I can't stop being amazed by the diversity of expertise we found here in the "ancient coins" CT's forum of discussion ; ancient Greek, Roman republican, Roman Imperial and provincial, medieval, byzantine, Parthian, Sassanian, Chinese and oriental, Arabic, Islamic, English, French, Indian, Celtic, Visighotic and Ostroghotic, crusaders...and I'm certainly missing some. In addition we have an incredible amount of featured threads, which means hours of research and reading. Everybody here seems happy to present their new coins and interesting new details they discovered about it. But for me the summum of generosity is when I was examining the list of the members who received the most "like" for their posts : the first top 9 on the list are mostly participating in the "ancient" discussion's forum !! Absolutely no jealousy when someone gets a new piece in his collection. Everybody his happy and do not hesitate to "like" it. And also don't forget the kind of "family spirit" we can find around here. So what's so special about us ? You tell me please !
I think it’s definitely the high frequency of well-researched, informational, and engaging threads and discussions here. A lot more of this than from the other subforums.
I feel the same way about my CT family and have often wondered what sets us apart from others. Here are some generalizations which I believe to be true: Collectors of ancient coins are more intelligent than average... or at least more intellectually curious. Because we're not slaves to grades and plastic, we are able to appreciate coins for reasons other than commodity acquisition, registry set competition, and hole filling. The time period and geographic period is so vast that there is room for everyone and people can cultivate their own niche. There are so many unknowns; we love a good mystery. Who among us hasn't daydreamed about bringing to light some previously unknown fact or historical tidbit due to researching a coin? Rock on, beautiful people!
C'mon over, @Heavymetal. Most of us don't bite . With that screen name may I suggest collecting early Roman Republican cast coinage? Show him what I'm talking about, @rrdenarius and others!. Here are a couple of my heavy metal favorites: ZEUGITANA, Carthage early 2nd century BCE AE 15-shekel, 45 mm, 95 gm Obv: wreathed head of Tanit left Rev: horse standing right, left foreleg up; Flying Spaghetti Monster solar disk with uraei above Ref: Alexandropoulos J (2000) Les monnaies de l'Afrique Antique, 103; Müller L (1861) Numismatique de L'Ancienne Afrique, 131; Luynes 3782; Jenkins GK and Lewis RB (1963) Carthaginian Gold and Electrum Coins, Royal Numismatic Society, London, pl. 28 12 It's as thick as a Reese's PBC and almost the same diameter Here's a 48 mm bronze from the Ptolemaic dynasty, 3rd century BCE. My smallest coin is atop-- that a 5 mm silver coin from ~500 BCE.
I think the Ancients group are some of the best guys and gals around. I have never met a group of people who are more generous with their time, knowledge, and even coins. Everyone is enthusiastic about each other's coins. Everyone wants to help each other advance in the hobby. Both FFIVN and I have learned more from the members here in the last year-ish that we have been here than we could have done in a decade, if not longer, on our own. You all have helped spark an interest in not only coins but also history and art in an 8 year old boy whose other main interests are minecraft and legos. I can never adequately express my gratitude to everyone in the ancients forum. Y'all are a class act
My oldest coin is my smallest at 1.4 gr Found in a customer wrapped dime roll from my bank near Syracuse (That’s NY) I’ll start my ancient search and check back when I’m holding it. Larry
And I would add that it is not a dead field of interest. Thanks to archaeology and metal detectors we are constantly being gifted with new insights into a part, an essential part, of the foundations of our modern civilizations.
About that sharing our assets, even our coins. Please I am not tooting my own horn. At a small show recently I met an elderly gentleman who has been bringing his ten year old grandson into the hobby. The youngster has already set up for display several US collections and hands on activities for his school and local library. They are very well done. When I asked the gentleman what was the oldest coin his boy owned, he said it was an 1857 Flying eagle cent. I produced a Sixth Century Byzantine Follis and a 13th Century penny and gave them to the guy for his grandson. I am delighted that these two coins will wind up in the hands of a youngster who has already displayed the kind of intellectual curiosity which I am certain will lead to great things later on. That is the common thread I see in those who collect ancients, to share and pass on to future generations the joy we get from collecting very old coins (and antiquities, too).
