Featured 8 Dollar Ancients?!?! Yes Please!

You know I have no plans to sell anything. I will leave that task to FFIVN and/or any of the other children who hopefully take up the hobby.
I think the "value" in these coins is the education that comes with them. We've learned so much about Numerian and Severus II because of those two coins. From there, we branched out and read about all kinds of other interesting things. For $8, you can't beat that education and actually holding a piece of history.
As for women, my daughter just wants to see women on coins and also learn their history. She's still young so she doesn't really have an indepth interest beyong what she can see and touch. Someone like Helena who has a really interesting story keeps her engaged and wanting to learn more. Having a coin that she can hold helps that even more.

 

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There are a lot of women on Roman coins. Some of them, we know next to nothing about, such as Magnia Urbica ...



Not exactly FDC, I know, but it's from a group lot that worked out to be $8.83 a coin, including shipping.

... but others we know very much about, particularly the two Faustinas. Faustina coins are affordable and (I think) interesting and educational. Things your daughter could learn from a coin of Faustina the elder would be about her establishment of a charity called Puellae Faustinianae ("Faustina's girls") to assist orphaned Roman girls, or about any of the goddesses that appear on her coins, particularly Ceres. Faustina was very involved with the Eleusian Mysteries, an interesting thing to learn about. Faustina the Younger was known for her fertility, of course, and many coins depict her growing family, but she also accompanied her husband on military campaigns, earning her the title of "Mother of the Camps."

Other interesting women on Roman coins are Sabina, Lucilla, Julia Domna and her sister Julia Maesa, Aelia Flacilla and especially her daughter Aelia Eudoxia, and many others.

And as long as we're talking about bargains, here are some of the other ones that were in that group lot that worked out to $8.83 a coin:


Tacitus, AD 275-276.
Roman billon antoninianus, 3.57 g, 22.1 mm, 12 h.
Ticinum, AD 275-276, issue 2.
Obv: IMP C CL TACITVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: ANNONA AVGVSTI, Annona standing left, holding ears of corn over modius and cornucopiae; T (third officina) in exergue.
Refs: MER/RIC temp #3647; RIC 123; Cohen --; Estiot 2149.56; RCV 11767; La Venera hoard 1673.


Victorinus, AD 269-271.
Roman billon antoninianus, 2.63 g, 20.1 mm.
Cologne (though CNG attributes this coin to Treveri), AD 269/70.
Obv: IMP C PIAV VICTORINVS PF AVG, radiate, draped bust, r.
Rev: FIDES MILITVM, Fides standing l., holding two standards.
RIC-109; Cohen-36; AGK-5b; De Witte pl. XXVI, 22; Sear-unlisted.


Tacitus, AD 275-276.
Roman billon antoninianus, 3.57 gm, 21.1 mm.
Ticinum, AD 276.
Obv: IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: VICTORIA GOTTHI, Victoria standing left, holding wreath and palm; P in exergue.
Refs: RIC 172; Cohen 158; Sear 11821; Hunter 59; CBN 1676.


Claudius II, AD 268-270.
Roman silvered billon antoninianus, 3.66 g, 19.1 mm, 6 h.
Siscia, issue 1, end AD 268.
Obv: IMP CLAVDIVS CAES AVG, Bust right, radiate, cuirassed and draped with paludamentum, seen from rear.
Rev: RESTITVTOR ORBIS, emperor in military dress standing l., holding patera over small altar in r. hand and spear pointing down in l. hand.
Refs: RIC 189; MER/RIC temp no. 562; Cohen 247; Markl, Num Zeitschr v. 16, p. 427; Alfoldi 1936, 1.2.

 

We have a couple of Faustina coins. I didn't know about her charity. My daughter would like that. She also would like all the children. She is constantly playing with her dolls and saying she has 10 kids haha.

I will bring those two up with her. Anything to catch her interest is a good thing

She liked the coin I got a few weeks ago with Constantine VI and Irene. She thought it was really cool that there was a queen on a coin. However, I don't necessarily want her emulating Irene lol.

 

10 kids!? That's not as many as Faustina II!!

Unfortunately, the orphanage issues are very rare and expensive. I don't have any of them. But there's always the online photo at the British Museum website.

 

I've only attended 2 small coins shows.. ever. I had hoped to have made it to some larger shows (featuring actual ancients dealers) by now but COVID has hampered that.
The first show was tiny .. 30 tables .. with only a couple of dealers able to produce a dusty ancient album for me to peruse.
I did go home pretty happy with this Gallienus centaur in a 3 for $10 deal.



Shows seem to be cancelled for the rest of 2021 where I live (Ontario, Canada).. so hopefully next year.

 

That's a good looking centaur! I snagged one for like $4 but it isn't as strong as yours.

 

My cheapest coin is a Herennia Etruscilla sestertius of Viminacium which I got for $10. Nice Helena @furryfrog02 - mine is in about the same condition and it was like $65 or something like that.

 

In 2013, I was able to purchase this coin for a mere $8

 

I really enjoy these budget threads - since my whole collections is based on budget purchases, mostly from eBay, I don't know where to begin!

Restraining myself, I will share just this one. This is kind of typical for low-grade eBay stuff in this price range; it has some condition issues. But what I really like about this kind of material is that it is rarely attributed (or attributed correctly), so I get to figure them out for myself - one of the real joys of collecting for me.

What makes this one interesting to me is that I am pretty sure it is an obverse die-match for the McAlee plate coin in his work on Antioch coins. This McAlee coin was sold through CNG and is one of the RPC examples.

Here is mine:

Trajan Æ 28
(102-114 A.D.)
Syria, Seleucis & Pieria
Antiochia ad Orontem
ΑΥΤΟΚΡ ΚΑΙϹ ΝΕΡ ΤΡΑΙΑΝΟϹ [ϹΕΒ ΓΕΡΜ ΔΑΚ] laureate head right / Large S.C within circle within laurel wreath, Γ below.
RPC III, 3585; McAlee 487c.
(14.68 grams / 28 mm)
eBay Sept. 2021 $7.17
Die Match:
This appears to be an obverse die-match for McAlee plate coin:
Classical Numismatic Group
Electronic Auction 246, Lot 274 15.12.2010; Richard McAlee Collection.
See also RPC Online RPC III 3585, specimen 12.

Here's the McAlee coin (via CNG via acsearch) -


https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=914552

Here's the obverse comparisons:


Maybe I am wrong about the die match? Even so, I just don't know how $7.17 can be so much fun.

 

One of my really good cheap pickups was this Maximinus II from a group lot, at $8.98 average.



Not a huge fan of imperial coins in general, but a Nerva dupondius for $9 is hard to beat.

 

Those are both great!

 

Ancient coins is one of the very few hobbies where knowledge can lead to rewards. I suspect that it used to happen more often than it does now - there were more coins sold back then - but as illustrated by these there are very nice coins to be found for someone with patience and knowledge. Bottom feeders? I would say knowledgeable buyers…I do have a few cheap treasures but they were only cheap to purchase - now in a safety deposit box with almost everything else (finally gave in) I’ll show them as soon as I can.