I need expert help to plan which coin to collect... I'll tell you what i want to do,

What I want to do, and have always wanted to do, is to collect a particular standard coin of every Roman emperor, from the republican period right up to the end of the byzantine period. Then i'll line em all up in a display case. I don't want to spend too much and i'd rather it was not valuable as I dont' want to have to worry too much about it. What i'm after really is the symbolic value of it all. So I can line em all up and show people that I got every coin and compare the transition from the republican-greek style to the imperial, to the Apollo-Sol Invictus phase, etc. To the destruction and debasement in the barbarian period and onward.... So I need to decide on a particular roman coin value to collect? Any help please. I think I was thinking Denarius before but i'm not sure.

I guess i'm asking.... which roman coin-type is most ubiquitous for the greatest time period.

Also... I am not a coin-expert. I have good general knowledge in many areas but coins is not really one of them so i'd rather not spend too much since I guess heaps of e-bay coins are fakez

 

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Well you need to keep in mind that some emperors are extremely hard to get (i.e. Gordian I and II, Romulus Augustulus, Constantine XI), and some Byzantine emperors didn't issue any surviving coins at all. Denominations were also not consistent throughout the millennia. probably the longest lasting one was the Byzantine Follis, which lasted in some form from the coinage reform of Anastasius (498) until the coinage reform of Alexios I (1081–1118), but that's not going to get you any emperors that most people have heard of (with the possible exception of Justinian), and there was a period of "anonymous folles," which contained an image of Jesus on one side rather than an imperial portrait and didn't even have the name of the emperor on them.

You can, however, stick with certain other denominations for reasonably long periods. The denarius is generally one of the easier coins to get for everyone from Julius Caesar (assuming you're counting him as an emperor) to around the reign of Gordian III (238-244), and I'm pretty sure that at least Otho has no surviving coins in any base metal denomination. Around the period of Gordian III, the antoninianus, a silver coin worth 2 denarii, became far more common (in fact, denarii ceased to be produced as regular issues around this time), and that is the most common type of coin until Diocletian's reform in 293. They honestly look close enough to denarii, at least early on before debasement made them virtually copper, that they wouldn't really stick out too much in a case that's otherwise filled with denarii. After that, it gets a bit complicated. We can tell the difference between the denominations of Diocletian's reform, but this is followed by over a century of constant revaluing, debasement, shrinking, and reissuing of larger coins. It's honestly rather hard to tell what's a new denomination and what's a revised older one most of the time. However, you should still be able to get bronze coins of similar sizes for most 4th century emperors, even if they're not technically the same denomination, so it would at least look consistent in a case. 5th century bronzes were generally very tiny and poorly made, and for some emperors, these bronzes are actually rarer than their gold coins if I recall correctly.

I've been ignoring gold this whole time, since that is by far the most expensive route to go (and I don't think gold exists for some of the last Byzantine emperors, though I'm not 100% on that), but gold denominations did tend to last a bit longer than others.

 

Thank you for your reply! I wouldn't mind some fifth-century pieces lol. That would be fun. I guess Denarii is the way to go. : )

 

Has anyone got some easy-know-how on how to avoid buying fake denarii on ebay? LOL

 

Yeah, that's probably the best if you want to stay in one denomination and collect emperors that people have heard of.

If you don't know about the site already, I'd recommend Vcoins for ancients shopping. It's a collective of many stores that are all held to a high standard. You shouldn't have to worry about fakes there. Other good shopping sites are Bargain Bin Ancients and Forvm Ancient Coins. These are all generally a little more expensive than eBay, but you don't have to deal with all the issues that eBay brings along with it.

 

I would go for silver denarius of each emperor. I would love to see your display when you are done. Best of luck ! To avoid fakes your best weapon is kowledge add in a bit of luck. And finally accept that you are still going to get burned 10% of the time.

 

Forvm has a big fake section you could use as a reference. Theres allot of really nice bronze coins out there, and some are easier to find than denarii.

 

Thanks!

 

Yes! Denariii... they are silver are they. OOOPSE I forgot... I worked out on an Denarii a few years back but forgot about this hobby, but they prices don't seem too steep. But The bronzes to me don't look so well made as the silver-ones. I think more care might have gone into striking them better.

