I wouldn't exactly call that cheap my friend. You've got some absolutely beautiful coins though. You were rocking the most expensive coins thread. Do gifts count? Because if so then.... free Valentinian I AE3. GLORIA ROMANORVM reverse If not this is still probably my least costly ancient. Still love it though. Thanks mom and dad!
Not counting the free ones, this one at around $20 India, Gandhara Janapada, 6th - 5th Century BC Silver Shana, or 1/8 Satamana, 15mm, 1.40 grams Obverse: Six armed Taxila symbol with pellet between arms. Reverse: Blank as made. Pieper12 // Mitchner4079ff // HGC12,763 // Rajgor Series 41
LOL, what you paid for your cheapest would normally buy me at least 2 coins, maybe 3. Panzerman is living the life
I have too many budget coins and many of my first coins I didn't keep records of costs. But here is one I got for $5 shipped: MAXIMINUS II DAIA Quarter-Nummus OBVERSE: GENIO ANTIOCHENI, Tyche of Antioch seated facing on rocks, turreted and veiled, stalks of grain in right, river-god Orontes swimming below REVERSE: APOLLONI SANCTO, Apollo standing left, patera in right, lyre in left. A in right field, mintmark SMA Struck at Antioch, 312 AD 1.2g, 13mm Van Heesch 3, A
There is no such thing as too many budget coins. Frankly, if I hadn't gone overboard trying to buy XF coins when I first started, I may have had lots more coins today to enjoy.
I posted my 1 dollar nabatean the other day, here's my 1 dollar indo-Parthian. yeah, it's in the reshoot pile currently... I didn't know what it was when I got it, so was trying to show the size. The reverse is kind of a funky Athena...
Yeah, I started collecting when I was ten, my parents gave me gold sovereigns/ French 20 Francs for Birthday/ Christmas presents/ quality was not important to me then. When, I got my first job, at 19 and saved up for that special gold coin, I got fussier and only bought UNC. material. From that time on, till present day, i always wanted high quality....which means you pay a premium price. End result, I never amassed a huge collection, but a nice modest one of 800 coins and counting.
That is really a matter of opinion. There are two kinds of budget coins. One is the poor stuff that you only bought because it was cheap. The other is the good stuff you wanted that happened to come cheaply. Either kind come in all grades. Each of the coins below was $5. The first is as nice a these come and was a lucky pick from a junk box. I would not sell it cheaply. If you have a better one, show it. The second looks like a junker and is a junker which I would not even consider buying for $5 were it not for the fact that it is an interesting to me overstrike almost perfectly aligned so it looks like a non-existant Constantius Gallus wearing a diadem. If it were EF, I would love it more but as it is I still love it. It would be a lot harder to sell than the Pagan. I don't have a photo of my cheapest ancient. A friend/dealer about 25 years ago had a junky coin in an envelope in his box marked "25 cents to you if you take it." I took it and he deducted 25 cents from my bill. I wish I had cataloged it and could remember what the coin was but it is my only coin that was cheaper than free. I wonder if he still remembers doing that. I might add that he is a guy I will pay more for a coin than I would for the same coin belonging to a dealer who is not a long term friend. Being a jolly guy has returned to him a hundred times that quarter over the years. Its a hobby, not a blood sport.
I guess my cheapest coin (or half a coin) is this well known Nemausus dupondius which cost me $9.02 plus shipping from FORVM:
$.99 from a friend who sells coins on eBay occasionally and at many coin shows. He listed a bunch of really nice Imperial and Greek types the same night that got a ton of bidding action but this little guy went unnoticed and was the first coin of my "Roman Republic Provincial" collection. He told me it was probably the best deal he'd ever given anyone, and judging by the $120 asking price that was on his tag that came with it, I think that's probably the truth. Macedon, Roman Rule, Æ(22mm, 10.65g). Gaius Publilius, Quaestor, 168-167 BC. Head of Roma right, wearing winged helmet terminating at the top in the head of a griffin. Border of dots / ΓΑΙΟΥ ΤΑΜΙΟΥ ΠΟΠΛΙΛΙΟΥ in two lines within a wreath of oak-leaves. Above, monogram. Line border. MacKay, "Bronze Coinage In Macedonia, 168-166 BC," ANSMN 14 (1968), pp. 5, pl.III, 2; SNG Copenhagen 1320.
Sticking to Roman, and best bang-for-buck: Free (Theodosius II AE 4, issued in 402-408 while Theodosius was junior Augustus under Arcadius; perhaps the earliest type with a simple cross as reverse design) $1.50 (Barbarous Claudius II radiate, Divus Claudius type) $17.50 (anonymous quadrans, 81-161) $20 (Magnus Maximus AE4 campgate, Arles mint) $20 (my favourite "find patina" coin, Aurelian ant., Siscia)
I have a fair-sized pile of coins that come in under $10. Most joined my collection via affordable group lot purchases, or were lower-grade ebay pickups. These two were single-coin lots from dealers not typically known as sources for cheap coins. $7 shipped from Harlan J. Berk: CARACALLA AE21. 6.48g, 21.4mm. SYRIA, Antiochia ad Orontem, Seleucis and Pieria, AD 213-215. McAlee 696/1 corr; SNG Cop 231. O: AYT KAI ANTONEINOC, laureate head of Caracalla right. R: SC within wreath, eagle below. Ex Robert Effler Collection, "said to have been found in Beirut" $24 including 17.5% buyer's premium and shipping from a Peus auction last year: KINGS OF AXUM, Anonymous AE16. 1.25g, 15.5mm. Kings of Axum, Anonymous, circa AD 400-500. Munro-Hay Type 76. O: BAX + ACA, crowned bust right, holding cruciform sceptre. R: +TOV TO APECH TH XWPA (May This [the cross] Please the Country), Greek cross in circle; center with traces of gold gilding. Ex Dr. Busso Peus Nachf E-3, 9 July 16, Lot 84
