The Ancient Coin Market & Coin Collecting

As with the majority of ancient art and artifacts, archaeologists often uncover Roman coins in controlled excavations across Europe, the Near East, and Northern Africa. They are then cataloged and entered into museum collections for preservation. However, for coins in particular, metal detectorists also frequently find Roman coins either on purpose or by accident. Recently, in December 2021, a metal detectorist discovered a hoard of 9,724 Roman coins dated to around 251 to 274 CE while searching a field in Cambridgeshire, England (Prickett 2021). In this case, the coins were taken in for conservation at the British Museum following their discovery, and they are up for acquisition by other museums in the area. However, coins found in this manner are not consistently submitted to museum collections, and some are instead acquired by private collectors who maintain the documentation of provenance in the event that the coin is resold to a museum, another private collector, or a coin trading company.

In the Burkhart Collection, only two coin dealers who buy and sell Roman coins are mentioned by name: “Costal (Coastal?) Coins” and “Foothill Coins,” now known as Valley View Coins & Collectables in Santa Clarita, California. Although the metadata for the collection lists the name as “Costal,” this is most likely a misspelling of the Coastal Coin Company in Sarasota, Florida, one of the most reputable coin stores in the United States. 

The majority of the Burkhart collection was bought in the 1990s and early 2000s, which coincided with the explosion of the Internet as a platform for commerce and the founding of ecommerce websites like Ebay and Amazon. Both Coastal Coin Company and Valley View Coins & Collectables currently reside within brick-and-mortar stores while also hosting online stores that ship ancient coins directly to the buyer. Although we might assume that any fully online store is unreliable, one of the foremost coin companies in the United States, Capstone Acquisitions based in Austin, Texas, conducts all ancient Roman coins sales on Ebay and Amazon while maintaining membership in credited numismatic societies like the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG). As Roman coins become easier to access and purchase, more people around the world are able to build their own collections of ancient coins through these verified businesses.

Just as it was determined in the time of the Romans, the price of an ancient coin is primarily determined by the metal of which the coin is composed and how much that metal is worth at the time of purchase. The most expensive coins are those made of the most expensive metals, such as gold and silver, whereas coins made of less valuable metals like bronze and copper are typically less expensive to purchase. The Romans held what is known as a “metallist” perspective today, which takes into account the quality and quantity of precious metal within a coin to determine its worth (Scheidel 2010). The value of a Roman coin in the modern antiquities trade is entirely dependent upon the demand for that metal, which is in turn determined by the amount of that metal held in bank reserves, the value of the country’s currency, and inflation trends in that country. Therefore, the price of a Roman coin can fluctuate as the price for its metal fluctuates.

Though the authenticity of the Auben Gray Burkhart collection of Roman coins is verified, forgeries are abundant in the antiquities trade today, especially as the market shifts away from in-person shops in favor of the ease of online sales and auctions. However, this problem is not limited to the modern coin market. Innovations throughout history from ancient times to the 19th century made reproducing counterfeit coins easier and therefore made them more prevalent in the coin market. One counterfeit coin artist active in the mid to late 1800s, identified as M. Sazonov, admits that he invented one method of producing more valuable ancient coins out of less valuable ancient coins. He explains that he would choose a common silver or copper Greek coin, knock off the existing designs on each side, and replace the imagery with that of a more expensive coin while preserving the coin’s original patina (Golenko 1975). This account is just one example of how counterfeiters are able to create replicas of ancient coins that are almost indistinguishable from the real versions.

Another issue plaguing the coin market is the trafficking of cultural property, in which authentic ancient art and artifacts are illegally exported from their countries of origin to be sold to foreign buyers. For example, in the case of a Roman coin excavated in Italy, the seller or the buyer must obtain a permit authorized by the Italian government that allows them to transport the coin outside of the country’s borders. In 1970, UNESCO held the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property to regulate the laws regarding the trade of art and artifacts and prevent criminal activity in antiquities markets. Coins are listed as cultural property under Article 1 of the notes from the Convention: “antiquities more than one hundred years old, such as inscriptions, coins and engraved seals” (UNESCO 1970). The United States distinguishes its own laws regarding the illicit trafficking of ancient coins, which allows the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to seize any package suspected to be carrying trafficked coins and places full responsibility on the importer to acquire the proper permits for international transportation (Tompa 2022). Even with these international and domestic laws in place, trafficking continues in the market today, and artifacts such as coins must be purchased from a verified seller with a documented record of the item’s provenance.