My favorite coins of all time

I love these “favorite of my favorites” threads. This was a fun one to read considering the addition of the reasoning behind each.

I took you up on your offer to vote for three. Below are my votes in the order of awesomeness in which I find them.

1. GIII Undertype - I’ve never seen it’s like. Fascinating.

2. Athens Obol - I want one of these. I respect your eye in being able to recognize this as a transitional. Remarkable coin.

3. Sybaris - these are just cool. The archaic Magna Grecia coins in general are just... cool.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I voted for the Gordian III undertype. You've shown a lot of great coins here over the years but that's the one that always sticks out in my mind as one of the coolest coins I've ever seen.

 

I'm surprised the Magnentius hasn't been getting more love: double struck and a brockage? How cool!

 

I agree.

The odds of this happening are pretty rare. Like the guy striking the coin said 'here let me try again. Oh, maybe again. Now just one more time'.

 

The Gill III undertype is certainly unique & "The Icing on the Cake" .

 

OK, we (granddaughter) voted together with a consensus on 3:

Turtle, because we go to Port Aransas & there's always an abundance of wildlife, but the absolute "stars" of the show are the turtles!

Owl, because there are a pair that always visit her back yard & roost on the fence.

And then there's the Cara, with the birthday cake with 4 candles on top. She wants one just like it (her birthday is Valentines Day)!

Seriously, all were exceptional & great stories, but those are the 3 we voted.

 

Being an ancients neophyte, In voted for the Alexander, Turtle and Obol.

 

I've always been a fan of the incuse types ever since I discovered them. So yeah I'm a huge fan of Sybaris coins!

 

I think the even spread of voting is a testament to how awesome all of these coins are. I chose the GIII/Anon (currently one of the top three vote getters), also the Domna tetradrachm (beautiful, and with great history), and the Geta as (I have a special fondness for middle bronzes & the probability that this was linked to the ceremony is awesome.)

Nobody has yet taken you up on your invitation to post coins. I will.

Aegina stater (admittedly not a lot like yours!):


The Geta as reminds me of this "pseudo-medallion" of Sev Alex, an as struck on a carefully made sestertius flan, also probably linked to a ceremony, probably the reception of his third tribunician power at the beginning of 224. This coin is not in RIC.


Last, because you like Athenian fractions, here's a tetartemorion:


(Yes, I should be finishing up AMCC 2 rather than posting here. It will be online this weekend! )

 

My example is much, much worse. It gives a new meaning to "full crest". Might you still be awarded a CAC(A) sticker for yours? Imagine the market demand if they found a half ton of these!

 

This is my second best turtle. It won't surprise anyone that I bought it.

 

I’m curious, if you were ever able to find out the origin of the #47 on this one...

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/i-always-wanted-this-coin-47.325991/

...would it then be a contender with the above 10? I remember thinking this coin had great eye appeal and nice die engraving and is obviously historically interesting.

I am not surprised it did not show up here since you have stated in the past it isn’t a contender for your favorite but I know many here (myself included) consider your “Lighthouse of Alexandria” a great coin.

 

We must think alike Curtis, I thinking the same thing as to why, the Commodus lighthouse wasn't in as it would get my vote.

 

Interesting collection of coins. I like your countermarked wrestling coins.

 

I would be interested in knowing if the voters are knowledgeable in all of these types. I would expect non collectors to vote for the 'prettiest' coin. The Nomos is one high on my list, because it IS an interesting type, but I voted for the A overstrike. A unique piece of numismatic history with amazing detail for the type.

 

I love the Caracalla. I really have to wonder at how these types got struck given the celebrations that took place in Rome that took place after his death (and surprised Julia Donna - where did I read that - had to be Dio). I assume this was struck under Elagabalus? Severus Alexander? In any event it is a lovely coin and wonderful to look at - only narrowly beating the Geta for my favorite - although the Julia Donna is a fascinating type, and I am going to look for others showing the two after the death of Septimius. I should note that I liked all of the coins!

 

I was going to wait until the poll closed to comment but the question came up so.....
I would have selected the Germanicus if I had found the author of the painted 47 but it is a very common coin and not very special compared to the thousand better ones out there. The countermarked wrestlers are favorites but, again the coins are common and common with countermarks of one sort or another. I was a bit surprised to see the three lowest vote getters are probably among the rarest of the bunch (I believe over half of these are either unique or one of two or three) while the popular turtle and bull are extremely common. Picking ten was very hard. I was unable to pick just 100 when I did my page:
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/favs.html
I did that page in tribute to Harlan Berk's 100 Greatest book which everyone should read/own. I was glad to copy his practice of showing some backup coins under some numbers which allowed me to show 125+ coins and call it 99 1/2.

 

There has been a lot of discussion on who made the Divus Caracalla coins. I believe they were part of the rumor spread by Maesa that Elagabalus was the 'love child' of Caracalla. He may have been a jerk but he was the emperor and being related to him was the only reason Elagabalus could possibly be emperor. Son beats cousin anyday. Part of me wishes I had bought the other one I saw offered but the seller wanted a lot more than I wanted to pay for an upgrade. I still wonder what happened to the coin Vaillent illustrated.

 

That's interesting! I would say that, other than myself & @Kentucky, the respondents on this thread (so far) are primarily ancients collectors.

And as far as being "knowledgeable in all of these types", I would venture to say that very, very few of the ancients collectors here would qualify. They all seem to have rather specific areas they collect & specialize in, & considering the vast possibilities in the ancients realm, being "knowledgeable in all of these types" (Note: I took the liberty of interpreting this as "all" ancients, not just the 10 offered here.) doesn't seem plausible.

Now considering this is a public forum, we are all free to respond with our personal assessments, as I am sure @dougsmit intended. My response (#26) was done honestly with my granddaughter, & I can assure you we were not swayed by "shiny" or "beauty"...that we don't conform to your expectations, well that's not my problem.

 

I voted early, but I never said which coin(s) I was drawn to. My reasoning on both coins was the rarity and uniqueness. My first pick was the Aegina stater. The flan shape and claw details are unique and, regardless of flaws, a highly desirable coin. My second pick was the Sybaris. The age of the coin, the history of the city, it's origin as part of the Magna Graecia, and the clear double strike make this one of your best of the 10 coins shown. The prettiest coins they are not, but I would gladly own either.