Why Do You Collect Ancients?

This is a question that may have already been asked in some form, but I have not seen it so I will ask anyway.

What is your motivation for collecting ancient coins?

For me:

I began collecting coins when I was about six or seven years old. I have always loved history and I considered coins a connection to the past. But it was the first year that I took ancient history in middle school and soon after discovered that ancient coins were affordable to collectors of average means that everything came together.

If I am reading about a period or person in history, having a coin from it brings it to life in a way nothing else can. For me coins illuminate the stories I read in ancient writings and modern histories alike.

The coins do not have to be finest known, investment class or great rarities, I like for the to look as nice as possible within what I consider a reasonable investment, but I am buying them because they teach me and bring me pleasure, not to make money. In fact most will probably be in my estate when I die.

 

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Yeah, I believe this question has been asked before, but like you said, we have a lot of newcomers to CT. Anyway, you sound like you could be a younger me (you are the same age as my youngest son - born 1972). History is my motivation. I read a lot now that I'm a doddering old man (or so my son's think anyway - and my back agrees), so, like you said, my coins have a way of making what I read come to life. I collect for the pure joy of holding coins that have passed through hands in history. My imagination runs wild when I think of the possibilities.

 

For me it's the same as you guys. I have always loved history and holding a piece of it is very special to me. I also enjoy the artistic aspect of the coins. Just imagining somebody cutting the dies with the materials, tools and technology of the time really gives me an appreciation for the people who produced the coins.

 

History. I've always had a fascination with history.
War and specific battles, the soldiers who didn't make it into history books to the Generals, Emporers or leaders who did.
Ancient history is full of all the things I like to study. So like you the coins bring it to life.
I started with modern U.S and world coins when I was much younger for around 20 or so years. I was getting bored and discovered how affordable ancient coins were I guess almost a year ago. It's proven to be the challenge I needed to revive my affection.
I still dabble a bit in moderns but not much. I like the Silver Eagles and for some reason I like to get nice war nickels when I find them decent enough.

 

I have always collected things since I was a kid. Started off with baseball cards, comic books, stamps, toys, and coins. After a few years of modern US. coins, I got bored of it and moved on to ancients. I still get a few modern coins here and there but its mostly 99% ancients now.

For me its getting to hold something that is a part of history. To wonder who used it, what it was used to buy, etc. Another part is my fascination with mythology which is a big reason why I started with Greek coins. From there it all spiraled out of control and now I'm buying Romans, Byzantine, Arab, and all eras/ areas I would have never knew existed if it wasn't for coins.

 

I am an ancient history buff. I've been collecting coins since I was 12, but it wasn't until 2015 that I realized there were people that also collected ancients and that many cool ancient coins could be had for little money. Before that I always assumed ancient coins all probably ended up in museums.

 

Pretty much the same reasons posted already. I just love having a piece of history I can hold. Like Sallent said, up until a year ago I thought all coins were just in museums. There's nothing like holding a 2000 year old coin and wondering who held it or what it was spent on.
I also don't gamble near as much as before I started collecting and now I actually have something to show for it so there's that.

 

My original motivation came from direct instigation of the OP @Aethelred !!!! but the current motivation to collect is, like most, the history that each of these coins present. I've been soaking up ancient history almost nonstop since August 2016 when I first bought this:

This small cheap Constantine I Campgate has totally decimated any chance of me ever returning to US coinage. I may try to finish my US Dansco 7070 someday, but I've not bought anything other than an ancient since the first shown above. As a kid in school I can recall briefly learning about Romans and Greeks with a smattering of mythology but that had been just a blip and long since forgotten.

I remember, as a young kid, my Dad bringing me coins back from his travels and then we lived in Brazil for a time and by the time I was 8 or so I had a few baggies full of coins I had collected. One summer I went to stay at my Grandfather's and he took me to a small coin shop and helped me get some 2x2's and other items that might help in organizing all my loose change which I filed away in this box:
I forgot about those coins soon after and eventually grew up. After high school I joined the Army and went to Germany for a few years where I started loving history. Eventually I became a book collector . . .

About 5 years ago I found my old box of coins at my mom's house. Finding that box after 30 years was amazing to me and spurred again an interest in coins. I've always bought and sold books to finance my book habit, but now I find myself buying and selling books to support my coin habit.

I'd been mostly collecting US type coins (slabbed of course) and then zammo! I bought an ancient. Ancients are everything I love about books AND coins all rolled up into one. I can read Suetonius' The Lives of the Twelve Caesars while holding in my hand a dupondis of Vespasian (Thank you Sir! @YOUKNOWWHO) and I can read a serious work by Michael Grant holding a coin of Marcus Aurelius and then I can just go mind numb and relax with some historical fiction by Robert Harris or I can pull from the shelf a reference work that's needed to study the coins of those I've been reading of. What could be better?

If you have gotten this far and still wonder how the OP might be involved in this you may reference the little trophies in my sigline - @Aethelred and @lordmarcovan came up with the "Numismatic Gladiator" games which have been hosted over at the CU site. I won NG III with a US coin and then I won again in NG X with my Constantine Campgate. So there it is.

