Ancient numismatics, it never gets old!!

In the past several months I've taken up ancient coins. This area includes ancient Greek coinage through the Byzantine (aka Romaion) empire, and also includes non-classical (ie non-Western) ancient coins like those from ancient Persians, Indians, Asians, etc. The Byzantine empire roughly ran through the 6th and 15th centuries, AD, so that also overlaps with medieval coinage. What sets both ancient and medieval coinage apart from modern coinage is that they were hammer-struck instead of milled/machine-struck. Ancients were also in some instances casted in molds, but these are seldom encountered.

In numismatics you often read that it's prudent to specialize in some area; for example, if you collect US coins, you would take up Barber coinage, or more specifically Barber halves or Barber dimes. It seems to me that Roman coins are the most popular, due to their abundance, affordability, Latin legends (provincial coinage tends to have a mix of Latin and Greek or just Greek though), etc. Just like with modern coins, I find all ancient coins appealing but my collection so far is largely Roman Imperial, so this starts with Augustus around 27 BC through the end of the western part of the empire around late 5th century AD.

Like moderns, ancients are graded by professional, independent companies. This phenomenon appears to be picking up a little, since the majority of encapsulated coins tend to be moderns. This may be due to the collecting proclivities of collectors, and prices for grading older coins versus moderns. I enjoy all kinds of ancient coins, including ones that have the extra protection and pleasing museum-quality aesthetic of a sealed holder, not to mention the concise attribution included on the label by an expert.

Raw ancients though are far more common, and affordable. You have two options though: purchase "uncleaned" ones or cleaned/conserved coins. My preference is the former because I find cleaning them the most fulfilling and exciting part of ancient numismatics so far. I have even started a Instagram account to exhibit my conservation practices and coins. I put "uncleaned" in quotes because I've read a few times that no ancient coins are ever acquired totally uncleaned. In other words, at some point, either during extraction from burial sites or afterwards, the coins are to some extent separated, inspected, picked at, etc. This may be true, but to collectors we are fully aware of the connotations words like cleaned, partially cleaned, and uncleaned have. When I purchase uncleaned coins, they must have obscured details due to mineralization of/outside the coin. The coins look like and are in some sense fossils. A conserved ancient is expected to be cleaned, which is the opposite of modern coins, but cleaning must be done cautiously and with least harm to natural occurring patina and/or underlying coin.

Non-collectors that I've shared my passion for ancient numismatics with are shocked sometimes to hear that uncleaned coins are so affordable and still available. Considering the many centuries of being minted and burials of coins--since banks did not exist back then--ancients are very affordable and easily obtained in encrusted states of preservation. Ancient coins are a collector's dream come true! These primary sources of ancient history are available for a few to several dollars each, or less if details are minimally showing through. Prices increase substantially depending on the popularity of the figures/emperors on the coin, its origin, and its condition or level of detail.  

There's so much depth to this area of coin collecting that it's overwhelming to non-collectors and even numismatists who haven't studied it. I only took the dive recently after several years of collecting moderns; I am glad I did though. Like with my other collecting endeavors, I've continually read up on the hobby, but also am getting more familiar with the history surrounding these coins when they circulated. There are many projects to be undertaken with ancient coins, something hard to beat in other areas of numismatics.