I crossed over to ancient coins just over a month ago. I have sold some excess items and decided to use it to buy ancients to see if it was something I wanted as a long term hobby. I tried the cleaning of coins and it was a little bit much for encrusted and totally buried coins as far as time and patience. I do enjoy getting some of the semi coins and cleaning them to add personal ownership to a purchase. You will probably never get lucky for rarity however you can get some great pieces with price you worked on yourself. I decided to go a few routes with collecting ancients and the first was a Women of Rome set, next a Billon Tet set and a different ruler/reverse set of varied different types of coins as I find them in nice grades. I have planed to keep coins in about a VF or above grade unless its something scarce+ or unusual (Errors and designs). mostly in the Late Roman era but some exceptions and even some Greek coins I definitely appreciate the guys here who have offered help and advice, comments and just sharing as it all helps develop others. I think with the minor drama as a minor thing the forum is a great free place to learn and grown and the ancient guys sure make it a great place to hang out. In the past month I have obtained coins from auctions, vcoins, private dealers. Well I know a post is worthless without pictures so.... Women of Rome set to date Other types obtained
Fantastic start. All examples are pleasing and would probably be a welcomed addition to most collections here. I would suggest slowing down just a little. Sometimes as we get deeper into the hobby we realize that some of our tastes are drawn to certain areas or away from others, and its easy to find oneself with some coins we probably would not have bought now that we've acquired more experience. This is especially so given how broad the entire ancients field is (certainly happened to me and others here). I'll make some further suggestions, and I hope you take them for what they are...just friendly advise. I'm not in any way trying to criticize your current collection, which is a fine collection. 1. Spend a little time looking into Greek coinage. 2. If Romans are more your thing, perhaps look at Roman Republic coinage. And if you like female Romans on coins, Roman goddesses and the personification of Roma on Republican era coinage would also make for some fun collecting. 3. Consider spending a little time studying Celtic coinage. Some of it is unusual and rather mysterious, and some of it is imitation coinage of Greek and Roman coinage, but with its own unique twist on the designs they copy.
An excellent start! I agree with @Sallent . Now is the time to start thinking about what areas you are attracted to.
Looks like your doing very well with some great coins, I'm glad you seem to be enjoying collecting ancients. Keep up the good work.
Excellent coins! I might suggest slowing up a bit and studying what you have now in the hope you will discover what you want to get next and which of these really are most special to you. I like the Licinius with Jupiter on eagle and the Diocletian with wreath and text but I doubt half of our members would select those or even be able to guess why I liked them. That is what makes the hobby what it is to me.
Actually I studied imperial for a while before actively starting buying. I have a handheld RIC and studied some on there and read the forum here and couple others. I usually do a lot of research for items I buy. I have looked at Greek coinage I only got the one piece because I wanted to clean it. The I really like it. I definitely think I could go a lot of places win Greek and republic coins I am just staying focused with imperials for the moment. I will be slowing downing I just got overzealous with the group purchases and so many fine examples. thanks for your comments and advice.
thanks for your comments. I will be slowing up on purchases now to some extent. I chose the Diocletian as I found the wreath to be a scarcer style to other available pieces. It reminded me of the Votive reverse. I had only seen Nike, eagles and other gods on the reverses of the Bi Tets. The Licinius I chose for the silvering and high grade and most importantly the price was right.
Those are some beautiful coins... much nicer than most of mine. Very well done! I am currently entering the "step back" stage. I have a lot of "cleaned" LRBs still to fully attribute and learn from and many other coins to properly label and organize. After all that is done I will try to focus on a yet to be determined area for future collecting.. Plus the TV is on the fritz - and Black Friday is just around the corner!
WELCOME! @britannia40 Beautiful start to a great collection! Your enthusiasm is inspiring! Nice variety of sizes!