 

Like many of you, I have a "collector's personality" and collected rocks, stamps, comic books, modern US coins, and books at one point or other in my life. I became enamored with the ancient world in theology school and bought my first ancient--the tribute penny that is my avatar--at that time. Even though I know a lot about the languages of the ancient world (I teach Biblical Greek), my understanding of the ancient world is much more complete because of numismatics. Ancient coins give me a hands-on understanding of Greco-Roman paganism, early Christianity, and geography that I wouldn't have otherwise.

 

My first ancient was also a Campgate, I have all ways excelled in History, I think that is why I am Dabbling. I don't go out and search for certain examples, But, love the Hunt. Found my first, Denarious, not bigger than a few grams, still that little chunk of silver, was exhilarating.

 

History, mythology, yada yada... yawn. Guys, get serious... it's all about the investment $$!

Oh, alright, it's the love of history and mythology for me, too ...

The coin below is as far away from investment grade as you can get. It was struck in a town called Himera in the late 5th century BC. It was very likely still in use when an army of Carthaginians landed on Sicily, massacred the inhabitants of the city, and destroyed it so completely that it was never rebuilt. It's very possible I've never spent a better $6.


SICILY, Himera
AE Tetras. SICILY, Himera, circa 420 - 407 BC. CNS I 32. O: Pan as a youth, holding thyrsos over shoulder and blowing on a conch shell, seated on goat walking right; three pellets (mark of value) below. R: Nike flying left, holding aphlaston and hem of skirt.

 

Like everyone else, it is all about the history. I always had a fascination with the Middle Ages when I was young, but started getting into coin collecting when the States Quarters program started. eBay was just beginning to take off, and my love of the Robin Hood legends got me looking into finding a coin of Richard I (now I know there is no relation, but still don't regret the purchase as this has pushed me into my love of the Angevin kings of England). From there I got into ancients as well. My mother had some ancient coin jewelry, and I would often just look at it and wonder who had used the coins, and for what.

Medieval is still my primary, but ancients are a close second (with the a US hoard on the side made up mostly of family donations, so I wouldn't feel right selling my US collection. Started a British Decimal collection when I lived in the U.K. as well...)

 

My dear ol long deceased Granny used to babysit me 50 years ago ... and she,d sit with me and go through all of her cool old coins that she,d collected on all of her world travels ... She really was quite a rockstar

... anyway ...

That's how I got interested in coins in general ... I continued to collect the beauties that Granny showed me when I was young ...

... but I must admit that it was a total fluke that I ended up changing course and swerving into ancients! ... Best Choice EVER!

The history, the amazing number of sweet options, plus the ridiculously low prices made the change a no brainer!

Man, I wish sure that Granny was still alive ... gawd, she would go crazy over my cool ol ancients collection .... RIP Granny

 

When I was 8 my parents divorced and I lived with my mother who was a nurse and worked a lot leaving me to care for myself. This is less fashionable these days. I started collecting US coins from circulation. Sometimes my mother would 'lend' me $50 so I could get a bag of 5000 cents or lesser amounts of other denominations from a vending machine company near us. I would sort the coins, roll the losers and turn them in at the bank. I sold duplicates at a coin shop so I could pay back my mother until it was time to do it again. I thought paying more than one cent for a Lincoln was stupid and saved all the Indians I found so my collection grew slowly but I was making a profit on duplicates. Ocassionally I would trade for a dat I needed but I was starting to be bored with the rouine. One day I noticed the shop had a dish of ancients - a pick out pot - and had no problem paying 50 cents for an ancient since it did not have a denomination that would fit in a gumball machine.

In high school, I worked in an aquarium shop, stopped looking through bags but still scanned the store change and bought more and more ancients with my earnings. I took Latin in school but probably started that because I already had an interest in Roman history from the coins. It is hard to say which came first - the chicken or the egg. When I was graduated from college with AB in Classics, the Draft Board wouldn't let me go to Grad school so the coins and history became a hobby and the dream of being a college professor died. It has been a fun filled hobby.

 

I had no interest in history whatsoever until ancient coins came into my life.

The story, which I've shared many times, is here:

http://www.tifcollection.com/how-i-became-interested-in-ancient-coins

Now I enjoy reading contemporaneous histories of the coins I collect. However, equally enjoyable are ancient coins for which little history is known. Sometimes I enjoy those more-- imagination can create the story . A coin's appearance is often what I am drawn to. That doesn't necessarily mean it has to be pristine-- just visually interesting or artistic.

I'm more interested in the day-to-day life of ordinary ancient people than in blow-by-blow battle recitations and military histories.

 

Like all of you, I have always been interested in history and ALWAYS utterly fascinated by the ancient world.....so it was natural for me to fall into collecting Greek and Roman coins, especially once I realized how relatively cheap most can be. I'm still in awe each time I hold one in my hand and imagine all those who once held that very same coin in their hands so many centuries ago, bringing to life the people and their times in a way that nothing else can.

