What's a good Ancient silver coin to start with?

That reminds me of the Brits vs the Spanish Armada, or the Ancient Greek ships vs the Persian fleet - nimbleness is often underrated.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Are we posting elephants?


Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161
AE, As, 27mm, 9.3g; 2h; Rome, AD 148-149
Obv.: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XII; Laureate head right, aegis on left shoulder
Rev.: MVNIFICENTIA AVG; elephant walking right with trunk raised
In Ex.: COS IIII SC


Antiocus VI, ca. 148–142/1 BC
Minted in Antioch - for some reason I didn't weigh and measure that coin.
Obv.: Radiate head of Antiochus VI, wreathed with ivy.
Rev.: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ / ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ∆ΙΟΝΥΣΟΥ; elephant walking left holding torch in trunk, ΣΤΑ above right, cornucopia right.

 

That's why I deliberately limited my budget and bought the coin that spoke to me most within that budget. It would have been great to go straight for a portrait Julius Caesar or a tribute penny or something, but I knew $100 wasn't going to get there. I love my first ancient coin (pictured upthread), and other people love it too. I've shown it to a few friends of mine who aren't collectors, and they're always just in awe of being able to hold something that old in their hands (as am I).

 

I think that I was actually thinking of this coin, a 1792 Half penny... it only took about 2 years to figure out LOL:

 

I haven't taken the time to read all the prior replies, so apologies if these are repetitive recommendations. I'd suggest EITHER of the following for a first ancient silver coin, because I think either would quickly hook you if you took some time to research them:

1. A Roman denarius of any emperor whose name you recognize, i.e. Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, Trajan.

2. A drachm of Alexander the Great.

Either could be found as cheaply or expensively as you 'd like. Good luck.

 

I still remember my first Ancient coin., a VF denarius of Nerva purchased at a department sore in downtown Philly for $10 in 1960. It looked nice but I quickly found out that there was very little written on the Emperor Nerva (short reign, no scandalous predilections ) and this disappointed me as I wanted to read as much as possible on the person on the coin. While there was a good deal of documented Roman history on the Punic Wars and the civil wars of the later Republic (thank you, Livy) I could not afford the coins of the really famous would be rulers. My compromise was to get into the denarii of the Roman Republic which were the most commonly minted and circulating coins of that era. While I did not have a coin with Pompey, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony or Octavian on it, I did have coins that they could have been carrying and could have been spent by them, or perhaps by their family members or their troops. With a Roma Dioscuri denarius of 146 BC in front of me I could have been with Scipio as he leveled Carthage. With a legionary denarius of circa 32 BC I could have been in an Egyptian galley a year later at Actium. Not quite what I would have liked to have had but, any port in a storm. One can still pick up such coins in decent condition for under a hundred dollars if you shop as an informed buyer. May Fortuna and Juno Moneta accompany your quest.

 

My collection is about 98% ancients but that's a great-looking coin.

Also, I missed this thread the first time around, and it was thoroughly entertaining, in pretty much all the ways that a thread can be entertaining. Thanks all!

 

I consider this a really good point we who have been in the hobby 'a while' might tend to overlook. Sure, I am proud of my rare coins but I really believe that the best coins for beginners would be the most common and most used coins of the time and place. Nerva is a nice coin but his main accomplishment was adopting Trajan whose coins in equal grade will sell for half as much. Many of us love our coins of the 12 Caesars but the beginners might be happier putting off filling out a set with rare 'Nobodies' and consider first collecting 12 'Somebodies' in Roman history. We have done this before here and I do not recall exactly who was recommended. If the coins have to be silver the choices become harder unless price is no object. Because of their fame, I might suggest Augustus, Claudius or Nero but if the coins must be silver, I might suggest the first century be represented by Vespasian since he has some economical denarii. On the other end of the Roman time, I would suggest Constantine the Great but his silver is harder to find than silver of his son Constantius II who ruled a very long time and has reasonably priced silver siliquae.

If I were to suggest 12 Reasonable Romans in mixed metals I would suggest:

1. A Republican copper as
2. A Republican denarius of the Roma/some horses type
3. A Republican denarius using types notably specific to the moneyer (perhaps a famous relative or a pun on his name)
4. A coin of Vespasian but not the same metal as #5
5. A coin of Trajan, Hadrian or Marcus Aurelius but not the same metal as #4
6. A coin of any woman Antonine through Severans
7. An antoninianus in silver Caracalla through Philip
8. A coin of any Gallic emperor (Postumus is best)
9. A large follis of Diocletian
10. A coin of Constantine I
11. A coin of Theodosius I
12. A small AE4 of any 5th century puppet or a gold solidus of Theodosius II

I'm sure if I thought about this I would change some of these but......