Zumby thought this up in a different thread, so get posting! I expect that the master of style, Doug, will have some interesting things to say/ BTW, you don't have to post both of your loves hates. Hate: letters and necks that are too long. Love: late tets and serifed letters.
Ummm, I don't really "hate" any of my coins ... I pretty much "love" all of 'em!! ... but if I had to post a few of my coins that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with I guess I would pick the ones that I wish were a bit "better" ... For example, although I love these next few coins, I sure wish that they were a bit more well-centered!!
Well, now you've got me thinking/analyzing my poor children ... Again, I absolutely love these next few coins, but I sure wish that they had "Bigger Flans"
Oh great, now I'm gonna tear-down all of my special coins!! Ummm, I love this chimaera-coin, but "geesh, I sure wish that it showed its snake-tail"
Ummm, this coin shows a super image of a rat (which is primarily why I bought the coin), but the coin has some die-damage that has removed the front legs of the horse!! (man, I wish these poor ol' horses had their legs!!)
Okay, one last example ... I absolutely loved this coin when I bought it (loved it!!) ... and then Doug pointed-out that there was some "smoothing and tooling" (I had to look-up what these terms meant!!) ... sadly, as lways, Doug was quite correct => yup, I wish that this wonderful coin didn't have "smoothing & tooling"
I'm afraid to post any coins here for fear of what that ogre Doug might say. Perhaps I should think about it a while just to be safe.
Stylistically, there are many coins which just don't "do it" for me, even though many are some of the best known ancient coin designs. This will be a highly controversial post, as I have some strong opinions, but that's what the internet is for! To name a few: - Athens dekadrachms: I think the tetradrachms were better executed and find the dekadrachm to be somewhat overhyped stylistically (I don't find it anywhere close to being the "most beautiful ancient coin") - Some of the man-faced bull coins: These depend on the type for me as there are some spectacular ones but I'm not enthralled by the design overall. - Naxos tetradrachms: I can appreciate the transition from archaic to classical styling but I'm just not a fan of the design. - Demareteion dekadrachm/tetradrachms: I suppose I'm just not one for the archaic styles. If I were to choose, I'd pick one of the slightly later issues which is far less expensive. - Most facing head designs: It was a nice attempt but most of these are not executed particularly artistically. Some are incredible but a large number of them are just "alright" to my eyes. - The stylized portraits later in the Roman empire (and all throughout the Byzantines) are just not appealing to me. As for coins which I find appealing: - Well-executed portraits, whether of emperors, Gods, or rulers. The Perseus Zoilos tetradrachms are a great example: the first, signed issue is fantastic but it devolves very quickly after. - Anything Zeus, especially with majestic portraits. Throw in an eagle or a quadriga and I'm a happy collector! - Architectural designs: of course, the Colosseum, but several other structures are depicted impressively. Knossos' Labyrinth is a coin very high up on my wantlist. - Simple designs: anepigraphic coins, and anything with clean imagery is oddly appealing to me. I love the celery leaves of Selinos and simple but profound designs of Elis/Hera for the Olympics as well as Aegina's land tortoises (but not sea turtles) - Conversely: extremely intricate designs - the Circus Maximus denarii, Ports of Ostia, and some other coins which depict entire scenes, are all very impressive. - Compelling, unique designs: I love the DIVVS IVLIVS comet denarius, Aegypto Capta denarius, the EID MAR, Augustus' laurel leaves, Trajan's Column/Forum, Elagabalus' emesa stone, among many others. There, I came clean with my opinions... let the firestorm begin
I agree with AJ's points but will differ a bit here and there on some specifics since I like the Archaics better than he does and am less impressed by some of the later Classicals. I do, however, draw a line between style and types. I appreciate well done dies within a specific issue and hold contempt for poor dies in some of the 'high art' types. Most dealers and collectors act like style is a matter of Greek being better and late Roman being worse but I consider that like comparing Picasso to Rembrandt rather than distinguishing the best and worst of each. A few examples: The worst style coin I have is probably this Antioch, Pisidia, of Claudius II. The cutter might be called charming by some but I'll call him a hack. If there is such a thing as so bad it is good. This is it. This is the same design from the same city a few years earlier (you can name the ruler, right?) but I consider the portrait good compared to the Roman equivalents I do not own. I always loved the portrait on this Caracalla sestertius but there are many other dies of the kid that fall short of this one, IMHO. There are many, many Septimius Severus portraits in my collection. From Rome I like these two from 193 AD best but neither is really typical of that mint and time. Late Romans with the huge number of mints have style variations from mint to mint and within each mint. I have favorite mints from a style point of view but usually have coins of less favorite mints that strike me as being done better and vice-versa. Many of the coins I have might be described as 'good style for....'. We realize that some coins are less than great style compared to the high Greeks but we do the best we can.
I'll have to restrict my comments largely to Roman coins during the Imperial period since I haven't spent much time looking at other types of ancient coinage. These are purely comments on my personal stylistic preference. I do occasionally buy coins that do nothing for me aesthetically if they appeal on other levels such as numismatic or historical significance. THUMBS UP 2nd century sestertii : The realism of portrait and obverse art on the sestertii from Trajan through Marcus Aurelius are the zenith of Roman Imperial coinage for me. Unfortunately the best of these are out of reach at the moment. Flavian portraits : Compared to the relative consistency of those from the Adoptive-Antonine period, you see alot more variety of portrait styles on Flavian (particularly Vespasian) obverses. This is not uncommon at various other periods, but I love that these portraits, different as they are, just seem to exude character. Lettering : I like the lettering on Nero's Rome issues in particular as excellent examples of Roman capitalis monumentalis on coins. I'm also fond of the uniform blocky style of lettering you find on the post-reform Tetrarchic folles. THUMBS DOWN Post-Antonine Alexandria tetradrachms : The portraits just got cruder as time went on, and I find the reverse designs dull and lacking in variety. I can't even bear to look at some of those obverses from the mid-to-late 3rd century. Late Roman Bronze and Byzantines : It's one thing for the portraits to be unrealistic, but the style chosen for the portraits just do nothing for me. And I find most of the portraiture on Byzantine coins almost cartoonish. Ridiculously long and thick necks : What's up with that? Some of them look like tree trunks with faces on them. I probably have lots of other likes and dislikes, but these are the ones that come off the top of my head. Z.
I mostly agree. I can tolerate the cartoonish Byzantines but have an intense dislike of most LRB portraits which cannot be explained by mere artistic shortcomings
It is hard for me to pick things I like/dislike. There are usually aspects of every type of series that I find appealing. I can say though the coins highest on my want list are a First Meris tetradrachm, DIVVS IVLIVS comet, Germanicus AE, and Commodus as Hercules. The only one that is based purely on the design of the coin itself is the First Meris tetradrachm. The rest are because of the history around the coin or the person.
i can't really think of anything ancient that i'm not at all interested in. maybe the coins that aren't coins...like the dolphins or the old chinese spade or knife coins? ..and if i saw a good deal on some of them i'd still probably get one. what like most just depends on the week/month...now it's large bronze coins, my last itch was for denari...i can't stay focused on any one thing to long.
I feel exactly the same way, Chris. So it's really impossible for me to participate in this thread in any sort of meaningful way. There is no style that I dislike.
I'm not talking about particular types of coins, I'm talking about style. It's not, "I don't like this design," it's, "I don't like the the way it's engraved."
