I'll just join in even though I never reached 10 new coins this year. First I want to say a big thank you to all of you awesome people on CT. I joined in January this year and started to collect again after a break of 15 years. The welcome I recieved was super friendly and people are soo helpfull, keep spreading the friendly atmosphere! My focus has been rare Flavians in as high grade as possible with a budget of max 100 euro/month. As seen below buying books took up half of what I could spend this year. The budget has made the hunt tricky, who doesn't want a nice looking aureus or a tetradrachm from Sicily? Moving forward I will change my focus to "appeal" and "historical events". It gives me more room to explore other areas and hopefully create a fun and dynamic collection I really enjoy. I will be very selective, quality over quantity so there might not be many coins next year neither but hopefully ones that I really like. My mobile camera is totally crap, like taking photos with a potato. All coins looks better in hand. Anyhow here are the coins I managed to acquire this year starting with the one I favour the most. Do you agree or have other favourites? Nr.1 Domitian, Denarius Rome mint, 83 AD, March - 13 September Obv. IMP CAES DOMITIANVS AVG P M Rev. TR POT II COS VIIII DES X P P Minerva stg. R. on capital of rostral column, with spear and shield; to r., owl RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) 164 (R2) Nr.2 Titus under Vespasian, Denarius Rome mint, 77-78 AD Obv: T CAESAR IMP VESPASIANVS Laureate head of Vespasian right. Rev: COS VI in exergue; Oxen, two, yoked l. RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) 951 (R) Nr.3 Vespasian, Denarius Rome mint, 70 AD Obv: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG Laureate head of Vespasian right. Rev: COS ITER TR POT Aequitas standing left, holding scales and sceptre. RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) 21 (C) This coin is marked as common in RIC but is little tricky to find in this condition. Nr.4 Vespasian, Tetradrachme Antioche, Syria, 69 AD Obv: ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΩΡ ΚΑΙϹΑΡ ϹƐΒΑϹΤΟϹ ΟΥƐϹΠΑϹΙΑΝΟϹ Laureate head of Vespasian, r. Rev: ΕΤΟΥϹ ΝƐΟΥ ΙƐΡΟΥ Α Eagle with wreath in beak on a club to l.; in l. field, palm branch RPC II, 1970 Pedigree: This specimen comes from the Abdo Ayoub collection. Very rare with visible A on the reverse ΙƐΡΟΥ Α (nexto right wing). Nr.5 Domitian, Denarius Rome mint, 85 AD Obv: IMP CAES DOMITIANVS AVG GERMANIC Laureate head of Domitian right. Rev: P M TR POT IIII IMP VIII COS XI P P Eagle on thunderbolt, wings outspread, head l. RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) 270 (R2)
All very nice, but my favorite is the Titus. Both sides are fantastic. I also like all the books. Is "Imperial Legitimation" new? I'm not familiar with it.
I like the Titus, too, but Vespasian #3 is an early portrait that seems harder to find than some. All are good choices given your interests. The books seem strange selections for that reason. Only one is about Flavians unless you count the ERIC II overview (which I do not recommend as anyone here for a long time is aware).
Spargrodan, You did well after returning to collecting after a long layoff ! My favorites would be #1, followed by #3; both are attractive denarii . What attracted you to collecting coins as a teenager, & what did you collect then ?
Thanks yeah I really like that one too, kind of gritty but that's really cool. Thanks, the Vespasian portrait on that one is realy awesome, was almost my first pick. Only went down because the nr.1 Domitian is overall in better condition and also has a stunning portrait imho... aaand, well much more rare, I fell for it . Imperial Legitimation is a new book that came out in September this year. I haven't read all but so far I find it interesting. The part that I've read is about the ludi saeculares and depiction on coins from Augustus to Philip the Arab. The rest of the book that I haven't read highlights how Roman emperors employed the Golden Age myth for the purpose of legitimation. Thanks! Yeah that one is a bit special, reminds a bit of Vitellius portrait which might not be so weird as it was minted early in Vespasian's reign before he had made it back to Rome and the engravers didn't know how he looked? Doug you're completely right about the books. It's a bit of everything but as I'm interested in different areas and even if I'll never buy coins covered by some of the books I kind of went by "buying the book before the coin" mentality to be more knowledgeable and maybe save money in the long run. For example I doubt I'll ever be able to buy any high-end sicilian tetradrachms but I still like to learn more about them. Thanks!
Thanks Al Kowsky, I started early when I was seven or so. I have always been interested in history and coins tells a bit of that. My friend collected coins and his father gave me some to start with. I collected mainly swedish coins from the 17th and 18th century and ancients whatever I could get. We had a coinshop in my hometown that I visited often and I always asked if he had any ancient roman or greek coins . I think he was a bit anoyed but he was very friendly and told me stories and gave me some good advices. Later I understood that he is well known in the numismatic world, at least in Sweden and have published books etc. Well now I have a job and more money to spend so I can finaly buy those ancients that I was most interested in from the beginning. Just a pitty that the prices has gone up a lot since then .
Nice Flavians Spargrodan! The Titus has the most eye-appeal, but who could ever resist an eagle such as your no. 4. and 5.
Superb selection overall. I will have to agree with the consensus opinion that the Titus Caesar is the outstanding one of the lot. Excellent portrait on that one.
Congrats on your restart into collecting. Your five coins are very nice, the Titus esp. for its portrait. The Vespasian reverse "Eagle" looks a lot like the one on older US 50 cent coins. Guess the US copied it, just like the 1933-45 German eagle was a copy of Imperial Rome version. I see you got that supberb book ERIC-II/ best upto date reference on Imperial Roman/ Byzantine coins/ rulers ID> John
Thanks panzerman, yeah you're right that is most certainly true at least they have for sure been looking at how things was made in the past to get inspiration.
You have done well with the five coins you bought this year. I actually like the Vespasian Tetradrachm #4. The coin has a little wear, but the portrait is the most realistic style of the lot. This is a good policy to have and I don't think you will regret it.
Thanks Fugio1. I wish now after hand that it would still have some more features left but as you say the artistic quality is shining through even though it's very worn. I understand you think alike when looking at your top 10 list, all gorgeous, stunning coins! I was acting by that principle already but will be more strict in the future. I got carried away a bit by rarities like the two last coins on my list. Personally I prefer appeal over rare which I guess I learnt this year by going all rare hunt. But hey a very high grade common is probably rare in that condition anyway so it'll still be rare hunt for me rare or not.
I like your selection very much. Also, I agree this period produced high quality coins particularly in silver.
