Collecting Focus

I recently switched over from world coins to ancients. With world coins I had a set collection focus for copper and silver Chinese coins 1870-1949, A complete British half penny set 1770-1807 and a few odds and ends I liked and kept.

My focus with roman coins will be a set of Late Roman coins of what rulers and reverse types I can obtain VF or above as possible. and I believe I will start a Women of Rome set for all the female bust types of Wives, Mothers, Nieces etc. that I can obtain.

These are 8 coins I purchased for a start of my set.
Julia Mamaea (mother of S. Alexander) AR Denarius

Herennia Etruscilla (wife of T. Decius) AR Antoninianus.

Aelia Flaccilla (wife of Theodosius I) Æ Centenionalis.

Lucilla (daughter of M. Aurelius) AR Denarius.

Faustina II (wife of M. Aurelius) AR Denarius.

Julia Domna (mother of Caracalla) AR Denarius.

Plautilla (wife of Caracalla) AR Denarius.

Julia Paula (wife of Elagabalus) AR Denarius.

Galeria Valeria (wife of Galerius) Semi-cleaned Follis. (Am getting it cleaned ASAP).

I hope to also get a little creativity and create some sheets to add the set coins to and make a poster similar to some I've seen posted here.

So I am more curious do you others here focus on 12 Caesar set, Greek, Republic or Imperial pieces or just anything you find interesting. I have seen some focus like biblical set (Deacon Ray).

Chris

 

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Great coins.

I supposed my focus is falling horseman coin....... I guess.










but I collect generally too.

 

That's a cool way to display the set. I like that last coin as well. I think I will do a digital poster type display by person rather than mint.

Chris

 

Awesome coins and great set... I really need to get my stuff together and focus.
I have been collecting only about 8 months and just grabbing what appeals to me (in my price range).. I am only a Nerva away from a Good/Adoptive Emperor set - so I think I should finish that off first. I also have a lot of recently cleaned LRBs that I have not fully attributed yet. So I should get the work done (the enjoyable part!), get organized and then focus my future purchases.
Great post - made me think and take a step back...

 

Yes I got about 170 uncleaned ones to tinker with plus about 50 unattributed others from a old batch. But it should keep me busy. I think I will keep mine raw and have a double sided frame built for the Women of Rome set and create a nice display case for it once it's finished.

 

Nice set of Roman women. I think that is an interesting way to start collecting ancients. Welcome to the group.
I collect mostly Roman Republican coins. I started with silver denarii and attempted to buy coins in the longest date gaps (which also meant different looking coins).

When prices drifted up and date holes filled in, I started to include cast bronze: aes rude, bars & coins.
Recently I have collected the scales and scale weights that might have weighed the cast bronze.


I enjoy reading Roman history from this time period and have a good set of books for coins. I am still working on books for scales and weights.

 

I'm a magpie collector, which is to say that I'm not disciplined enough to have a collection focus beyond "I collect coins of the Roman Empire." I do have several areas of interest, though. I collect imperial and provincial issues alike. I collect bronze and silver. I collect coins as much -- if not more -- for their reverses. I collect the women of the Antonine and Severan dynasties. I like big provincial bronzes with confronted busts. I like Gordian III and Tranquillina. I like Gallienus and Salonina, particularly their zoo coins. I like Aurelian and Severina. I like coins portraying any of the dii consentes, so my collection is heavy in coins portraying pagan deities. I think the tumultuous mid-third-century is interesting. Even though I have these areas of interest, I have sort of a general Roman collection, too. I even have a few Greek, Judean and Roman Republican coins.

 

I do a lot of that type collecting but I find if I don't get some focus in a few sets that it will be too chaotic.

 

It's fine to have a set in mind, or to have goals, but there's also nothing wrong with collecting whatever appeals to you for whatever reason . Don't feel locked in to your theme. You're new to ancients so there are tens of thousands... hundreds of thousands... of coin types you haven't seen. Tomorrow you may see something or learn something that makes you want to start another focus.

One of the many terrific things about collecting ancients is being freed from the constraints of "this is how it's done"

 

Nice corral you have there @britannia40, and an interesting focus since these women of Rome played such an important role in making Rome what she became.

Port Arthur News, 1946
"As he received his trophy, the plucky quarterback unfolded the story of how he 'came back'. He said 'They say behind every great man there's a woman. While I'm not a great man, there's a great woman behind me.'"

 

Great quote Bing! Many of can say that.

 

At one time I focused on the Roman Ladies but over time, drifted into other areas like Tetradrachms & Medieval coinage.

I also like many modern world coins.

So really I consider myself a "Scatter" collector since I scatter to one area of coins to another when something catches my eye or a some well priced for what I am looking for pops up.

I'm still partial to the ladies of course.

 

I'm working on collecting a set of coins for each emperor, caesar, empress, and imperial women. Right now it's about 70% imperial and 30% provincial. I'd like to get coins of usurpers of the third century, though those can get expensive.

My latest additions are a Marcus Aurelius drachm of Alexandria and a billon tetradrachm of Nerva, rounding out the five good emperors. I have five of the 12 Caesars presently and am working on finishing those up. Since you posted a Galeria Valeria here's mine:

 

Nice @britannia40 , I think a "foxy ladies of Rome" set is a good idea!

This pie chart illustrates my areas of collecting interest.

 

Very nice start, britannia! I like your Julia Mamaea and Julia Paula best, but they're all nice coins.

I'm a bit like @chrsmat71 (great pie chart ) but I focus primarily on historical importance. Here's the sort of list that turns my crank. That said, Roman Imperial & Byzantine are my first loves, and I would like to assemble a fairly complete collection with respect to rulers, other individuals on the coins, and as many historic events and numismatic highlights as possible.

 

You got something against Julia Soaemias?

 

Great to have you join us and dive into the ancients @britannia40 ! I think the Women of Rome theme is a good one. There are a lot of Late Roman coins available that are not only affordable but are also in excellent condition.

 

This. I find that many collectors of modern (post-1600) coins feel obligated to pursue a set of some kind because that is simply how modern coins are collected. That does not have to be the case.

 

One thing I like about ancients is that it is possible for several of us to have collections of more than a thousand coins and not overlap much or any at all. Yes, there are a few coins that most people seem to 'have to have' but after a short spell in the beginner phase many will declare a focus and get many coins not known to those who took another path. There is no right or wrong path.

 

When I started out I was focused on military themes...that has changed. Still a big interest of mine though. I collect all over the ancient world, except I haven't explored ancient far East yet.

Here's an assortment of different coins: