After several years debating when to get into ancient coins, it was almost exactly a year ago when I put my first order in for a few coins from Forum Ancient Coins. It's hard to believe how far I've gotten in a year, and a lot of it I owe to the experts on this Forum. Your articles have been extremely interesting and there are numerous terms, bits of history, and numismatic concepts I've learned just from reading here. So, I owe all of you a huge thank you! Now for some coins... Here are two of my original purchases. Tenedos AR Obol 450-387 BCE .454g 8.6mm Ex Forum Ancient Coins Kolophon AR Diobol 375-350 BCE 1.035g 10.5mm Ex Forum Ancient Coins I must admit that, though I'd read the size from the descriptions, I was shocked at how small these coins are. Still, I was hooked, and I then came to an agreement with my wife that if I sold most of the other collections taking room in the house, I could use the funds to buy coins. These consisted of GI Joe, Star Wars, and Transformers toys from when I was a kid. I also sold some antique firecracker packs that my wife was very happy to see off. Now with some funds, I made a list of the coins I wanted. It started off like this. 1) Every Greek city, except for the ones where only the museums have those coins. 2) Every Roman emperor I quickly realized this wasn't happening, so I prioritized the following three coins. 1) An Athenian owl 2) An Olbian dolphin coin, because dolphins are awesome 3) A lifetime tet from Alexander the Great Eventually, I picked up all three. Cast dolphin Æ 25 mm., 1,50 g. Ex Savoca ATTICA, Athens. Circa 454-404 BC. AR Tetradrachm (22.5mm, 17.18 g, 1h). Helmeted head of Athena right, with frontal eye / Owl standing right, head facing, closed tail feathers; olive sprig and crescent to left; all within incuse square. Kroll 8; HGC 4, 1597. Artistic compact head of Athena. Ex CNG inventory June 2004 Ex CNG 2021 Kingdom of Macedon, Alexander III 'the Great' AR Tetradrachm. Struck under Stamenes or Archon. Babylon, circa 324/3 BC. Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion's skin headdress / Zeus Aëtophoros seated to left, holding sceptre; AΛEΞANΔPOY to right, monogram over M below throne. Price 3599; Müller 670. 16.68g, 27mm, 2h. Ex Roma At the same time I picked up the Alexander, I also picked up this. Julius Caesar AR Denarius. Military mint travelling with Caesar, 49-48 BC. Elephant advancing to right, trampling on serpent; CAESAR in exergue / Emblems of the pontificate: simpulum, aspergillum, securis (surmounted by wolf's head), and apex. Crawford 443/1; CRI 9; BMCRR Gaul 27-30; RSC 49. 3.26g, 20mm, 2h. Ex Roma Between the two coins, something changed in me. It wasn't about the coins! It was about the history! Each of these coins told a story. Some told more interesting coins than others, and as I read more the grandest story to me became the period around Alexander the Great and the chaos right after his death. I started to compose a list of coins necessary to tell this story, and it's now grown to 54 coins (out of 126 total). Here are two of my favorites from the collection. Ptolemy I AR Tet Sv.162 (37 ex) - Cop.29 - GC.7750 var. - BMC.- - MP.6 Ex CGB Egypt, Achaemenid Province. Sabakes, satrap, AR Tetradrachm. Circa 340-333 BC. Head of Athena to right, wearing earring, necklace, and crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves over visor and a spiral palmette on the bowl / Owl standing to right with head facing, olive sprig with berry and crescent in upper left field; uncertain letters to left, "Sabakes symbol" and SWYK (in Aramaic) to right. Van Alfen Type III, 24-34 var. (O11/R- [unlisted rev. die]); Nicolet-Pierre, Monnaies 18-26 (same obv. die); SNG Copenhagen 4 var. (no letters on left of rev.); BMC 265 var. (same). 16.61g, 25mm, 9h. The next year I expect to not acquire nearly as much, as my budget's pretty shot. Still, I expect this to be a life-long obsession.
happy anniversary k....wow...i love those old firecrackers....i knew what they were as soon as i saw them...some bring back popping mem'ries..(yeah, but ancient coins are kooler tho )
Recently celebrated 1 year too. I think your collection is "heavier" than mine, big congrats! Indeed this hobby is addictive, with all aspects - studying, developing, analyzing.
Congratulations on your anniversary! You've been a great contributor. I joined here about 9 months before you did, although I had already been collecting ancient coins for a while. I never even heard of antique firecracker packages, let alone collecting them. They're quite colorful. How old were they? And they didn't still have the firecrackers in them, did they? I do think ancient coins are a more interesting and artistic subject for a collection!
Happy Anniversary & congrats on some great additions to your collection ! I love your Athens Owl & Ptolemy Tet . Your firecracker packs form an odd but fascinating collection of American folk art . Some of these look antique, where did you find them ?
Most of the packs in the picture range from the 1920's to the 1950's. They all have firecrackers inside. There are people who only collect the labels, but I only collected packs. The old firecrackers often had interesting designs on them. I still have a handful of firecracker packs in safe storage outside of the house. This includes my rarest pack, and my only label. During the 1940's, there used to be a fireworks company in my hometown of Rochester, NY. They produced firecracker packs called "Rochester Special." The plant closed in the 1940's, and I currently own the only known pack and label remaining. I started collecting antique firecracker packs when I was 16, and I stopped when I was about 23. My parents worked in the fireworks industry and would take me to conventions where I bought them. I didn't have much money back then, so I was very strategic in knowing which packs were undervalued and buying those. I also ran the largest blog and I was a contributor to all of the major publications (both of them). The firecracker packs in the photo paid for all of the coins in the post and some. The really nice thing about ancient coins, though, is they're not designed to explode. I can also show them to people without worrying they'll call the police (FWIW, it's legal to own fireworks where I live, but not to shoot them). I liked the firecracker packs, but I love my ancient coins.
Thanks Al. It can be difficult to buy antique firecracker packs. I bought some at conventions my parents took me to as a teenager. The rest I purchased at auctions from people I knew.
Spectacular first year! Congrats! I love your Ptolemy. I acquired this Demetrios Aniketos this year. I would like to thank the person who placed the punch so carefully and thus made the coin fit my budget and expectation for condition. Roma image. What if they get worried suddenly about MOUs and want to see the import paperwork??
Happy Anniversary! You had a leg up for participating in the forum given your photography skills, and you've made amazing progress on your collection considering you started only a year ago. (I never would have guessed you were a newbie!) Congrats! Zeus and Apollo celebrating:
Congrats on your anniversary, @kirispupis. Your Athenian owl is beautiful, with a very nice portrait. My very first ancient coins are similar to yours. They are the Athenian Owl, lifetime Alexander tetradrachm, and Corinth stater.
Congrats on your 1-year anniversary, @kirispupis. I've enjoyed reading your posts and other CT Forum contributions, and look forward to many more in the future!
