Post or Describe Your Wish List Coin

Himmmmm.... I never have a single item that I covet. Nor do I sit and look at something I WISH I could have. I either GET IT, or move on. My wish list is a "cloud" of TARGETS that I focus in on, and capture when I find my quarry...

2016 Wish List: (I have accomplished much)

1) Roman Republic pre-denarii DiDrachmae / Drachmae that I do not presently have. (Have 10 varieties now)
2) Carthage AV and EL (Have several)
3) Libyan Revolt AR (Have some)
4) A few Diadochi Tets / AR's that I am missing (have several)
5) Carthage Occupation Capuan AR (Have AE's)
6) Etruria AR (have 3 denoms), AE's
7) More Roman / Italia Aes Grave: Semis, As, Dupondius, etc. (Have denoms up to Triens)
8) Various Achaemenid Siglos and fractionals: AR and AV (have AR's Type III, IV)
9) Catch-all of cool targets have bunches, have more to target...

Captured perhaps 300 coins this year... Most AR's, a little gold, and various AE's.

I also captured a lot of modern gold.

I am also up to 130 Roman Rulers now, but they are just for filling slots. Personally, they are not really a collecting focus for me...

 

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I'm always on the look out for one of these at a reasonable price

Mark Antony. 32-31 BC. AR Denarius. ANT AVG III VIR R P C, Praetorian galley to the right / CHORTIS SPECVLATORVM, three legionary standards. Cr544/12; Syd 1214.

 

You might consider opting for the more common hemidrachm which is three times as large and often cheaper depending on the coin. The wolf head is about the same size but you get more body/leg to fill the larger flan. Mine was $20 but some of our members were not born yet that year so I would expect it to be more. They come with many minor type symbols a lot more interesting than my trident.

 

This one is Martin's from the spelling error thread but I lack one from Alexandria with or without the IVLA mispelling. I passed up a really nice one at a show about 15 years ago because the seller wanted more than I wanted to pay. That was a mistake.

 

This is a great topic. Seeing what coins folks are pinning away for illuminates the thought processes behind their collections.

For me, the following Vespasian denarius is my 'dream coin'. Unique and totally unobtainable (the only example residing in the BM), but if ever another appeared in trade I'd try my best to obtain it.



AR Denarius. Rome mint, 74 AD. RIC 689
Obv: No legend; Head of Sol, facing
Rev: VESPASIANVS across field; Vespasian stg. l., with spear

 

Nah! Heck those are all on my "list" as well.

 

That coin has nice detail but it's heavily crystallized. I'd be a little concerned about its durability.

Here's an example of what's on my "wish list". This coin is theoretically obtainable, but it would eat several months' worth of my coin budget in one fell swoop:

 

As long as you don't drop it on a hard surface, not a lot to worry about. I think you'd be surprised at how many coins have heavily crystalline "guts" but nice surfaces. Sometimes very close inspection of edge cracks with a microscope will reveal this.

 

Wish list and dream coin aren't the same I believe !

A wish list I don't even think of having one as there would be litterally thousands of coins on it.

My dream coin (today's dream coin would be more accurate) is an Hadrian aureus with the she wolf suckling twins reverse. That kind of stuff :


Picture, courtesy of NAC

One day....

Q

 

Oh, I agree. How about this - I wish my dream coin would come up for auction sometime before I cross the river Styx.

 

Like most of us, I have a "never gonna happen" dream list and a more realistic wish list. This coin is in the top tier of the dream list.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-funniest-ancient-coin-ever.277187/



https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3020197
Mysia, Kyzikos EL Stater. Circa 550-450 BC. Winged figure to right, consisting of man's body with dolphin's head, holding tunny fish in left hand, right hand raised behind head. Von Fritze -, cf. 79 (hemihekte); BMC -; von Aulock -; Franke-Hirmer 599 = Hurter-Liewald II, 79. 16.11g, 20mm. Of the highest rarity, only the second specimen known and the only one in private hands.

 

@TIF, I wish you good luck on acquiring such a rare and covetable coin : it might happen !!

Yes. I was feeling the same about my former dream coin. You know it for I have already shown it off here. But let me tell you the story again :

Among the gold coin minted in the principality of Dombes (a county around where I live), which is all from rare to exceedingly rare, a pistole stands out : minted by François II de Montpensier, it was believed to be unique until a second example poped up at an auction in 2006. Of course I could just dream of having it one day and was resigned to having an empty case in my tray for the rest of my life. Actually, my bid was far under the hammer price at that auction. But three miracles later (luck, money, friendship), here it is :


Francois II de Montpensier (1582-1592)
Pistole, or - 1587 - RRRR
+ FRANCIS . P . DOMBAR . D . MONTIS . M . Ecu de Bourbon couronné
+ DNS . ADIVT . ET . REDEM . MEVS . 1587 Croix feuillue
6.30 gr - 28 mm
Ref : Divo Dombes # 64, Mantellier # 37, Poey d'Avant # 5135, Friedberg # 124
Ex collection Couchard # 64 du 27/01/2006

Hence, with my fingers crossed, I tell you : one day !!

Q

 

=> Paul, for some reason I seem to be drawn by that sweet crystalized coin-fabric ... eventhough the coins look a bit fragile, most of my 2500 year old examples still feel great in hand (my hand probably has a better chance of being hurt than those cool coins)



... but yes, I'm sure that they're more fragile than their non-crystalline buddies (thanks for the heads-up, coin-friend)

 

I want an Antinous medallion or drachm. An awesome piece of history and an awesome story. I won't settle for a tessera, it really needs to be contemporary from the time of Hadrian.

Sometimes I think we ancient coin collectors are like drug addicts ...

 

You should seek out a copy of Beloved and God by Royston Lambert. It's a fabulous book that sheds a great deal of light on the relationship between Hadrian and Antinous. I can't recommend it highly enough!

 

Crystalline guts? Now that's a disturbing thought!

 

I'm on a college budget, so I can only buy coins for my collection when money appears from my coin flipping enterprise. I have added several thousand dollars worth of coins to my collection in the past three years (mostly past year) for little to no out-of-pocket cost. However, that only leaves me with enough to buy one nice coin a month, or an even nicer coin in three months.

That said, here is the attainable wishlist that I have at the moment:
1. Tetradrachm in the name of Alexander III, struck at Mesembria, Price 1085/1087, >34mm
2. Tetradrachm in the name of Alexander III, struck at Babylon (currently bidding on one)
3. AE struck under Alexander III with Heracles on obverse and quiver/club on reverse (in eBay watchlist)
4. AE struck under Philip II with Apollo on obverse and horseman on reverse (in eBay watchlist)
5. Stater of Tarsos with Baal on obverse and lion attacking bull on reverse
6. Athenian Owl Tetradrachm
7. Didrachm/Tetradrachm of Rhodes with a full nose
8. Lydian lion in electrum
9. Chinese Wang Mang value-500 knife
10. Chinese arch-foot spade
11. Chinese square-foot spade with "ears" on handle
12. Chinese large pointed-foot hollow-handle spade.
13. And the list goes on...

 

OR, more like Mario Brothers traveling thru life grabbing coins for our collections!



I particularly like Ancients and GOLD....

 

My dream coins:

Athens Owl Tet.
Portrait Caesar Denarius
Gold Lucilla & Crispina, since I have a set of silver's, it would be nice to have 1 gold of each.

 

Wow, first thought that went through my head when I seen that was "Puppy Monkey Baby" The Ancients drank Mount Vesuvius Dew?