Your first ancient coin(s)

Coin show purchases almost two years ago.

Gallienus (joint rule with Valerian I)
Obv: IMP C P LIC GALLIENVS PF AVG
Rev: VIRVTS AVGG, soldier standing left, holding spear and shield, Rome mint


Constantine II as Caesar
Obv: CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C
Rev: GLORIA EXERCITVS, soldiers standing, holding spears and shields, with two standards between them, Thessalonika mint

(this photo was when I was just starting to photograph coins so I need to reshoot this one. It actually has a black surface)

What ancients did you start out with?

 

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Postumus - bought unattributed as a 13 year old and before the internet was widespread. If you think attribution is hard today try it as a 13 year old in 1990 with no books, experts to ask or knowledge of the Roman Empire, its amazing I have any hair at all left the amount of head scratching this coin caused, love it though

 

Bought here from a collector here on CT.

Would only unload it for a eid mar or a gold empress


Septimius Severus (193 - 211 A.D)
AR Denarius
Rome mint, 201 A.D.
O: SEVERVS AVG PART MAX, Laureate head right.
R:RESTITVTOR VRBIS (Restoration of the City), Severus in military attire, spear in left, sacrificing over a tripod altar with right.
RIC 167a RSC 599 BMCRE 202
3.3g

 

This was my very first ancient coin ... wow, almost a "whole year ago!!" (man, I'm getting to be a real pro, eh?!!)

Valentinian I
Minted 367-375 A.D.
Diameter: 19 mm
Weight: 2.70 grams
Obverse: D N VALENTINIANVS P F AVG, diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right
Reverse: GLORIA ROMANORVM, emperor walking right, head left, dragging captive and holding labarum, TES B in exergue
Reference: RIC IX Thessalonica 16a

 

Constantine the Great (my very first)
A.D. 308 - 337. minted late in the reign.

obv. CONSTANTINVS MAX AVG, diademe and draped faces right.

rev. GLORIA EXERCITVS (glory of the army)
SMNA

Divus Augustus Æ As. Commemorative by Tiberius. DIVVS AVGVSTVS PATER, radiate head left, thunderbolt before / Eagle standing on globe facing, wings spread, head right, S C at sides. RIC 82 [Tiberius]

I've since upgraded the As but still like to keep this one

 

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Caligula RIC 38

I no longer have my first coins, but this is one of the very first I bought when I started collecting ancients a little over 11 years ago.

 

When I sold my collection in 1974, I lost my first ancients. I kept three coins from 1963 but I believe the very first was a Tetricus in 1961 or 2 when I was in 9th grade and taking Latin. Two of the three from 1963 were featured in other posts online recently (in My Top 25 coins, if you recall that one). This is the third.

Septimius Severus Emesa mint
RIC(1) p138 C173
COS I obverse:
This specimen is on too small a flan to prove the die never had the second stroke but other specimens clearly show this as another certain COS I die. The reverse is unusual in that the chair shows an X support underneath. All of the half dozen coins I have seen from this obverse die seem to be struck in more base silver than used with the other COS I dies. My favorite coin was a more common COS I die which led me to publish a truely worthless article in Vol. V No. 2 (February 1966) of The Voice of the Turtle magazine.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00AGM807M/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all
Save your money. It is not worth $26 or I would have bought it before I posted this.

 

My first was This Mark Anthony Legionary Denarius
OBV: ANT AVG III VIR R P C, Praetorian galley, thyrsos behind prow
REV: LEG XI, eagle between standards
Struck at Patrae, 32-31 BC
3.05g, 16mm
RSC 27

 

My second coin was this Claudius Quadran
OBV: TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG - Modius
REV: PON M TRP IMP P P COS II - Large S C
Struck at Rome, 42 AD
2.6g, 16mm
RIC 90


Both of these coins were purchased in either 1981 or 1982. My record keeping was not so good when I first started my collection.

 

Man, fancy company with some of your guys first purchases. Mine was two, a pretty green larissa facing head bronze and a fugly, badly cleaned late parthian.

Sometimes i wonder why i wasn't seduced further by the beauty of greek coins, and that fugly little parthian drachm instead drew me into the middle east.

Not my first ancient, but i remember the first coin i owned that made me gasp. I bought a vf Shapur I from frank robinson. For those who know, frank grades well, and this coin was just spectacular. That was the day i was hooked on persian coins.

 

My first purchase, a Londinium Mint, Constantine the Great, Sol holding globe and whip.
VF/XF
You can see the muscles so well.. plus veins

This was in London during London 2012, which I attended the day of, day before and the day after.

Same age as Doug started...

 

Arcadius AD 383-408

My first Ancient Coin from back in '99. I was 15 yrs old.

