This is being written at the start of a brand new year, 1986. It marks the beginning of my second quarter century in the ancient coin business. I thought I would spend this issue reminiscing about the differences in the hobby then and now— 1961 vs. 1986.

If there is one overwhelming disparity between the two periods it would be in the area of availability. It was very difficult to find an ancient coin for sale in most of America in the early sixties. All of the important coin dealerships in the United States specialized in American coins. Crown size silver coins and exotic foreign gold coins were also prevalent. Occasionally a US dealer would have a selection of famous Greek and Roman gold coins. These were stocked to please the wealthy gold coin buyer. But selection of tetradrachms, denarii and miscellaneous bronzes were seldom stocked. Rarely did an American coin auction devote itself to ancients. They seemed to appear at the same ratio as described above. Some Americans, though, were acquiring large numbers of ancient coins. These people were either servicemen stationed in North Africa, Greece, Italy, Turkey or Germany after WWII, or they were tourists visiting these areas as well as the major cities of England, France, Holland and Switzerland where major coin dealerships resided. The 1950's saw the initiation of this coin buying of ancients. The coins that were acquired by these individuals did not really hit the US market until the mid 1960's.

At this time there were only a handful of full time dealers specializing in ancient coins. People like Fred Knobloch and Salton-Schlesinger in New York City, Chris Blom and Bruce Braun in up state New York, Charles Wolfe in Ohio, Ed Gans in Berkeley California and yours truly in Venice, California were the pioneers of mail order dealers in ancients. We began to buy from servicemen returning from Europe and many of us made several buying trips to Europe each year. Those were the halcyon days for myself and my colleagues. The American dollar bought over four Swiss Francs, there were no fears of airplane hijackings and thus no security problems at the airports. Most European customs practices were easy on travelers carrying coins across their borders.

All of this has changed dramatically in recent years. A dealer does not always like to have to expose his coin purchases at security stops at airports. One always has to wonder if a fellow passenger who noticed the coins was the local "Raffles" who would proceed to rob the coin satchel after landing. Most customs officials require dealers to list all of the coins to be brought into the country, leave a deposit and than review what if any coins were sold before leaving the country and paying a duty.

Despite these impediments, the investment boom decade of the seventies has seen two major changes. Instead of a handful of American ancient coin dealers, there are now dozens. And they are located all over the country not just on the coasts. To supply the stocks of this increase of dealers "Mother Earth" has been the accomplice. Modern technology produced the mine detector for war. Its conversion to metal detector in time of peace has uncovered literally thousands of ancient coins that otherwise would still lay in the ground. These hoards are usually brought from the countries of origin to Switzerland were they were disseminated amongst the European and American coin dealers who, in turn, make them available to people like those of you who are reading this article. Yet despite the influx of these hoard coins the prices of ancient coins when compared to the prices of modern coins are still priced in the bargain area. When the large preponderance of American coin buyers find out about the bargains they are missing in the ancient field, then the prices may soar....

written 21 years later in May 2007 by Michael G. Malter

It's now May 2007 and what's different? Probably everything! Prices have in fact soared since 1986, the hoards of the 70's and 80's are memories, and the scarcity of dealers that went from a few in the 1960's, to dozens in the 70's and 80's, have with the advent of the internet in the 90's, soared to the hundreds. I guess you could probably say, to the thousands, if you include everyone selling ancient coins on Ebay. Then 911 happened and all businesses worldwide including the ancient coin business came to a halt but fortunately things are once again back to "business as usual". Yes the ancient business has really changed since I was a kid. Most of the dealers are new, as many have graduated from collector to dealer. Many of our old clients are now selling their wares on Vcoins as well as on their own websites. I guess this is good as competition is good for the soul of business. All that being said, in my opinion the biggest change that has most dramatically effected the ancient coin business are today's tough US and international laws which make it more and more difficult to deal in and collect ancients. Hopefully the US as well as the rest of the world will wake up and realize how important it is to be able study and collect the past.

Last June we held what turned out to be my father's last auction. It was the sale of his prized numismatic library. It had all of the makings of a really great auction. A library that had taken a lifetime to assemble was going to be sold at my dad's home over a 2 day period. As one dealer recently said to me, "the auction had all of the ingredients of a perfect storm". Everything fell into place the morning of that fateful day, June 4 ^th 2007. Collectors and dealers from around the country and around the world were all represented in my dad's library that hot and humid day. Little was I to know what would transpire at the conclusion of that first, so successful session of the auction. After several hours of hammering down record prices on his important coin books, the first session was over! I remember congratulating my dad and saw so many of his friends and colleagues do the same. It was a great feeling to see my dad so happy and proud! His books had found new homes with dealers and collectors around the world. My father always told me that nobody really owns anything, especially ancient coins, antiquities, books and collectibles, as sooner or later, the time comes for another to take over custodianship. His time came only hours after seeing his prized library sell on the auction block. "What better way to go than on top", I've been told by many!  He died only hours after the first day of the auction had concluded at the age of 75.

On this the one year anniversary of that auction and his passing I would like to personally thank everyone from around the world who sent such kind emails, condolence cards and letters to the me and my family. It was extremely meaningful and wonderful to see such a huge outpouring of heartfelt sympathy. So many nice stories and experiences have been conveyed to me about my dad's effect on their numismatic and personal lives. My dad never felt he had that many friends. Boy was he wrong! It really strange that sometimes you don't really know who your friends are until it's too late.

The past year has been tough for my family and I. Big shoes are not easy to fill. I now more than ever have a mission. That being to continue the family company business that he so proudly began out of our garage in Venice back in 1961. For as long as I do, I believe that his spirit will flourish and help guide me forward for the rest of my life.