200 Ancient Coins You Should Know: a book that should exist

I think if we're going to limit it to 200 coins, the coins should do double or triple or more duty. For example, this tetradrachm of Nero serves to illustrate:

1. The Alexandrian tetradrachm
2. A coin with a date
3. Greek was the language of Alexandria
4. Nero
5. That ruler's wives appeared on ancient coins

This little bronze of Laodice illustrates:

1. Seleucid coinage
2. "Bottle-cap" flan preparation
3. Women appear on coins
4. Animals appear on coins
5. Off-center coins may be very desirable (this is the Houghton plate coin)
6. "Centration dimple"

 

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Now, I'm not saying everyone should have one as their avatar, but everyone should know a "Tribute Penny":

 

Certainly a Tribute Penny should be included!

 

I like @Roman Collector 's idea of using coins that fill multiple rolls, and I like @Severus Alexander inclusive list of multiple ancient cultures.

Don't forget the LRB...maybe pick 4 common types and do and AE 1, 2, 3, 4...work that in and explain it at the same time? Fallen horseman, soldiers with standards, a campgate, or whatever....and maybe a big ol' Julian II bull for the AE 1 spot?

Probably should have the widows mite also, only fills one role...but such a famous coin.


China...ban liang really needs to be in there if it isn't just Greek and Roman stuff.

Get something eastern and square in there, Mauryan punckmarked from Ashoka the Great?



Mauryan Empire, Ashoka the Great, 272-232 BC

GH 589, 15 x 13 mm, 3.3g

I'm not going to have much to contribute, but I'll be watching!

 

Great idea and start @TIF
However, I think we have to make a distinction (and a decision) before we go any further : do we want "200 coins you should know", or "200 coins you should own" ?

In the first case, why a 300$ per coin limit ?
In the second, I can't imagine a newbie considering spending 60000$ on coins as a start for their collection.

Q

 

Subtitled:"and can afford"?

Point well made. I lean towards including coins which may be out of reach of some but that are coins any collector should indeed know.

 

I knew this would happen. We could find 200 things that served as money that are not even coins in some senses of the word. We could find 200 coins that were important to the development of coinage but that the average collector will not see in the time they might be called a beginner. We also could find 200 coins that require more than a little training to be able to decipher what is shown on them. The idea is to attract new collectors, not drive them off. I would include some sort of proto-currency with a short write up saying that there were many forms of pre-coinage value holders and it would be possible to collect coins never owning anything round. That would be one at most or it could be included in the write up for whatever the first Aes Grave was. I'd use a prow type, not necessarily an as, or something with a recognizable-to-all device but all that will have to be worked out later.

+1
My take on the matter is there are some coins that could disappear and do no harm to the history of coinage and some that left more of a mark. We also might ask if we want to reward the new person by showing something they might already have seen. However horrid you may find him, beginners have heard of Constantine and may own some uncleaned wonders from his era. How many coins get included just to make readers aware of where the common coins fit in the picture is another question that will be hard to address.


The Greeks addressed the need for small change with tiny silver and we need one (not one from every town!) while the Romans started in bronze and worked the other way. In the 200 count, I might have one Parthian coin but I would not have an example of each of their denominations or kings.

Keeping this from being a $500 book you can't lift will require ruthless editing.

 

Here's one ... Urbs Roma Commemorative

 

A LRB commemorative sounds like a good inclusion. This is a good example of having to decide how to handle categories. Should we specify a particular type of VRBS ROMA commemorative (wolf and twins? Victory on prow?), or should we just list the general type? I lean towards the latter but it's too soon to tell.

 

I second that stance. You could mention the specific types, but only one will be shown.

 

I would think an Achaemenid siglos should be included:


My example also includes a counter mark which is another coin “type” which should be represented. Perhaps in a “category” with test cuts. I recognize this could go down the slippery slope of numerous “errors” in the minting process, but I think countermarks and test cuts are so common that they deserve inclusion without going further.

 

Definitely!

 

If the Victory on prow is represented on another coin, then the wolf should be shown. If not, then it's a toss-up.

 

My suggestion is that the goal of the book and the target audience should be agreed upon first... then a basic layout, basic idea on length, etc agreed prior to picking the content.

So far I have read that this is for the new collector and that we should include price estimates.

As a new collector this is something I would love to see:

-Coins that are obtainable by someone with a basic budget. This does not mean that the “best” examples are under $200/$300 but reasonable examples are common enough that lower grade versions can be had at a price attractive to a new collector. Perhaps show examples of the higher and lower grades on a few of the coins – with price estimates?

