4 ms·
What you're looking for is a coin with a documented provenance, basically that its modern history of ownership is known and traceable. The word used by numismat
by AlotOfReading 3y ago
What you're looking for is a coin with a documented provenance, basically that its modern history of ownership is known and traceable. The word used by numismatists is pedigree. Pedigreed Roman coins are widely available for relatively cheap prices ($100-$300) through reputable dealers.
- raminf 3y agoThe trouble is finding a "reputable" dealer and a trustable path of provenance. I've been looking around for a set of specific coins from the 6th Century. They show up in searches but range from $20-$500. You can't tell if you're getting the real thing or a knock-off. Few have an escrow mechanism so you don't know if you're throwing your money into the void. So many of the websites raised red flags that I just stopped looking.
- fsckboy 3y agois the modern pedigree/provenance of value because you don't want to buy stolen coins? or is it faked coins? or something else? I favor provenance, but my primary interest is ancient provenance. Authenticity of course, but I find coinage of obscure satraps with brief reigns interesting just because they nail down a small geography and time period, as opposed to say an Alexander the Great coin which, who knows, there were a ton of them everywhere.
- AlotOfReading 3y agoI don't personally collect, but as a (former?) archaeologist I have both some familiarity with the subject and a pretty strong distaste for looting. Provenance is just plain necessary for any sort of good academic work on historical artifacts. Only time I've directly purchased coinage was for the purposes of melting down into a ring for my now-wife, and that had provenance paperwork just to ensure I wasn't enriching modern looters.