New to Ancients

yeh good advice.

 

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For beginners I recommend this site:
http://esty.ancients.info/numis/
which answers frequently-asked-questions. It is part of a larger site:
http://esty.ancients.info/
which has pages of many varieties.
But I agree with a previous recommendation that you visit and explore Doug's pages:
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/
which are endlessly interesting.

 

I couldn't hold out not owning something and picked this up from Forum. I loved the look of it and was really interested in the Incuse Square thread. Gotta start somewhere.

Sorry about the crappy iPad photos

1/12 Stater Miletos, Ionia

 

Nice coin for a first buy!

 

great first ancient!!!

 

These are nice little coins and yours is no exception. Congratulations. BTW, buying from a reputable dealer like Forum may be a little more pricey, but it can give you peace of mind knowing your coin is guaranteed to be genuine.

 

Nice coin. I too started collecting ancient coins recently. It was not my first purchase but I got one similar to your coin.


IONIA, Miletos
AR 1/12th Stater
ca. Mid 6th Century B.C.

1.00 grams, 9.6 mm to 7.6 mm
Obv: Forepart of lion facing right.
Rev: Beautiful star ornament within incuse square.
Grade: aVF with attractive toning. Nice, tall design completely struck within the oblong flan.
Other: Sear 3532. May be late 6th to early 5th Century B.C.

 

Those lions are the oldest coin you will get for a low price. Of course there are a million of them but we all should have one.

 

frankjg => congrats on a great choice of coins!!

These coins are amazingly tiny, eh? ... here is my example

 

I think you made a good choice with both the coin and the dealer, Frank. Don't you just love the fact that your brand new coin has actually been lying around somewhere for the better part of 2500 years? Mine's just about a week old.

 

I knew it was tiny when I bought it but it is still shockingly small when you get it in hand, which I find makes even more cool. The fact that it survived more than 2500 years is amazing to me.

Awesome coins everyone. Thanks for sharing.

 

Now I know I have a problem.

The wife and I took the day off and went out for breakfast while the kids were in school. Afterwards we decided to go to this little town on the Hudson River that has a bunch of antique shops. I haven't been there in years and The first place I notice is a coin shop. I had to assure my wife that I didn't know about it and didn't have any ulterior motives... She's a good egg and didn't care anyway.

I get to talking to the owner (awesome retired guy with a ton of coins) and tell him I recently got into ancients. Well, he pulls out a good size box with tons of bronze and silver. I couldn't walk away empty handed, could I?

The guy at the shop didn't know much about ancients so they were not attributed. I was happy about that since I wanted to do it myself. I think I've attributed this one pretty good. Can you guys let me know if I got it right or what I may have missed.

Also, I paid $10 for it..did I do good? I know it has a nasty little crack bottom left but it really looks nice in hand.



AE Follis
3.7g
21.5mm
Siscia Mint

Obverse: Licinius laureate head right - IMP LIC LICINIUS PF AUG
Reverse: Jupiter standing left with scepter. Holding victory with globe. Eagle at feet.
IOVI CONSERVATORI ( I still need to read up on his history to figure out what this means)
. SIS . Under exurge
B in field to the right of Jupiter

I'll post my other one a bit later.

Thanks

 

IOVI CONSERVATORI = Jupiter Protects. It's a shortened form of the legend IOVI CONSERVATORI CAESS (or AVGG). Jupiter Protects the Caesars, or Augusti.

Here is one of my Licinius bronzes...

 

Thanks

 

Welcome to the world of ancients Frank! A year ago I was in your shoes, had collected US coins for years but got bit by the ancient bug and now that's pretty much all I collect.

GREAT selection on your first couple of coins. Nice job on the attribution too. There are plenty on this forum who will help you with that. I found this web-site to be particularly helpful in attributing ancient Roman coins.

http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/

It was recommended to me by some fellow cointalkers, most of whom have already posted on this thread. Welcome aboard!

 

RB is correct about wildwinds.com, and here are some others:

http://www.acsearch.info/
http://dirtyoldcoins.com/
http://esty.ancients.info/ricix/index.html
http://www.catbikes.ch/coinstuff/coins-ric.htm
This should get you started.

BTW, that's a great coin to start with and a price even a frugal Bing would love.

 

The coin is a good start for $10. Many ancients have a crack and yours is in no way improved by the crack but that is a minor fault compared to the granular surface texture. Part of this may be a photo that makes it look worse than it is. Compare yours to the one posted by John Anthony which has a bit smoother surfaces. All ancients have been cleaned so the skills of separating the good ones from the impaired differ from those needed for collecting modern coins. Yours is far from 'bad' but it has better details than it does 'eye appeal' just because of the way it survived being buried for centuries and cleaned when it was found.

Licinius is a common emperor who, for reasons I do not understand, has less of a following than some other personalities of his period. I suggest you research the history of the man and his period in history. It will probably suggest to you a few other coins that you might want to buy next. Good luck.

 

It does look more smooth in hand but you can see rough surfaces through the loop.

Wildwinds and forum were indispensable in helping to attribute.

 

Ah, good ol sweet, sweet Licinius!!

=> congrats on an awesome pick-up ... oh, and congrats on admitting that you have a wee lil' bit of a problem!!





=> $44 bucks (delivered) ... yah, I don't care what Bing says => money well spent!!

 

A nice serendipitous find for $10. Glad to see you're adding to your collection.

Here's my requisite Licinius follis.



LICINIUS I
Follis (3.5g, 20.5mm)
Nicomedia mint, 1st officina, 313 - 317 AD
RIC VII 13
O: IMP C VAL LICIN LICINIVS P F AVG, laureate head right
R: IOVI CONSERVATORI, Jupiter standing left holding Victory on globe and scepter, eagle in left, A in right, SMN in ex