If you could have any Ancient coin what would you pick?

Perspective was extremely well known in the ancient world. Monumental Coinage by Tameanko covers this fact very well. The ancient greeks were experts at it. Ever look at a tall building at the base, and it feels like it is tilting in on you? The Greeks were also very aware of this and tilted their columns in 6 degrees inward so as to not have that optical illusion, we simply build them straight and tell people to get used to it.

The problem with the coliseum is they were attempting to so inside and out on a coin. They intentionally had to distort perpsective to accomplish this.

 

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These were artistic choices by the engravers. The Colosseum sestertii show the spectators, the size of the building, and the surrounding structures; a non-trivial depiction even with today's artistic awareness:



There are a number of coins which show complex perspectives:

Trajan's Forum:


An overhead scene of the Port of Ostia:


Facing quadriga with the horses in the foreground relative to the rider:

 

Any coin? Well, I wouldn't want to take AncientJoe's amazing Eid Mar from him, but I'd sure love his Vespasian aureus from Pompeii! First, because it's Vespasian, but even more because it's from Pompeii, and Pompeii fascinates me.

 

My thought too. But only if it is certified genuine by a TPG.

 

I have never been a fan of talking about coins that I could never own as there are simply too many. One that I have always liked and if the stars all aligned perfectly I would be able to purchase is this coin. Minted at Pergamon by Philetairos it features a magnificent portrait of Seleukos I Nikator. However there are a number of dies associated with this issue. To me this is probably the best.
What makes this portrait so powerful are the series of vertical lines that create an intensity which is quite surprising. The image is of a strong powerfully built man, one that you probably would not wish to meet in a dark alley. The fascinating thing is that this mint in a very short period of time created three very iconic images of Hellenistic monarchs, this one The image of Alexander and this one of Philetairos
Philetairos Ar Tetrtadrachm Pergamon 269-263 BC Obv. Head right diademed Rv. Athena seated left holding shield in front of her. 16.99 grms 28 mm Photo by W. Hansen. What is interesting about this coin is that the artist created a powerful image by vividly contrasting the absolutely blank planes of the cheek and neck with the extremely detailed treatment of the hair as well as crowding the facial feature into one small area of the design. Here he gains a similar intensity but using a completely different technique to achieve his goal.

 

I would pick a syracusian decadrachm like this

 

For ancients there are several I would like...I have an Alexander tet, an Athenian owl, but I still want a Greek turtle and a bee.

 

I would pick the one that I could sell for the most money then buy cent lamination errors. O happy day.

 

See the OP. The coin you pick, you are not allowed to sell.

 

Ok then I will lease it to a bill gates for a lot of money then buy cent lamination like a mad man. errors

 

A Meta Sudans dupondius!

For sale at Akropolis coins.

 

LOL! Okay. I give up.