said this is Seutes III (Kings of Thrace/Odrysian kingdom) 18mm, 3.98 gr.
Once in my hand it looks extremely lovely coin, the only one I have.
I have some doubts because many coins have similar design and this one is not exactly the very same like the published known examples.
In your opinion, what is the chances for that coin to be Seutes III?
The hourse side looks like the 6th and the face looks like the 4th examples here: https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/thrace/kings/seuthes_III/i.html
21:31 UTC
How do we know these are mules?
22:06 UTC
Anyone else still thinking about this Tetradrachm that sold at CNG last month? Absolute stunner!
21:38 UTC