Finding a focus

This from the guy who loves goats on coins (or any other animal in fact).

 

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Sure, I may have an animal-focus (baaaaaaah)

=> but at least it's "my" dirty barnyard focus!!

 

I couldn't agree more about the period of the 12 Caesars and its place in history, as well as the emperors themselves. As I've written before, it’s arguably the most dynamic, formative, and compelling historical period not only of the Roman Empire but of Euro-centric civilization as a whole. Imagine the difficulty of ruling such a vast empire in its infancy and early stages; think about the events memorialized on those coins!

By all means, ignore the insults that have been ignorantly hurled your way as you decide where next to focus your interest and attention in ancient coins. What fires others' imagination may or may not be that which fires yours. It's always valuable to genuinely and objectively hear alternative suggestions, but it's never worthwhile to pay attention to small-minded insults.

One theme that's always interested me is the representation of significant events and structures that appear on the reverses of ancient coins. Campgates, ceremonies, military triumphs, etc., can be found on a wide range of ancient coins. Take a look at Ancient Joe's collection to see what I mean.

Good luck!

 

Well said.

 

I suggest you collect by dynasties. Since you have already collected the Flavians, the last 3 of the 12, you're on your way. Next I would do the adoptive emperors or the "good emperors" of Machiavelli. Have fun!

 

I like the design of the ancient eagles better than the US ones (and you get ta' hold 'em).

 

What were we talking about?

 

We generally take "focus" to mean a concentration of coins from a particular period and culture, but one can exercise an intense intellectual and aesthetic focus on just about any coin. As you all know, I have my erudite pursuits, which very few collectors in the world share, but I feel that if I haven't learned something new from each and every one of the most common coins that passes through my hands, I haven't fully appreciated those coins.

 

Yah, sorry ... I love collecting coins

Oh, and I'm actually feeling really good today

Coins are awesome!!

=> collect whatever ya want ... there are no real losers

Well, except for the Twelve Caesars (man, that never gets old, eh?)

 

I sure hope you didn't mean me in this assertion. The reason I asked him was I literally have met collectors who collected the 12 Caesars because they were taught "its a set", and they had the US mentality that they "had" to collect complete sets. That was the reason I asked the question. Seeing as he posted he had read the book and was genuinely interested in those emperors in particular, I have no issue whatsoever with what he collected or why. Good for him. I was simply trying to make the point there is no "right" or "wrong" way to collect ancients, its whatever floats your boat.

 

Yup, I'm blaming medman => that guy is off the hook (ban him!!)

 

Of course not. See my private message.

 

Why not consider Greek Cities and their coins. Here's a reference you might find helpful should you decide to 'go Greek'
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GREEK-BYZAN...341153?hash=item5b1bdab1e1:g:W4QAAMXQPatTKH35

 

medoraman ... I'm gonna send you two private messages (one of them is merely about salmon fishing)

 

I collect the coinage of Roman Emporers who were short in stature. Theme: Little Caesars

 

12 caesars from april onwards. Wow, that's fast collecting my friend. it took me more than ten years to complete the series

I have way too many focusses. The first and main one (so far) is "roman"
Doing that, you quickly understand it might be somehow a big chunck to swallow and probably a bit expensive

At some point several sub sections started to grow up, on their own I would say : suddenly realizing you have, say three or four coins that would start a new thematic collection. For me, through time, it's been Plautilla denarii (completed), Divi series of Trajan Decius (2 more to go), She wolf on reverse (work in progress, 9 items so far), Diana Lucifera on reverse (work in progress, 4 items so far).

Believe or not, I realized I was doing the "12" after buying the eleventh one : "OMG ! I've got 11 out of 12 caesars and just need to find Vitellius to have a complete series !"

But also, living where I live, I found funny to try finding coins minted in the area around during the 15th, 16th and 17th century : easy job, a bunch of copper and billon as a side collection. 17 years after, with 200+ coins I'm just in the middle of the way, with many unpublished types, years and varieties, a reference website, perhaps a book in the years to come....and spending much more money on them than I ever did for romans

But also, when my best friend (british) passed away two years ago, and after his partner had found in his house some british coins in a pot that she gave me in remembrance of the good days, I thought it would be a good idea to collecting some british coins and....started a side collection of those (I swear it will remain a side collection...or not)

As stated above, a focus chooses you more than you choose it

Q

 

My story is pretty similar to @Carthago's. I started out collecting everything ancient, just trying to create a collection as varied and interesting as possible. As I picked up each new coin I'd study that area quite a bit, the big collectors of those types, the famous sales, etc. I decided to focus on the Roman Republic after reading through the RBW catalogs(NAC 61 and 63) even though I think I had all of 5 RR coins in my collection at the time. I was fascinated by what I saw and the intro by RBW really resonated with me. Before long I was selling off my US and world coins to buy more RR, then a handful of my Greek coins and slowly more and more of my ancients that weren't within my newfound focus.

As of today I'm up to 20 RR including coins I'm still waiting to receive, which is still not a huge number, but I don't regret my decision at all. Focusing on a single area isn't for everyone, but I really enjoy it, and collecting the Republic in bronze, silver and gold is such a huge area that I could never hope to be anywhere near "complete" so there will always be more to collect and more to learn.

 

Thanks very much for the kind words and advice @IOM. I really do not worry about the insults. They say more about the person doing the insulting than anything else.

I have really enjoyed looking at the member galleries on Forvm. This has given me some insight as to the different paths available for collecting ancient coins.

One approach I have thought about is a famous or influential persons collection on coins. I would not limit myself to ancient coins but I would not include coins from the last few hundred years or so. I would love to have coins of Cleo VII, Sulla, Pompey, Marc Antony, and Brutus from the Roman era. I would add a coin of Alexander III. Then maybe a coin of King Cnut or even Henry V. This would be an open ended collection and I would just add coins as I find them.

I just realized that all of these coins would be from books I read and subjects I have studied or have been interested in. A nice personal focus.

 

Thanks for your contribution. As I gain more exposure to RR denarii, I become more interested. Unfortunately I lost the first one I bought. I do have a worn Cordius Rufus that I bought on Forvm a while back. I bought it because it comes from the time of the dictatorship of Julius Caesar. However, on its own it is still and interesting coin. I find the "time of the moneyers" to be quite interesting for what it says about the state of the world and politics at the time.

 

Wise words Q, thanks.