Alexandria, Roman Egypt
Arcadius AD 383-408
Struck. 15 May AD 392 and 17 January AD 395
AE 20.9mm x 5.89g
Obv: DN ARCADIVS P F AVG-Diademed Bust right.
Rev: GLORIA ROMANORVM, ALEA in ex.- Emperor Standing left holding globe and sceptre.
ref: RIC 21c

 

Here are some of my first ancient coins. First one was a gift.



Augustus, Macedon, Philippi, AE 19mm (Semis).

OBV: VIC - AVG, Victory standing left on base holding wreath and palm.

REV: COHOR PRAE PHIL, Three standards in honor of the Praetorian Guard's battle between Augustus and Marcus Antonius.

REF: RPC I 1651, SGICV 32, SNG Cop 305, BMC 23, SNG ANS 677

SIZE: 19mm, 4.7g

GRADE: F




Constantine AE3. 326-328 AD, 19mm, 2.5g

OBV: CONSTANTINVS AVG, Laureate head right.

REV: PROVIDENTIAE AVGG, campgate with eight rows, two turrets, no doors, star above, top row arches and dots in blocks, bottom row empty blocks, ramp at base, pellet in right field, SMTSE in ex.

REF: RIC VII Thessalonica 153




Constans AE4. AD 347-348.

OBV: CONSTAN-S PF AVG. Laurel and rosette diademed, draped & cuirassed bust right.

REV: VICTORIAEDDAVGGQNN, Two Victories standing facing each other, each holding a wreath & palm, SMTSD in ex.

REF: RIC VIII Thessalonica 101

 

Did someone say Shapur ?!!

Also not my first coin but I also gasp....


Persia, The Sassanid Kingdom
Shapur I The Great King Shah of Persia (240 -272 AD)
AR Drachm 3.79g x 24.5mm
Obv. Bust if Shapur I with Helmet with ear flaps. In the name of the Great Mazda Worshiper.
Rev. Zoroastrian Alter with Two Attendants.
ref: MACW 811-819

 

My first ancient coins were purchased at a show earlier this year. Technically its my first two ancients.



Greek : Macedonia
Ampipholis AE21
Obverse : Winged Head of Gorgoneion face
Reverse : Athena standing left, holding Nike, spear and shield
Size, Weight : 21mm, 8.1grams
1st-2nd century A.D



Greek, Macedonian Kingdom – Antigonus Gonatas II
277-239 B.C
AE 18m / 5.2 grams
O: Head of Athena in Crested Corinthian helmet facing right
R: BA above, ANTI monogram below, Pan advancing right, erecting trophy

 

Great Thread! My first ancient was purchased in the early '70s, when I was an 8 or 9 year old kid living in Germany. I believe we were on a family tourist trip to the Camp Gate at Trier (Trevorum). It was purchased from one of the tourist trap shops that surround such attractions. It can't have cost much, since my allowance was around $2 a week at the time. I vividly remember being so impressed by how old this coin was. Little did I know it would sit, tucked away as a keepsake, in a drawer, envelope or safe, following me through multiple moves, for almost 40 years only to be re-discovered as intrigue into ancient Roman coins was re-kindled.

I think it's unattributable in its current condition. And I don't want to break it out of the original 2 x 2 to clean it since the legend has personal/sentimental value for me. But from what I can gather from the legend written in German on the 2 x 2, it is some kind of Barbarous Radiate, a Gallic afterstrike of an Antoninus, possibly Tetricus I or Tetricus II?

 

I was quite happy collecting pre-Norman Eglish silver when I noticed the following denarius that was within my usual budget. That was the beginning of my ancients collection and the end of my English silver which were all sold to feed my ancients habit.

Severus Alexander denarius
Obv:– IMP ALEXANDER PIVS AVG, Laureate head right
Rev:– MARS VLTOR, Mars advancing right, holding a spear and shield
Minted in Rome, A.D. 232
References:– RIC 246, RSC 161a

 

This little 11th century ? Norman copper, excavated in Sicily (Night of the Vespars ???) got me hooked. I still have it.

 

Everyone remembers their first

The lady that raised me until I was 7 or 8 gave me this Prutah along with 70 silver dollars. I was eight years old & hooked on coins. It is a half Century later & I still have the small minor coin. The 70 silver dollars were used toward my senior year college expenses when the Hunt brothers helped the price of silver in 1980.

That prutah was my first ancient coin. The first ancients that I ever purchased were posted here a couple years ago. They are the Constantine I 307-337 and Constantius II from 337-361.

Then I bought a book. Then I bought a few Greek coins. I like the Greek coins but they were not my first.

 

This was my first...bought around 2 years ago...silver Antoninianus featuring Gordian III and Providentia. Minted in 243 A.D.