Angry Jew Cat - Banned for Life

Look around for some of the larger Numismatics groups. There's lots of good forums and yahoo groups, many of which have "trusted dealer" lists. The risk is always there that you could wind up picking up fakes, and even experienced collectors can get caught on some good Bulgarian fakes, especially on eBay. Takes some reading up and I'm still learning myself. Some of the giveaways are in the eyes on the bust, and the thickness of lettering. Perfectly circular pieces are another dead giveaway. Ancient coins were struck, not cast, and a more skilled eye can tell by looking around the edg sof the coins for signs that the coin was actually cast. there's some good references with visual aids for picking out fakes. A keep point to consider when looking at auctions is that you have a good detailed picture, and that the seller is offering the EXACT coin pictured. Never buy from lots. Also, don't be tricked by people selling 1 kilo lots of uncleaneds on eBay and such. Or the guys who sell uncleaneds in lots of 500 for $500. These have been picked through like mad, most of what you'll get is small bronze many the size of a pencil eraser head, with little or no details (called slugs). You're basically buying chunks of garbage. This is a far bigger risk to run than acquiring fakes. A lot of the bronze coins from that 100-400 AD era really aren't all that rare at all. Millions of bronze were buried in that era, as there were no banks, and men buried their entire savings when they went off to war. Excavators with metal detectors can go out and find hundreds in a day. Even on eBay you can pop online and buy common authentic precleaned coins with good detail remaining for as little as $10/piece. Be weary buying anything out of Bulgaria for fear of fakes, and do not risk purchases from Turkey as it's actually illegal for them to sell out of the country. You risk the package never leaving the country.