 

As a child I was interested in archeology and history. When I started university I read many of the classics and enjoyed them very much. Moving through several degrees I became more and more focused on language and languages. When I started teaching at the university, many years ago now, I made friends with a number of interesting people, all of whom were interested in history. In late 2014 I was able to resurrect my interest in history and began reading. Through internet searches and readings I stumbled across ancient coin sites like FAC. I thought 'wow' I can actually own a piece of history. Rather than jumping in right away I relied upon my academic ways and began reading everything I could for several months. I finally purchased my first ancient in April 2015, the Otho denarius in my avatar. I Have not once regretted my decision to start collecting ancient coins. After buying the Otho I decided to put together a set of 12 Caesars. the reasons were purely personal and selfish. I has remembered reading Suetonius many years before and thought it would be wonderful to have a coin for each of the emperors mentioned. Again, I have not regretted this decision at all. Putting together the set has been an education and a wonderful journey. Last year a colleague in the Classics department invited me to share my coins with her 3rd year Roman Empire class. I had a wonderful time, and the students seemed to very much enjoy the experience.

For me ancient coins are a perfect blend of my personal and professional interests. Each time I hold one of my 2000 year old coins in my hand I am reminded that we are all a part of history however minor, and that we are also custodians for those who will come next.

 

For me a piece of history, and the first emperors and interested in history to , and they looks nice beter then the new ones
And it comes out the ground

Julius could be the first emperor, they killed him

 

I started collecting when I was 9. I had a Great Uncle who collected coins, but I realize now he would collect from circulation. He would also hoard Silver when US Coinage changed in 1964. My grandmother, like many other people, collected her change into coffee cans. She would let my brother and I dump it out and go through the change for odd coins. Beyond-bizarre, I found this "cent" in the coffee can. (I suspect my Great-Uncle had left it on the kitchen table when he visited my Grandparents, and my Grandmother had no idea what it was and scooped it up as change):

US Civil War Token Cent 1863
I was excited as it was cool different, and asked if I could keep it. I even gave her a cent to replace it. I went on that summer in Arkansas to buy odd-type US coins (1/c, 2c, 3c Nickel, 3c Silver, 20c, Trade Dollar) with the money I made all summer. Parent AND Grandparents thought I was crazy, so I spent another $50 on FIREWORKS.

Like everyone else here, I love History, and I focus on Ancient MILITARY History... My 6th Grade English and Literature Teacher (2 hours of classes) was extremely strict mean-ole witch, but loved Roman History. She was also personal friends with my Parents, so I could never get her out of my life at 12-14 years old! I could never get above a "C" grade in her class, but somehow her love for Ancient History sloughed off onto me. University (poor-man-budget, but I got some cheap Ancients, just to "have"). Starting in Early 80's - Graduated, got married, started up a business (Self-Employed), house, kids, Corporate moves all over the US and overseas - sold my collections except the original purchases when I was a 9yo. Early 90's came back into collecting coins, but steered from US and Moderns, and fumbled my way into Ancients. Just History from my memory, my reading, and several courses from University guided me into my first foray into Ancients.

As to World Moderns, since I traveled overseas extensively for 30 years, I have a few kilos of coins and currencies from my travels. All in jars, waiting for the Grandkids to "Discover" ! (My 8 year-old Granddaughter, whose father is of Korean descent, has already discovered and was gifted a Korean 100 Won coin from the jar...)

My Ancient Firsts:
Alexander III Drachm

(and 3 other Athena/Owls)

 

A box of ancient coins helped save my life.

Nine years ago my life was a shambles due to my addiction to drugs. I was at the crossroads of existence. I didn’t want to face another day of the stranglehold that drugs had on me and the damage that they had caused in the lives of everyone who was close to me. Addiction cost me the love of my wife and the respect of all who had once cared about me.

During the end of this time I remember seeing an advertisement in the back of an archeology magazine for a collection of authentic coins from the Holy Land. In my crazy drug addicted mind I began to think that I’d be cured of my ills by owning a collection of relics that had been touched by Christ. I ordered the set from the Royal Mint in the United Kingdom.

I recall receiving the coins and sitting at my desk staring at them. I can remember carrying them under my arm and stumbling out of the house and to a nearby church where I found the pastor and told him that I was self destructing. I told him that I needed help getting and staying clean. He prayed with me and hooked me up with a doctor and a pastoral counselor who specialized in drug and alcohol addiction. Also with a recovery group. Anyway—I’m clean thanks to the Almighty’s love, the love and support of my recovery group, and the effect that the Judaean coins had on me. I’m coming up on my 9 years clean date. I keep that box of ancient coins close to me because they are a symbol of the beginning of my new and rewarding life.

I’ve since become an Ordained Deacon of the Church and a certified Drug Addiction Counselor. My collections have grown considerably over the years. I have a keeper collection and a give away collection. I enjoy giving the ancient Judaean coins to the folks I’m trying to help. The coins have a “Miraculous” effect on people of Faith.

I can say with certainty that a box of ancient coins helped save my life.