@TIF is right. Cast bronze coins and stuff can be interesting. Cast money from Central Italy and Rome was produced in lots of sizes and shapes. Some date to before the founding of Rome in 753 BC. The scales (equal arm balance on left & steelyard on right) are weighing cast bronze bars and pieces. The weights are Roman, but may not date to the Republican period. The pan to the right is about a week's pay for a Roman soldier. Above are two aes rude pieces with marks. The larger piece is a Ramo Secco (dry branch) bar. The pictures are from one of my books on the subject. Some cast bronze pieces transitioned into coins. Above are some knuckle bones and shells and a coin with one on each side. Coins were often broken into pieces for change. Above is a Janus head As (one Roman pound or base unit of bronze money) and a piece of a cast coin, probably an As. The cast bronze series has plenty of interesting stuff. Some expensive and some not.
Roman Republic HEAVY METAL DENARIUS RR Anon AR Heavy Denarius - Didrachm 310-300 BCE 20mm 7.28g Mars-Horse Romano FIRST Silver coin of Rome RR Anon AR Heavy Denarius - Didrachm 275-270 BCE ROMANO Apollo-Galloping Horse Sear23 RR Anon 265-242 BCE AR Heavy Denarius - Didrachm Roma-Victory Crawford 22-1 Sear 25 RR Anon Ca 240 BCE AR Heavy Quinarius Drachm 16mm 3.0g Rome Helmet Hd Mars r - Horse’s hd sickle Cr 25-2 Syd 25 RSC 34a Rare RR Anon 234-231 BCE AR Heavy Denarius - Didrachm Apollo-Horse prancing Obv-Rev Crawford 26-1 Sear 28 RR Anon AR Heavy Denarius Quadrigatus Janus 225-215 BCE 21mm 6.7g Cr 28-3 Sear 31 RR Anon AR Heavy Quinarius Drachm Half Quadrigatus 225-212 BCE 3.1g 18mm Janus Jupiter in Quadriga L Victory ROMA Cr 28-4 S 35 SCARCE RR Anon AR Heavy Quinarius Quadrigatus Drachm 216-214 BCE Janus ROMA Jupiter Victory Quadriga LEFT Cr 29-4 Sear 35 Scarce
Besides... Such a wide variety of HAND-MADE, HAND-CRAFTED coins. Not the “run-of-the-mill” machine-made, boring coins... Biggest and Smallest HAND- STRUCK / STAMPED Coins in My collection: Carthage AE 15-Shekel 45mm dia 7.5mm thick 102.6g vs Ionia AR Tetartemorion 4mm 0.13g dia 11 to 1 - MASS: 789 to 1 - 15-Shekel thickness is almost twice the diameter of the Tetartemorion
I love the size comparisons of @TIF and @Alegandron. Trying to imagine which was worse: some poor guy having to lug around a sack full of those massive coins or one filled with itsy bitsy easy to lose coins. Ancient life must've been rough
@Heavymetal Had to wait to get home but I wanted to post this in honor of Syracuse Syracuse, Sicily AE19 Hieron II 275-216 AD Obverse: Head of Poseidon left, wearing taenia Reverse: IEΡ-ΩNOΣ to left and right of ornamented trident. AΓ monogram at lower left
For those of us that have been studying ancient history for a lifetime this forum gives us an opportunity to flex our muscles and live a bit in past times via our coins and those of others. It's interesting to know the historical context of each coin and to enjoy the dramatic sweep of history, archaeology, numismatics and related fields. It's a pretty unique spot on the web. Before I found CT in 2017 I thought it was a completely solitary pastime to collect ancient coins with the exception of a few mentors that I had during my early years of collecting such as Frank L Kovacs and others. I dropped out of the hobby for twenty years because life intervened with its demands. When I came back in 2014 it was simply out of curiosity and the fact that I had more time on my hands since my eldest had started college. Anyway, now it's become quite a pastime for me along with a few of my other hobbies.
I agree with everything said above, as someone new to CT, I have found this community to be engaging, kind, and generous with their time and expertise like no other online community I've seen.