At a recent coin show, not long ago, I purchased 6 ancient Greek coins, 1 fairly old Japanese and 1 Spanish treasure coin. I don't usually dive into a stack of unknowns unless I know a little bit about what I am doing as my stash got out of control, lapping up coins like a hungry cat on a dish of cream. So, with not the irrational exuberance I used to be under, I have been shedding more common coins and looking to be the only one holding a certain item. So, after asking a coupla dealers what they were worth, I went ahead and bought a bag of unknowns. Right off the bat I sold one for about what I had in the whole stash, so figuring I was onto something, I had the rest of them graded and was quite happy with the results.
Got back coins from early as the 5th century BC and I am very excited about 'branching out' as it were.
I find that in ancient Greece, there were thousands (2000+) polis's [city states] and each one made its own money/coins/currency. That being said, delving into their history, dates (which are not on the coins) and pedigree (where and when they are from) can be a daunting task. Just going on line and putting in what you think may lead you to your coin, is a fool's errand, unless you have unlimited time and even as a retired fellow, there are 'other things'.
So, I had NGC do the legwork, and now I'm taking it from there. I have seen that NGC doesn't cooperate a lot as there are no census figures, actual dates, prices and so on. And with that being said, they don't even recognize the coin beyond their description, so to put one a set, much less the registry, one must begin jumping through hoops. So, be sure you are on track you want to be on. I am going to pursue this avenue as I believe it will lead me down an unknown [to me] history lesson of the 1st magnitude.
I am going to attempt to put up pictures of my Greek Treasures, but if not here, perhaps you could go to my set registry and see them there.
Anyway, happy collections to all.
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