 

aww Thanks! Well yes, if I can't find a Denarii for a certain emperor, i'll get what i can, (antoniani (Thanks Gao) . I am gonna get all the republican and all emperors from different parts of the empire... and i'll mount it all chronologically... and all the way up to the fifteenth century for the Byzantine period with the follis! EEHAR!

 

Keep in mind that when it comes to Republican denarii, they would generally have two different moneyers each year (and sometimes even more people could strike coins), and they would usually at least each have their own names if not completely different designs. A collection of all major types of Republican denarii would therefore be rather massive itself. Keep that in mind if you're really considering getting all Republican types. It might be better to focus more on the imperials and just have a few Republican coins in your case for comparison.

 

Ah ok Thanks! I was just looking at some republican ones now on ebay and I thought they were Gaulic coins or something, since they had this prancing horse design which features in Gaulic/British art... yet named after Roman Generals, so I was confused as to what was going on. lol!!!

Might leave the Republican ones for last then... ALL IMPERIAL FOR ME!

And then I get every Angevin/English King... but that's later.... And then every Seleucid! LOL! Are there no limits to this hobby! (Sorry just a little hyper right now. )

 

Theres alot of awsome bronze coins out there.

 

either follis or aes, they are the easiest to get hold of, (still not too keen on roman though) i have been doing a very similar thing in collecting at least one coin from each celtic tribe in britain.

 

I'mma chime in...

You see fairly new khufulogik, and I think you're getting over your head on this (trust me, I've been there ).

I would recommend that you just try the Roman Imperials. That alone will give you a very hard challenge, but it is also the most affordable/easiest to put together at about 120 emperors (give or take depending on who you consider the first Byzantine emp.). The Imperials are great for putting together a portrait set, and you can even get the empresses along with it!

However, if you are determined to do this, and money isn't an issue, start with the republicans, as they'll be harder to get with time.

Just come here with all your questions before you buy (or just general stuff about them) and we'll be happy to help. You can even PM me if you want to.

EDIT: Ya know what. I'll help ya start this off. PM for the details so I can mail a Posthumous Augustus to you. (It's rough, but you can upgrade later). I'll leave it unattributed so you can have fun with that, shouldn't be too hard, becuase you'll know which emperor and know it's posthumous.

stainless

 

Khu that is quite a challange you have given yourself. Best of luck and keep us posted as you go along. I suggest you break up your quest into sections. This way you can complete a part of it as you go along. Give you a sense of accomplishment ya know.

 

my advice is to first start collecting world coins and learn the fundamentals of the hobby then branch out, i bought my first celtic coin when i was 38 and i now have around 750. and i had already been collecting for 30 years. roman coins are a vast area of collecting and it is all too easy to get bogged down in trying to find the right, moneyer, mint or whatever. i believe that you are australian and in my reckoning the coins you want will be bought well over market value down under.

 

Yeah, that's not a bad way to do it. Another interesting idea I've heard is to try to start by getting a coin of each dynasty before you try to get a coin of each emperor. That way, you can get yourself a broad cross section of history before getting bogged down in short lived emperors and the like. This would be particularly useful if you want to show the evolution of coinage through the Byzantine era, since, while there are many rare emperors there, there are few dynasties where there isn't at least one affordable coin type.

One thing to keep in mind is that no one is going to force you to keep this theme up. Most people start trying to collect one of each emperor, but as they buy and learn more about imperial coinage, they usually lose interest in certain areas and start to specialize in others. Personally, I lost interest in most 4th and 5th century coins, but I found that I rather like the coins of Vespasian, Gordian III, and the first tetrarchy, so I've been focusing a little more on getting them than anything else. This doesn't mean that I won't ever buy anything from the 4th and 5th centuries or that I wouldn't want coins of emperors I don't have yet, but I'm not as motivated to get them as I was when I first started collecting.

 

awww, thanks guys for ur help. I do appreciate it very much. well i made some bids on ebay, and i lost lol. not sure if i want to do this anymore. There are some desperate people out there. 40 bucks was not good enuf for a republican denarius :devil:

I think maybe i shouldn't do this. I am not sure lol. I think i might wait a while.

 

Yeah, if you're limit is $40, you're definitely not going to be able to get all the Roman or Byzantine emperors. You could probably pull off the dynasty idea, particularly if you're willing to go pretty rough, but you still might have a little difficulty at times. And again, eBay isn't the greatest idea for a beginner unless you have someone with more experience helping you a bit. Vcoins allows you to search by price, so that's probably a better place to start.