My first coin, that started my journey into Ancient coins was this worn Alexander bronze. As I am a fan of Alexander the Great I always wanted to have a piece of history from him. I thought, well, this is impossible. Figurines, pottery from Ancient times... that will cost a lot of money. Until I literately stumbled on this coin at ebay when I was browsing for something completely else. When I saw it I actually thought it was fake because it was only 10 dollars. I was thinking, how can an 2500 year old coin only be 10 dollars. And well.. by buying this coin, my journey of coin collecting began. It will always remain one of my favorite coins in my collection. Alexander III the Great (336 - 323 B.C). Bronze Coin, four chalkoi (hemiobol) Obverse: Head of Herakles, wearing lion skin. Reverse: AΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, thunderbolt and club above, quiver and bow below. Reference: Price 269 4.85; 17mm However, it is always nice to upgrade a piece, especially if it is worn. After all it is just an upgrade, not a replacement. Plus a spare never hurts It is not entirely the same type, this one is minted in Asia Minor rather than Greece, and it is posthumous. Kingdom of Macedon. temp. Philip III – Antigonos I Monophthalmos. Circa 323-310 BC. Æ Unit. Uncertain mint in Western Asia Minor. Obverse: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin. Reverse: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ. Bow-in-bowcase and club; torch below. Reference: Price 2800. 6.19; 19mm Ex. Dr. W. R. Collection. Ex. CNG Electronic Auction 350, Nr. 103 Post any relevant coins, your favorite coins and your coin collecting stories!
That is a major upgrade! Congratulations! My poor Alex looks like he has been infected with the zombie plague
I enjoy Makedon AE's. Fun coins and lotsa variety. When I first looked at your post, I was thinking you upgraded the exact coin you first had. I see that it is a more non-circulated, and a different king. Nice job, but now it is nice you have TWO Makedon Kings, @Pavlos . Here is one of my Makedon AE's: KINGS of MACEDON. Amyntas II, 395/4-393 BC. Æ12, Dichalkon 2.0g, 12h; Aigai or Pella mint. Obv.: Head of Pan right. Rev.: Forepart of wolf chewing on bone. Reference: Westermark, Remarks, 2; SNG Alpha Bank 179-80. Very Rare. Ex: @John Anthony
These little Alexander AE's are wonderful - I'll scoop one up whenever the price is right, another way of saying mine aren't very pretty. This is my latest, and better than most in my collection: Macedon Æ Half Unit Alexander III (c. 336-323 B.C.) Uncertain Macedon Mint Head of Herakles right, with lionskin head-dress /AΛEΞANΔΡOY, between club above & bow and bowcase below; Γ above. Price 312 var. (see note) (6.62 grams / 17 mm) Attribution Note: "Price 312 var; Mueller 1698 var; cf Sear 6739. (Price, Mueller etc. list coins with Gamma below, not above)." Wildwinds
I don't collect these, but apparently I have upgraded - not replaced - a couple of times. Clearly another upgrade needed to one like yours with ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ as title, and there are other mints, and other control marks, lifetime, postumous.... Macedonian Kingdom, Alexander III the Great, 336-323 BC, Æ unit, Uncertain mint in Macedon. Struck circa 325-310 BC Obv: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin Rev: Bow-case over bow, B - A club left; branch below Ref: Price 377 Macedonian Kingdom, Alexander III the Great, 336-323 BC, Æ Unit Obv: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin Rev: ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ Club right and bow in bow-case; branch below Macedonian Kingdom, Alexander III the Great, 336-323 BC, AE unit, Macedonian mint Obv: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin Rev: ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, bow in bow-case and club right; A below Ref: Price 297
Nicely done @Pavlos (great back story!) ...as for this: ...I can't get over how many do not subscribe to this concept, like they can't have 2 which are very similar.
Also an example of one of the first coins I bought. Mine was $18 from Frank L. Kovacs. (Don't have the coin anymore though)/
I'll admit this is me. I'm a minimalist person/collector and generally try to tell the broadest story in as few pieces as possible. I can absolutely appreciate owning multiple examples of similar types but it would cause my collection to be too "imbalanced" in my own, personally convoluted perception of collecting. A related (and equally important) reason is that my resources are finite and owning two similar coins means I might not be able to buy a different type which could broaden my collection. As an example, it would be a great goal to be build a Knossos Hera/Labyrinth denomination set but, for me, I'd rather have one coin to represent the series. I started with this drachm- a really great labyrinth but a Hera who moved while the picture was being taken: I then upgraded to this piece, which was ex-British Museum and which caused me to pay 10x the estimate: I thought I had "my" Knossos but then an upgrade opportunity came along privately from a dealer friend: the finest stater to reach the market in ~20 years. These coins are expensive and, with a number of other pieces coming up in an auction soon after, it wouldn't have been responsible to keep both. So, I consigned my drachm to an auction later in the year and happily brought home my stater which is now a permanent resident in my collection:
Holy Smokes @AncientJoe! I grew up in a small town called "Crete" named after another town called "Crete" named after the island of Crete. I spent 4 days on the Island of Crete in 2013 before a deployment and absolutely loved it. Since I caught the ancient bug, I have always been interested in coins from Crete. Mangled hunks of junk will forever and always be out of my price range but it sure is fun to look. Your coin is stunning!
Bravo, Pavlos! I LOVE reading super hero back stories. How they became so awesome I blame my dad. Here’s my first Ancient Greek Coin. A fouree that he gave to me: And, man I dig those bronze beauties as well (this one has a hidden CM that is hard to see from pics but in hand sticks out like a satyr’s member)
I only have one of the general type and no special interest in becoming an Alexander specialist in any metal. I have no idea of the meaning of the delta at the top. I assume this is explained in Price but I doubt I will ever own those either. That is the best part of ancients: you can collect 'your way'. This thread shows a dozen variations on the type but I assume that is a small fraction of what is out there for a real student to study. By pure luck, of those shown here, my coin is my favorite. I could say it is because it uses that minuscule omicron which we see 600 years later on Alexandrian coins of Diocletian but the fact is it is my favorite because it is mine. Similarly my only child is my favorite, too. Funny how that works.
Oh, I totally get it, & it seems to be prevalent in the ancients community. I probably should have expanded on my comment, adding that for U.S. coin collectors (a group which includes me for the last 50 yrs or so) having 5 to 10 or more of the same coin/year/mint, & even grade, is sort of second nature. So for example, I don't feel that the life of one of my U.S. coins is dependent on the life of another. But I do understand, & what impresses me most about ancient's collectors is the greater "passionate" pursuit of the historical significance of each find, & the willingness to share that by passing off a coin to another custodian. I think this attribute is significantly greater in the ancients community. (Which is why I follow it so closely. ) Just my opinion...
Thank you all for sharing your beautiful coins and stories! I like those pre-Philip II Macedon coins, I think they are quite underrated. I should get one of those. Wonderfull collection story, and great upgrades wow. With high-end coins I understand that you just need to replace the same type to get funds for other coins to broaden the collection. I would have done the same. What a great twin brother you got there