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The profession of ancient
coin dealer is among the more unusual, interesting ways to earn
a living. Offering ancient coins for sale is one of the most exclusive
professions - in all the world there
are only a few hundred ancient coin dealers, who are in many cases very
interesting and often colorful individuals.
The greatest attraction
to
dealing in ancient coins is that it is such a fascinating
field. Unlike modern coins, all struck alike on high speed
machinery, ancient coins were struck with hammers impacting hand held dies every second or two. This
caused innumerable
variations between individual coins struck from the same dies, and since
every die was engraved by
hand, no two ancient coins are exactly alike. Every ancient coin is to
some extent unique and different.
Offering Greek and Roman
coins for sale to collectors is a challenge when undertaken as a
business, rather than a hobby. A large, costly numismatic
reference library is essential for an ancient coin dealer. Although the
library of Classical Coins took more than ten years to acquire and
is still being added to, it
hasn't yet been inventoried. More than 200 lineal feet of numismatic books
have now been shelved, amounting to far more than 1000 titles and a six
figure investment. Another capital intensive challenge is coin inventory. Collectors
expect a large
and comprehensive selection of attractive ancient coins to choose from. Being extremely value
conscious, they also expect bargain prices. Since many issues sell rapidly while others may take
years to find the right collector, there is a constant struggle to
maintain an attractive, balanced inventory.
Dealers are
essential to the economic cycle of coin collecting. Very few
collectors give this aspect of their avocation any thought, but dealers
are the key to providing attractive coins for collectors to acquire and
a market for collections when the time has come to sell. Dealers make the market, evening things out
by providing
continuity at sales in very much the same way as specialists on the New York Stock Exchange.
A
coin dealer's life is hard for collectors to visualize. Much painstaking
research must be done in authenticating, attributing and cataloguing
coins offered for sale. Homework for acquisitions is essential, and a dealer who does not pay attention to this will not be in
business long. When Classical Coins bids on a coin at an auction or makes
an offer for a collection, the selling price has already been accurately
estimated, involving as many as a dozen price comparisons per coin.
Processing orders is meticulous, time consuming detail work in which
absolute accuracy is essential - more than a dozen individual steps are
involved. When an order is received, the coin(s) are
first retrieved from the vault. Each order must then be
entered into the accounting system, invoiced, billed, and after funds are
received, packaged and shipped. An
accountant is a prohibitive financial burden for a small business, so David
has to fill that role at Classical Coins as well as that of webmaster. The task of developing a
major commercial website such as Classical Coins must be experienced to be
believed.
David's life as a dealer in ancient coins is the subject of the Classical
Coins Blog.
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