What kind of ancient coins collector are you?

That is an exhaustive list! I would say, basically, all of the above, with the exceptions of speculative, perfectionist, monomaniac, suetonian and monometallic.

First, I collect based on my numismatic interest and not speculating on future value appreciation. Honestly, I think most the coins in my collection would fetch on the market around what I paid for them, with perhaps a few exceptions.

Second, I would like to think that my view of collecting coins has advanced past my early days when collecting Morgan dollars by mint state status was my primary interest. It's okay to pursue perfection, I guess, but doing so precludes lots and lots of really interesting coins that happen to have seen circulation, in varying degrees. If someone were to grade all of the coins that I have, I would guess the average grade is VF, on a good day.

Third, I definitely do not collect by die varieties or matches. If either were to occur as I build the collection, that would be purely accidental, albeit a very nice accident!

Fourth, my twelve Caesars collecting efforts have been next to nonexistent. Again, this is not an area of interest for me, right now. If I throw in the year old bottle of Caesar dressing in the fridge, I might be up to six.

Fifith, the collection spans metal types, with gold in the definite minority, at least for ancients. I have more gold coin examples among the world coins.

Going down the list further, Slabs? No, don't like them, generally, especially for ancient coins. Exclusive? No, not intentionally. Avaricious? No, I like to think I am not greedy about coins under $20 or any other price range. Goofy? I don't have any tourist fakes, but I do have a few other fakes that mimic legit ancients. Nihilist? I have some pretty worn coins, but they do have at least enough detail for general attribution at least; the only bonified slick surface that I have is the top of my head.

I think that covers the list.

 

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Simple formula

Aesthetics/ visual interest first, followed by historical interest and rarity.
My purchases often come from the Greek silver section, but I browse all ancient coins and often find little gems elsewhere. I have no interest in becoming highly specialized or doing exhaustive type sets.

My lizard brain may evolve and become more sophisticated over time but let’s not hold our breath

 

Thanks. I had forgotten the Biblical kind.

 

I'm a mix of Eastern and a Western collector, I get Greek coins just for their art, while Roman and South Indian for their history.
One of my first mission in collecting ancient coins was to put together a set of coins from every century for the last 2 1/2 millennia, I did that to the best of my abilities last year!

Regards to Roman coinage and to speak of a set, I have the Five Good Emperors, with a really nice Nerva!
Although I have no interest in making a 12 Caesars set simply because of the cost, and also I don't care for emperors like Galba, Otho, Vitelius, Claudius, Tiberius, and even Caligula. For the cost of each of those worn coins I'd buy lovely Greek coins!

And last but not least, I collect coins of the Tamil kingdoms, they have ~2300 years of history from when they traded with Greeks and Romans to all they way when British occupied India.

The Southernmost coin is Pandya's, minted around the 'Sangam age' of 300 BCE- 300AD. Korkai was their harbour, which traded with the Greeks, Rome and China, the Madurai coin was minted after gaining independence from the Cholas. The Chola gold shows the conquest of the neighboring kingdoms of Chera, and Pandya, depicted as the royal emblems-Cholan tiger, flanked by the Pandyan twin fish to its right, and the Cheran bow behind the tiger, all under the single rule symbolized by the umbrella, minted in the city of Thanjavur (not in this map, coz it's a much older map, but the city is around 40 miles East of Uraiyur). And finally, The Cheras from Karur, depicting bow and arrow.

 

Interesting thread... I had not previously thought about sub-categorizing my collecting activities from this perspective.

I would go with the following:

• Geographic for the two major collections I'm focused on: Apulian Magna Grecian coins (Tarentum and Messapian mints) and coins minted in Ostfriesland. This is primarily because I have ancestry in both of these regions.
• My core Roman collection includes biographic (I collect a lot of Hadrian) and is primarily monometallic (mainly denarii, although the later Roman sections devolve into antoninianii and AEs). For the most part, this collection loosely aims at collecting one of every emperor, although I am more interested in the historical aspects captured by each coin, eg Hadrian's travel series or other geographical personifications, the Titus elephant denarius commemorating completion of the Colosseum, etc.
• I am also prone to aesthetic coins which catch my eye but these coins also need to have historical significance. One example is the Athenian Owl I acquired this year.

 

Oh, I'd say I'm mostly biographic these days, concentrating on Faustina I and II, but also a bit thematic.

 

Impulse (budget willing)

 

This is a funny post. I'm not sure what category I would fit in.

I collect almost exclusively late 3rd century antoniniani, and LARGE provincials of any period.

I have zero interest in imperial denarii, dupondii, sestertii, etc. I demand the large provincials (25mm+) or nothing. The only imperials I will actively seek out are those debased ants of Claudius II, Gallienus, etc. I guess within the ants I am pretty focused on Gallienus.

 

Thanks to you I must add to my typology the High Five and the Bollywoodian kind!

 

I think I'm personally exactly like you !

 

So you may belong to the Size Matters kind?

 

This is a hard question to answer, but I’d say overall I am a history buff. I.want a coin from whatever person 0r period I happen to be reading about.

my primary interests are:

-coins related in some way to Biblical history.
-Roman coins
-medieval England and France

I think I would need the wealth of Solomon and the lifespan of Methuselah to consider my collection complete.

 

Here’s a funny story, I had close contaxt with a confirmed Covid case so my dad and I spent a nice chugging vodka tonics in case one of us died. Haha

 

Denomination - my original collection was all of the 12th century post reform tetartera. When that was accomplished, I began trying to complete the 12th century Byzantine, all denominations.

The coppers were the hard ones, now its gold when I can afford them.

 

Apparently I'm into psychedelics and I never knew

 

I like a little bit of everything. lean towards aesthetic, but I also have some ugly coins because they are historically significant or unique from anything else I own. I lean towards silver but I have lots of bronze too and one gold solidus. If something is outrageously expensive because of its rarity, I will usually buy something else. They kept telling me I would eventually get more focused with my collecting but it hasn't happened yet...

 

Historical for me, with the proviso that it is actually a couple of historical periods, and not just one. Even though I've been considering branching out a little more, it would still be defined within a particular historical period, with coin choices made to highlight aspects of that particular period.