what is your collection alpha?

A recent thread discusses the last item in a collecting group, or a show stopper. I wonder about the other end, or the first item in a collection => the alpha. The end of the Republican era has so many coins (and at such high prices) that I expect to own only a small part of them. The starting point could be said to be Cr1/1, but that one looks more like a colonial Greek issue. I am inclined to call cast bronze as the start of Roman Republican money. I have accumulated several over the past few years.
I would like to have a cast bar similar to the one posted by Andrew McCabe recently:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/21812031900/in/photostream/


I have bid on a few fragments of bars, but fell short. One of these days......
Until then I will settle for some small pieces that might have come from a bar. I picked up this one in a recent auction.

Aes Signatum(?), 'Ramo secco'(?) fragment
early 3rd cent. BC.
AE. 31.65 grams, 26 x 29 mm, RR


some Aes pieces, including a part of a cast bar

A side note is that Alpha in Rome changed with time as can be seen on the following A's from didrachms:





Grueber notes that five forms of A were used in the earliest period, 268 - 217 BC, and that by the third period, 196 - 173 BC, the letter A switched to the form we use today = A. So just like the Latin alphabet, the alpha of what we collect can have different starting points.

Post your collection alpha.

 

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For me that's an easy one! The first coins struck for Vespasian anywhere in the empire are those dated "Year 1" (LA) from Alexandria Egypt. The year 1 coins were struck between 1 July and 28 August and lack the title Augustus (sebastos).


Vespasian
AR Tetradrachm
Alexandria mint, 69 AD
RPC 2401 (25 spec.)
Obv: AYT TIT ΦΛAYI OYEΣΠAΣIAN KAIΣ ; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r., date LA before neck
Rev: EIPHNH; Eirene standing, l., with corn-ears and caduceus

 

Unless I acquire a striated electrum, which is unlikely, this Lydian lion will remain my alpha.


KINGS OF LYDIA, temp. Ardys - Alyattes
630-564 BCE
Electrum trite, 4.8 gm, 13.4 mm. Sardes mint.
Obv: head of roaring lion right, sun with four rays on forehead
Rev: two incuse square punches
Ref: Weidauer Group XV, 64; BMC 2

 

I really don't know what my Alpha might be, but certainly my oldest coin could be it:

ATTICA, AEGINA
AR Stater
OBVERSE: Sea-turtle (T-backed); head in profile
REVERSE: Large square incuse with skew pattern
Struck at Aegina, 480-457BC
11.96g, 20mm
SNG Cop 507

 

A great thread! I know I started the "Set Stopper" thread because that easy for me to decide because I know my Augustus is the end (for the time being, I guess), but the start could and hopefully will move. With that said, here's the beginning of my Roman Republican collection. Crawford 20/1 so I have some room to work on it.



Didrachm, Neapolis (?) after 269-266 BC, AR 6.78 g, 20mm. Head of Hercules r., hair bound with ribbon, with club and lion’s skin over shoulder. Rev. She-wolf r., suckling twins; in exergue, ROMANO. Sydenham 6. Crawford 20/1.

 

I've contemplated acquiring some form of proto-money but for now my striated hekte is my earliest. The larger denominations are surprisingly tough, although I do intend to upgrade at some point, should the opportunity arise:

 

This is my current alpha of the set that I am focusing on: Roman republic Æ Semuncia(5.50g), anonymous. 217-215 BC. Head of Mercury right, wearing winged petasos / Prow right; ROMA above. Crawford 38/7; Sydenham 87.

I still have a ways to go as far as the earlier Republican coins, I've just had trouble finding examples that I like that I can also afford so that has kept me away thus far.

 

I have two as I focus on the Roman Republic...


ROMAN REPUBLIC
AR Didrachm
Anonymous 275-270 BCE
17.7mm x x20.7mm, 7.2g
OBV: ROMANO, Laurel head of Apollo, l
REV: Horse galloping r, Star above
REF: Sear 23; Crawford 15/1
(I am in search for the 280-275 BCE Didrachm - Rome's first Silver currency)

However, the below Aes Rude is a transactional currency based on weight that the Central Italians (and Romans) used as money. This precedes Aes Signatum (which I would enjoy capturing!).



Roman Republic
Aes Rude
5th - 4th Century BCE
Bronze, 29.7mm (irregular), 32.4g

 

I guess my Siglos of Darius I/Xerxes would be the start of my Silk Road collection, as it was these early Persian emperors who built the Royal Road (and I see that as the real beginning of connecting east and west, even though there was limited trade contacts between the Sumerians and Aryans in India... But no coins then!)
(Forgive the lack of attribution - I don't have access to my computer with the info. On it at the moment, but this coin has been shared before). I may eventually ad early coins of Lydia to this, and maybe even some proto money in Europe and China, but for now this will do.

For my English monarchs, I intend to start with Alfred the Great, then follow the kings of Wessex to the conquest. Once (if) that's completed, then I'll probably grab the Kings of Northumbria and then East Anglia since I lived in both places. Maybe Mercia next (but defiantly would need to get a coin from Offa, just because...). If I'm successfully at collecting the Anglo-Saxon Kings, then we can talk Roman emperors minted in England, then maybe Celtic, but I doubt I'll make it that far.

 

I started with a Vespasian...

Then i had to get a Max Thrax...


And then I couldn't stop...

Forgive the lack of attributions, I have them somewhere, it's just it's the eve of an important public holiday here in Melbourne and celebrations are starting....

 

I have wanted to do an English monarch collection for ages. But I don't find the style of the coins particularly interesting until Henry VIII (with the exception of gold nobles). I'd probably stop at George III - I don't want to get too "modern", because then the slab craziness and marks out of 70 take over.

 

I don't go as far back as some of the others on this forum, but I do have a siglos.

 

Yah, I'm a Lydia guy as well => the sweet ol' Confronting Lion & Bull (AR Siglos)



... by the way Carthago, that's an awesome twins-suckling-wolf example!!

 

I suppose aesthetically, the medieval coins may be a bit boring, but I find they have a certain rugged charm (and since I'm a medievalist, that probably helps my enjoyment of them quite a bit...). I have sworn I won't get sucked in to the slab craze for this set. I will likely slab my decimal proofs, but primarily to have them in a holder other than the mint sets

 

The coin that started me into ancients and even though I have others of this emperor, I still can't come to part with it, so it makes it king.


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

 

Sorry, these were supposed to go in the "Honest wear" thread obviously.

edit: Where they actually ARE now, lol. Did someone move them for me? If so, many thanks; I didn't know you could do that. If they were in fact in the right thread all along, I'm clearly too old & befuddled to be allowed anywhere near this here Internet thing...

 

They got moved. In such a case you can let us mods know by clicking the "Report" link, by the way. This time TIF reported it for you.

Christian

 

Got it. Thanks TIF!

 

Well, most of my earliest coins are now somewhere else in the world and that includes the oldest struck....so I'll post the first gold ancient I picked up and the only example I have of that metal--- A Tremisses of Heraclius:

 

I'd go with the "too old & befuddled" route. That provides an easy excuse for many things. I know. I use it all the time.