I May Be Hooked, But What Ancient Coins Stir You?

Modern coin collectors try to make their coins look like they never served as coins. They value mint luster that 'in nature' disappears with a little real world exposure to any definition of 'the elements' including air and fingers. Ancient coins lost this natural newness a millenium or two ago. 99.9% have been cleaned or seriously need to be. Natural tone for 2000 year old silver is black. Handling coins that have been cleaned might, if anything, give them a boost in retoning rather than damaging them. Most collectors don't want 'natural' ancients but they want silver that looks like it is 20 years old (not 2000). Natural bronze patinas are prized more if they are a bit unnaturally even so many are polished or processed a bit. Pristine and perfect cleaned and smoothed coins might be better handled by the edges but that 2000 years of natural surface protectorant should be enough to guard coins from clean and dry hands.

 

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I like Roman Republican denarii, although I have only about a dozen. This one was authorized by C Calpurnius Piso L F Frugi about 67 b c

I like it for these reasons:

1. As are almost all RR denarii, it is almost pure silver.

2. It has a very artistic picture of Apollo on the obverse and in high relief. The obverses of his coins had just about the highest relief of any RR denarii and in fact the reverses were often cupped to enhance the obverses.

3. On the reverse, it has a rider on a horse which recalls the Ludi Apollinares (the Games of Apollo), which one of his ancestors helped start about 211 b c.

4. This coin is a fine example of control marks on RR denarii. On the left field of the Obv. is a symbol of a Bee, and on the upper field of the reverse is the letter B. Control marks were an attempt to track dies. This issue has almost 500 combinations of Obv and Rev control symbols, different for each die. This means that my coin is the only combinations of dies out of almost 500 that has the Bee and letter B combination, which makes it rather Rare(in the sense of very few known but not worth any more than any common denarii, since most collectors care little for such minor variations.)

5. It has a

 

Regarding your 4th point. I am one of those collectors that seek out die combinations, errors, and varieties because they can make a common coin rare or a rare coin rarer.

 

Well sir, you can just go ape [blank] nuts in ancients then. Seriously, KNOWLEDGE is all that is required to find coins that maybe 4 exist in the world for a low price. They aren't worth a ton because there aren't many others who collect them, but if someone wishes to educate themselves and buy cheaply some extremely rare coins this is the perfect hobby for you.

 

Why did I have to chase the $$$$? Why didn't I just follow my dreams of being an archaeologist? Well, better late than never to jump in. Who knows where it may lead?

 

Well, um, archeologist is pretty much a dirty word to ancient collectors nowadays. Its sad, as our hobby used to work closely with them, but they have spent the last 30 years in a all out war to destroy our hobby.

 

Indiana Jones is really cool, but not all archaeological finds belong in museums. I believe it all needs to be studied in context of the dig site and culture, then most of the minor pieces can be sold on the open market. Unless every town had a museum, what would be the use of everything going to museums to sit in their basements never to be seen again because they do not have the space to display them?

I know, I know, I am preaching to the choir.

 

OK, just for the fun of it and for comparison purposes, I purchased a random cleaned Roman or Greek coin for $2.49, including the shipping.

 

Sometimes stuff like that can be fun. I'm guessing you'll get a 4th century Roman coin. At that price, it may not be in the best shape, so this site will be extremely helpful for identification if you're having trouble reading the legends.

 

Here's one that got me hooked , now I have to get a few more . I think this is Marci Veiled .

 

Great piece!

 

Thank you Gao,

rzage, if I may ask, what is your purpose for acquiring multiple of the same coin?

 

I meant , I want to get a few more ancients , not more of the same one . I always collected mostly US Type coins , now that I have seen how beautiful they are in hand and that you can actually touch them I'd like more , maybe some more Roman and definitely some Greek owl and dolphin coins .

 

That sounds a lot like me, except I won't have my first ones in hand for another day or three.

 

I'm sure you'll love them , the one thing holding me back is I really have no more shelf space left for books . And the great thing about collecting is learning about the coins their history and the lives of the people on them .

 

Don't let that stop you. My coin library only takes about 30 feet of shelf space but is growing at a much slower rate now that there is so much available online. I probably could cut back to half that without noticing much if I disposed of books I'l probably not refer to again. While books are very nice, there is a lot online now so you could collect for a few years and not feel the requirement for more than a couple feet of books.

 

Again, I know what you mean. I love books, especially reference books, but my shelf space is limited at the moment.

 

This is not the first ancient I received, but it is the first I agreed to purchase and the only one I have a picture of at this time. It came in a 2X2, but I could not resist the urge to actually hold the coin itself and wonder . . . . . . . .

 

That is why I always use flips or envelopes. I cannot stand the thought I cannot hold a coin if I wish.

 

Wow, nice coin. Here is a modern Italian silver coin that is very similar on the obverse side.