My Top 10 Purchases of 2014

I've had a surprisingly productive numismatic year, acquiring many of my overall favorite coins and launching my website, Colosseo Collection. I started the year with only a single coin firmly in my sights but happily managed to cross several items off of my wantlist.

These are not my top 10 coins overall but all of them are in the top 20. It's difficult to rank them sequentially but I've taken a crack at it (from worst to best) and linked each of their underlying threads. Let me know if you'd rank them differently!

#10: Lokris Opuntii Stater - I acquired this early in the year, at a fairly sizable premium to what I originally thought it would sell for, but I knew that if I let it go, I'd regret it as I haven't found another I liked as much.



#9: Daric - One of my latest purchases, and the first example of a daric that I've been very attracted to.



#8: Sikyon Stater - I'd still like this coin if it were untoned but it really adds a lot in my eyes, and thankfully, it is stable, based on old auction photos.



#7: Philip II Tetradrachm - I'm very glad I decided to bid on this and didn't win another example which was being sold around the same time, as I nearly passed it up due to somewhat mundane looking images.



#6: Aegina Stater - My first purchase of the year and a coin whose relief still amazes me at its utter lack of practicality.



#5: Alexander the Great Stater - An unexpected purchase from a fixed price list which occurred thanks to my fast response while stepping off of a flight and beating three others to the punch by a matter of seconds.



#4: Port of Ostia Sestertius - One of the most famous sestertii, and a pleasantly unexpected acquisition early in the year.



#3: Zeus Lampsakos Stater - After trying and failing numerous times, I am extremely pleased to have finally acquired this coin!



#2: Vespasian Boscoreale Aureus - One of the most vibrantly toned gold coins I've ever seen and my best deal of the year, acquiring it privately at a small fraction of the price I'd expect it to sell for at auction. Tracking back the pedigree through a number of major sales definitely doesn't hurt either!



#1: Brutus "Ides of March" Denarius - While there are rarer ancient coins, none have spoken to and enchanted me as much as this type. It was my most expensive coin by a fair margin but I would pay the price again in a heartbeat.

 

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I own ZERO ancients (once bought a few uncleaned ones on ebay, have since lost them), but seeing these gets me VERY interested

 

It's hard to rank favorites in such a lofty group. Any single coin among those ten would be #1 by a large margin if placed in 99.9% of ancient coin collections.

Fantastic year, AJ! Thanks for sharing

 

My thoughts almost exactly echo TIF's, but if I had a genie and one wish, it would be for that stunning Boscoreale aureus.

 

#6, #8 and #9 are my favourites (obviously, an amazing year for our hero)

=> #8 winning by a tail!!



... the coin makes me all squishy!!

Ummm, I have a weak example of this type ... but it is still definitely one of "my" personal collection-favourites (yup, you certainly take the cake for cool 2014 coins, my friend!!)

 

all would be pretty much a top lifetime coin for me...but my favorite of the bunch is that boscoreale!!

 

2, 10, 4 are my favorites. As on my list of ten, I'll bet you will be surprised at the variety of opinions we have.

 

All are awesome. If I ranked them, I feel like it would almost be in reverse order though

 

All beautiful coins AJ. For me, it's a toss up between the Port of Ostia Sestertius and the Zeus Lampaskos Stater for my favorite of the bunch.

Of course I'd be happy to have any of those coins in my collection.

 

They're all so good AJ, excellent stuff!
#9 and #5 are my favorite, preciousss... hrum sorry.

 

All are great coins but I like #4 Port of Ostia the best for Romans. #10 for Greek coins.

 

I am in love with #2. Toning gold, that's only something AncientJoe can come up with. I will gladly take one of each. I do love #5 and I will own one before I die.

 

Saying you had a good year is a bit of an understatement, AJ. Congratulations! I would also add that your website is very nice - for someone who wants to peruse your collection, it's convenient to have all your images and essays in the same location.

 

Those are enough to make anyone want to collect ancients. I have a couple of Bible coins a denarius and a pair of widow mites but these take the cake. Super examples with eye appeal and beauty.

 

If you want coins like that, be prepared to spend massive amounts of cash.

 

hello AJ,

thank you on you post, i was wondering, if you get in this price range.
any older selling documents?
i think i ts called Provenance documents

best regards,

eric

 

Really? Top 10? I'm sure it could be a top 50. I haven't seen one coin from AJ that I don't like.

 

These are all stunning, world-class coins but I'll admit to being partial to The Port of Ostia (#4) and the Daric (#9).

 

I am surprised #5 hasn't been more popular. To me, that is a stunning coin! I know nothing of any of these, but that would be my pick if you offered me one, hehe

 

I agree, but with so many stellar coins how can you make an absolute ranking? I can't even rank my favorite among the four gold coins other than to say the Daric is second place with the other three in first place. My overall favorite is the Eid Mar because, well, it's an Eid Mar... in-your-face history, demand>>>supply.

His Sikyon and Aegina staters are so marvelous that it will be difficult to settle for a lesser example. At least we can vicariously enjoy his coins through the great photography and wonderful website.