2022 was a decent year for me on my wish list, so here are a few of my 2023 wish list coins: Agrippina I, Balbinus, Pertinax, Orbiana, Flavius Victor, Eugenius, Pescennius Niger, Marius, Valentinian III and Poppaea Sabina. I have my eye on 5 of them now, hope to be purchasing soon!
Three coins I hope to obtain next year. Nero, Caligula and Augustus. Any mint, any reverse any condition will do me.
I'd like to catch this one but obviously not in the same condition otherwise I'd need to give 3 annual salaries https://i.postimg.cc/DfYg2Xjh/9325-l.jpg
I also knocked out a bunch of big ones in 2022. Here are the top 5 that I have left to get: 1. Didius Julianus 2. Octavian/Lepidus Denarius 3. Claudius/Agrippina Jr Cistophorus 4. Pertinax 5. Drusus the Elder After a bit of a binge the last few months, I've decided to refrain from purchases for a while. I feel as though I've bought heavily into what might be a temporary bubble in the ancient coin market, and I'm half expecting the cost of collectables to plunge as we slide deeper into a recession. If that is the case, then it would make sense to wait, however, falling prices might cause the supply to dry up at the same time. Who knows?
Just stumbled upon this in case you are interested but the condition is weak https://www.biddr.com/auctions/numismatiknaumann/browse?a=2965&l=3346048
My big one is a $20 StG.. but that's almost a whole years coin budget... some day so for now I'll settle for an 3 MS morgans a 92 a 94 and a 03 i'd add in the 93 and 95 but the 2 I have took me 40yrs of collecting to aquire and I'm quite happy with em besides I refuse to own a coin worth more then my car lol...
Thanks for the heads up! But ya, I'd have to hold out for an example in better condition either way. The wear on that coin seems kind of strange doesn't it? The hair on the tops of both heads looks XF+, but the remainder of the busts have been abraded completely flat. The Octavian seems even more extreme than that, like it found itself against the rounded portion of a drum sander (deeper near the center). Hmm, strange! But in any case, I only buy NGC graded coins. Also, I've never yet participated in an auction that wasn't based in USD. Not that I never would, I just haven't been motivated to figure out the details and potential pitfalls in doing that kind of thing.
There are so many coins I'd love to get next year. 1. Julius Caesar lifetime portrait denarius. This is a long-term goal as I want one that is nice enough to be able to easily read the inscriptions with a good portrait. Probably looking at $1,500 on up, which, as a blue-collar Mid-Western steelworker, will take me some time to acquire. 2. More easily, I'd like to continue my coin set of Roman Emperors which currently extends to Marcus Aurelius. I should get a Lucius Verus (not too hard), and then I'll want a Commodus (easy). Pertinax and Didius Julianus will most likely be too costly for me at this point so I'll probably then skip to Septimius Severus and his dynasty. 3. I'd like to extend my collection of biblically-themed coins as well. The easy ones here are the "widow's mites" prutah coins, the most daunting the Temple Shekel and Herod Antipas. Herod Agrippa II and Herod Archelaus should not be too difficult. 4. Generally sell off and hopefully upgrade some of my current coins. This is really my dream list rather than practical goals for the year 2023, but who knows, maybe I'll score better than I think.
I actually picked up a Pontius Pilot Prutah and a Half Prutah this year, but I also still need the Tyrian Shekel. I woulda put it in my top 5 for next year, however, I'm afraid that purchase might feel a bit crummy. It always sucks to spend that much money on a coin that seems to be more common than most. It would probably be more reasonably priced if collectors sought out one example. But I think the prices are jacked up because so many people want to pile up 40 of them
You mean thirty, like Judas Iscariot. But yes I agree, it's hard to pay so much for a common coin. You're talking $1,000+ for a decent example, especially if you want one that dates to Jesus's own lifetime, as I would want. It's one to save for long-term, that's for sure.
Heh, ya. I typically nail the letters, but my typing fingers are less reliable when it comes to hitting the correct numbers So long as it's the correct style, which it was for a very long time, I don't really care about the year. I just like to have coins that play a role in cool stories that I can tell people that might find my collection interesting. And, "This is the type of coin that Judas blah, blah, blah" makes for a pretty cool story indeed! But, aside from the date inscription that I cannot decipher anyway, they all look the same and will fit the bill. But, I do try to get coins in XF or better when possible, so it'll probably still be over $1K. I've had opportunities, but I'm not terribly motivated to sacrifice a significant portion of my coin budget for something that comes along pretty much every week. Once I get the rest of my collection fleshed out, then maybe I'll feel more motivated to pull the trigger in the interest of completionism!
I'm currently evaluating my collection and will start the process of selling some coins to make room for other ones next year. The ones I'l try to sell are Roman imperial, some sestertii of Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, and some denarii of mainly the Severan dynasty (Pertinax, Clodius Albinus as caesar, Septimius Severus, Geta, ...). I like them, but no longer deem them fitting in my collection. And a general binding rule I adhere to is to keep my collection limited in size. I also like the challenge to upgrade my collection whenever possible, not only quality wise, but also to find coins that fit (better) with the rest. My wishlist is continiously updated, and currently consists of some 54 coins, some of which I will never obtain (hence, wishlist, not 'getlist'). I do consider it as a general guidance, and will deviate from it whenever I find another interesting issue.
In fact I already ticked most of the coins in my bucket list this year itself, although I only bought around 10 coins so far in 2022. Alexander lifetime tetradrachm from Babylon, Caesar denarius The bull-wrestling hemidrachm (I've always wanted this type) Ptolemy hockey puck A Roman gold and a cob 8 Reales. For 2023 I'd like a nice Augustus denarius, preferably bare-headed, and certainly not the grandchildren issue. Although last month at a coin show I got this crummy bare headed Octavian for 20 bucks, which satisfied my need for the first emperor for the foreseeable future.
I don't know much about those except that they seem to also fetch very high prices! Technically, I think, those coins fall within the inter-testamental period so aren't directly connected to biblical history.
Does "inter-testamental" refer to the time period between the New and Old? If so, weren't gold darics of the Achaemenid Empire mentioned in the Old Testament at some point? I forget the context, but I think it had something to do with a king's ransom or the like. You including stuff like this in your list? Or just NT?
Well, my perennial wish list is really just one coin, a decadrachm of Syracuse. It is perennial and it will remain so.
Yeah, the latest Old Testament prophets lived until around 400 B.C. and then the New Testament picks up with Christ's birth around 5 B.C. Cyrus, Darius I, and Xerxes I are the Achaemenid kings whose history overlaps with the OT. The first two, Cyrus and Darius I, are mentioned multiple times by name, and Xerxes I is generally thought to be the "King Ahasuerus" from the book of Esther. I'm not sure if darics were ever mentioned specifically but it could be. I've got a siglos from the time of Darius I to Xerxes. I'd love to have an earlier Darius coin though, or even one struck under Cyrus. It's unfortunate that the invention of coinage came so late in the biblical record - how amazing would it be to have ancient Israelite coins!
