What is your oldest coin?

U.S. 1794 Large cent

Foreign 1720 English Half Penny

 

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1875 Liberty Seated dime

 

1 I know for sure, and thats my 1908 No motto ms64, but I'm sure I have hand full of Morgans laying about, but for the life of me, can't remember the years of those BU beauties, if you push me I'll haveta rustle about in da safe--

 

My oldest American coin is an 1807 half dollar. My oldest item with a date on it is a 1739 British haypenny (although I have something that I've never had identified that I think is from the Isle of Man with a 1733 date and 1766 scratched into it). My oldest identifiable item is a Judean Prutah from the reign of Herod the Great (who ruled from 40-4BC - in other words, from the time and location of the birth of Christ).

 

My oldest coin from Paraguay (where i'm from) is a 1/12 Real of 1845, btw, its the 1st. paraguayan coin.
And about world coins, a copper of 1797, 2 Kopeks "Pavel I" epoch.

 

The oldest one I have is a Thrace, Istros AE from the 4th century BC. It has the head of Apollo and on the reverse a Sea Eagle.

catman

 

I see where Doug finally got around to showing you his birth year coin!

 

Gee Olddan,

...and I told him I wouldn't tell. (LOL)

catman

 

I believe, if I remember right, it was a Roman Bronze from around 250-300 AD.

catman

 

Some 5th or 4th century Greek.

 

My oldest coin is an 1832 half dollar my dad gave to me for Christmas a few years back.
coinsngolf

 

1827 Liberty Half

 

Somewhere around here I have a 1864 Three-dollar gold piece. It's what they called the Indian Princess with the large lettered "dollar". It never actually circulated, but was carrried around in my Granddads pocket for all his life. It's actually in fairly good shape for all that time spent in his pocket.
Note: He said that as long as he had this coin, he would never be broke. He was right!

 

EDITED....Please, no offers to buy/sell/trade in the Main Forum.

 

US: 1920 wheatie found in change

Non: a bronze chinese coin from around the 1850's.

 

Citius, Altius, Fortius ... antiquius, inveterius, senectius

Well, OK, you might just happen to have a coin from 1948 or whatever, but do you want to own anything older?

Looking in dealer junk boxes over the years (I live in the USA), I have found three half pennies from George III, one from 1780 or so, the time of the Revolution, so those are fairly historical -- though fairly is the right word, their being worn pretty flat, however with a nice patina.

Again from junk boxes, I have a slew of 19th century European bronzes, the large 10 and 20 centime (centissimi) sizes similar to the U.K. half penny and penny, of which I have a couple, including Young Head Victorias.

If you look and if you go to shows or shops regularly, you can find something much older in the same series that you collect now, at least broadly.

Then there are medievals and Romans. Allen G. Berman wrote the book on Papal coinage and in his ads in The Celator, he sells medievals for under $10 each. Buy a bunch a get a free book on how to read medievals. Without getting into rarities, you can own a nice silver Roman denarius from the Pax Romana for under $50.

Again, those ancient bargain boxes at the ANA convention are filled with coins from the Roman Military Anarchy, but if you sit and look, you can find Greek hellenistic bronze in the same $5 or $10 range -- and that pushes back the age of your oldest coin.

(About the Title: I took the Olympic Motto "Faster, Higher, Stronger" and made a pun out of "Older, Older, Older." An older object, to make something olde, an older man. I hope I got the grammar right.)

 

Update on my oldest, it was an 1136 Penny, but due to recent additions here and there it's now an English penny from the 899-924AD period.

 

English Cartwheel Penny, George III (1770's, not sure of date, in safety deposit box)

Two ancients, dating to Tiberius

 

My oldest U.S. coins happens to be a flowing hair half from either 1787 or1797(barely able to tell. Along with a Fugio cent with the same year 1787 or 1797
Both were dug up while on a trip to South Carolina a few years back.

I have an old chinese coin with a square hole in the middle. Probably silver, though I don't know the date because I can't read chinese

CLAW