Ideas for begginner ancient coin collection?

After having 6 daughters, and now having 6 Grandkids and counting, I generally found that they liked various animals. Just look in her bedroom (or ask her), what kinda animals she likes. Horses / Ponies always seem "safe" as a gift... (one of my daughters LOVES Pigs... she has 2 of my Grandkids and has a standing agreement with her husband that they will be getting a Potbelly Pig in the near future...) You can then search Vcoins / MA-Shops / FORUM / or any reputable site that many of our CT Ancients Members run-just check their profiles for their Websites for cool coins depicting animals she likes.

I find that Ancient Carthage (yeah, the REAL Carthage that fought Republican Rome in 3 Punic Wars), had a nice variety of Horses in AE that are reasonable in prices:

HORSIES:

Carthage Zeugitana 400-350 BC AE 15 mm 3.39g Head Tanit l - Horse galloping r SNG COP 97


Zeugitania Carthage 400-350 BCE Æ unit 15.3 mm, 2.7g Tanit l earring necklace - Horse r palm tree two pellets r MAA 18a


Carthage Zeugitana 250-200 BC AE 20 Tanit Horse Head


Carthage Zeugitana 400-350 BC AE 13 2.3g Tanit Horse std Palm

PEGASUS:

Carthage Siculo AE 15 Palm Tree Pegasus

 

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You might want to try something from the Gallienus “Zoo” Series. Gallienus issued some Antoninianii with animals on the reverse. You can do a little Google research on this series, but I think you should be able to get budget examples at reasonable prices (Check V Coins).

If she finds it interesting, she can search out other examples to complete the “zoo”. The nice thing about this is that it’s a defined series, so a new collector can find additional types without getting overwhelmed, and decent coins should be within reach of a teenager with a small coin budget.

Plus, she may catch the “ancient bug” and find other areas that interest her. You, on the other hand will be stuck with the knowledge that you converted someone to the Dark Side, but I guess things could be worse.

 

Actually after checking out comparable coins on major sites I realized what a great deal this is and bought it for one of my students who will cherish it greatly.

 

I started out when I was 11 with a Gordian III antoninianus I saw at the local coin store. The portrait really impressed me as well as the fact that it was so "old". I was a history buff at the time and found the story of Rome in the 2nd and 3rd centuries fascinating. Pretty soon I got a copy of Edward Gibbon and enjoyed collecting coins representing all of the characters I was reading about. So, yeah coins of the third century can be had for fairly nominal amounts - though I agree Greek coins with all of the animals and mythological types are fascinating too. Good luck with getting her into the ancient hobby.

 

Gordian zoo, splendid idea! Coins with horses, that's just as rewarding. Don't forget Celtic horse coins and the beautiful Greek-Roman bronzes of Troas.

This is a tiny coin of the Vindelici, a Celtic tribe that lived in the Vienna area, 1st century BC.



Third-century coins of the Roman-Greek town of Troas are often engraved in a very nice bold style, like this horse coin of Valerian (253-260). Both coins cost me about US$ 40.

 

I wish I could get a deal like that! Those are perfect

 

You can get a "zoo" of interesting animals and mythological creatures on coins of Gallienus (Roman emperor 253-268).

Who doesn't like a Pegasus?
They can be very inexpensive and it can be fun searching for the other animals. I can imagine that those who worked on a date series might like the "limited series" aspect, and they are so common they will appear on eBay a lot.

There are good web sites on this series and you can see many of them far down on this page posted by Beast:

http://beastcoins.com/RomanImperial/V-I/Gallienus/Gallienus.htm

 

Here's mine...

 

40,00 nice group lot, great to start