What's the most aesthetically pleasing ancient coin in your collection?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

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This is a work in progress, I know, I know, I clipped the reverse. This is closer to the true colour of the coin I use as my avatar. I am not up there financially with the "Big Boys and Girls" and I find beauty in some pretty lowly coins. I don't mind, I love my collection and that is all that matters.

 

Your coin is beautiful for any price range to my eye Pishpash. Love the toning.

 

You might want to expand your criteria to include "visually interesting items" such as ancient mythological creatures (chimera, man-faced bulls, et al.). Silver coins, in reasonably good condition with mythological creatures, are available from VCoins dealers within your price range.

For example, here's a chimera (body of lion, with goat's head on lion's back, tail is a snake) for under $400:



Sikyon 360 - 330 BC AR Hemidrachm
Obv: Chimera left Rev: Dove flying left

It's a small coin (15mm) but very interesting visually.

 

Choosing just one is a tough decision, but at the moment I have this RR denarius with elegant style and a great strike. The metallic, blue-gray toning is some serious icing on the cake...



Roman Republic, C. Piso L. f. Frugi, moneyer.
AR Denarius. Rome, 18mm, 3.8g, 8h; 67 BC.
Obv.: Laureate bust of Apollo right; DXX behind.
Rev.: Naked horseman on horse galloping right, holding palm frond and reins; uncertain object above; C•PISO•L•F•FRVG below.
Reference: Crawford 408/1a; Sydenham 851m

 

You haven't had this one for too long, have you. We tend to have favorites in the coins we have recently acquired. BTW, I like the coin too.

 

This was my first one....pictures really can't do this one justice! My AR tetradrachm from Side! I never grow tired of looking at this one! View attachment 621433 View attachment 621436

 

I agree 1,000%! Many of my coins are pretty rough and / or pedestrian by most standards. Most of those are my favorites over the "purdy" ones!

 

We have seen a lot of owls here on CT but very few have any claim at all on being good for the type let alone good as compared to some of the other choices. Certainly there is a lot of opinion variation on what is good and bad. I see very few Republicans that I consider overall good art but plenty that are nice for their type and era. The same goes for late Roman. I prefer to see this challenge as a place to show coins that are pleasing for their type and not hold it against a coin because it does not conform to that period of history we each consider to be of finest art. I remember a time when my art friends were putting down the previous generation's love for the statue Apollo Belvedere. The new period that was cool was earlier, even Archaic, rather like the same time saw musicians abandoning Tchaikovsky in favor of Bach.

My coins that strike me as good for one reason or another:

Of the Tetrarchy but also because of colors scattered here and there:
Diocletian


Of Parthia but also for retaining black in recesses in a pleasing way:
Mithradates II


Of Syracuse but mostly for being a hair under 10mm in diameter:
a hemilitron for the die work, not preservation


For the Severan period and making a silk purse out of a spoiled brat:
Caracalla Caesar (die work)


...and finally, in Non-Classical, the most efficient use of the fewest lines to represent a horse:
Muhammad Qarlugh

Yup!

 

You mean what are the *5 most aesthetically pleasing coins in my collection?

Lycia Stater


Eukratides I Tet


Istros Drachm


Marcus Aurelius Denarius


Caria Didrachm


-Michael

 

Gawd ... what an insanely hard assignment!! (I buy most of my coins for their aesthetically pleasing looks!!)

Oh well, it may be a bit of a cop-out, but I've noticed that a bunch of other coiners have picked a "top-bunch"

=> so that's what I'm gonna do ... here are a bunch of coins that I "love" to look at (they're sooooo fricken beautiful)




But amazingly => Zombie Jesus is by far the show-stopper!!!








Man, this place rocks!! (great thread idea => thanks for letting me release the hounds!!)

 

Not sure if its my most aesthetically-pleasing looking coin but this one was one of the first ones I thought of, my Seleucid tetradrachm of Demetrius I:

 

SteveX....your nomos is stunning! Wow!

 

Thanks

... yah, that is my most expensive coin (I'm glad to hear that people like it)

 

Money very well spent my friend....though if it were only worth $5....id love it anyways, lol! It is a thing of beauty!!

 

This A/Pius Sestertius although not my favorite, would have to be one of my most aesthetically pleasing in my collection. (thanks Curtisimo)

 

I wanted to say that!

 

Hum...

I really love the Kushan gold Dinar of Vasu Deva.
I like the small details.






Love the crazyness of this Vimsataika from Matsya (some suggest Kuru)



When it comes to Romans....Augustus tet gets my vote.


For the Greeks First Meris is hard to beat.

 

WOW the 2nd and 3rd coins are spectacular.