Reply #4: I prefer to buy coins at shows [View All]

I have made many many successful mail order purchases over the years, but I still prefer going to shows. The best shows are the big state "conventions" such as the American Numismatic Association shows. They attract dealers from all over the region, and the country, and they have a much larger variety.
A couple of good mail order sources are Ken Pine's: Coast to Coast coins, Pegasi Numismatics, and Spartan Numismatics.
Do a google search on "ancient coins" "Rome" or Greece, or Persia, or Judea... there are several dealers.

www.coinworld.com is a good magazine about the hobby. They probably have show schedules in their classified ad section.

The good think about collecting ancient coins is that there aren't a whole lot of others that collect them! That keeps the prices down and the varieties abundant.
A lot of the ancient coin dealers also sell antiquities. i.e. ancient jewelry, religious artifacts, household goods, war implements etc. I haven't bought any of them yet, but it's only a matter of time.