-Perhaps we simplify the coin section to 200 pages (as a starting point). 1 page per coin.. a picture of the coin, description of it’s significance, price estimate on a couple of different grades? An item # for each coin that can then be referenced in a nicely detailed Appendix at the back of the book.

The Appendix could then have links to the many great websites out there to gather more information on each coin. Also links on how to attribute the coins, links to the history of the ruler, etc. This method would keep the book’s length reasonable. All of this information is out there.. but sometimes hard to find. This would be great for a new collector.

 

I would worry that this would automatically date the book not long after publication. Including vague estimates, such as “usually cheap” or “prohibitavely expensive” (for say an Eid Mar - not something a new collector would be buying, but so significant that it might deserve inclusion? I don’t know...) might be a better option.

 

I'd suggest the Eid Mar is included but that other coinage of Brutus "counts" toward that type, and that it is labeled as "Brutus Coinage", as an example. There are many instances where one flagship coin might be 100x as expensive as other coins with almost identical historical context and importance.

 

I just read the original thread where you suggested extra chapters for the rarities, and I like that idea. Keep it as a beginners guide to what they are likely to get, then some extra ‘high end’ items

 

Here's my first Euro-centric attempt, largely off the top of my head so this is by no means comprehensive (and I'm using colloquial terms for many coin types: let me know if any are unclear).

I took the HJB "100 Greatest" list and consolidated it generally by region or type, i.e. no need for multiple entries for Cleopatra or a separate entry for Euainetos/Kimon dekadrachms.

I've also removed or generalized some of the unique/impossible to collect examples. I've deliberately not included a run of emperors, just a handful of specific ones, but it might be worth fleshing this out as we have space (currently at 148).

In no particular order:

Greece:

• Striated or blank electrum
• Phanes electrum
• Poseidonia incuse stater
• Croesus
• Cyzicus stater
• Alexander the Great
• Delphic tridrachm
• Cos Discus Thrower stater
• Demareteion dekadrachm
• Athens tetradrachm or dekadrachm
• Euainetos or Kimon dekadrachm
• Naxos coinage (tetradrachm or other)
• Aegina sea turtle/land tortoise
• Knossos labyrinth
• Thebes stater
• Melos stater
• Akragas tetradrachm/dekadrachm
• Syracuse tetradrachm (archaic)
• Elis Olympic stater
• Camarina
• Gela tetradrachm
• Larissa drachm
• Arethusa 100 litrai
• Carthage coinage (Tanit/Hannibal/5 shekel)
• Clazomenae coinage
• Rhodes
• Amphipolis
• Philip II
• Metapontum
• Pantikapaion
• Tarentum nomos/stater
• Corinth stater
• Lysimachos tetradrachm
• Demetrius Poliorcetes tetradrachm
• Ptolemaic kingdom (octodrachm or silver tetradrachm)
• Flamininus gold stater
• Pharnaces I of Pontus
• Perseus Zoilos tetradrachm
• Eucratides/Bactria
• Cappadocia
• Tyre shekel
• Daric/Siglos
• Kyrene
• Lampsakos
• Lucania
• Mithradates
• Olynthus
• Celtic coinage
• Pyrrhus
• Rhegium
• Sikyon
• The sphinx
• The griffin
• Sybaris
• Thrace
• Lydian trite
• Terina
• Selinus
• Abdera
• Acanthus
• Ainos
• Antinoos
• Mende
• Messana
• Ptolemy I Soter
• Ephesus/Ionia tetradrachm (bee/stag)
• Nektenebo
• Athens gold
• Gortyna
• Bithyan kingdom tetradrachm
• Pergamon
• Seleucid kingdom
• Cyme/Myrina tetradrachm
• New Style Athens tetradrachm
• Caria facing portrait
• Aspendus stater
• Tarsus stater
• Neapolis man facing bull
• Thrace satyr nymph
• Olbia dolphin
• Chois tetradrachm
• Persian satrap
• Tenedos tetradrachm
• Chois tetradrachm
• Chersonesos hemidrachm
• Antigonos tetradrachm
• Agathokles coinage

Rome:

• Aes Grave
• Oath Scene
• Republican gold (Mars/eagle)
• Sulla
• Cleopatra
• Caesar portrait
• Octavian
• Brutus coinage (Eid Mar or other)
• Labienus coinage
• Sextus Pompey
• Cistophorus
• Tribute Penny denarius
• Three Sisters sestertius
• Port of Ostia sestertius
• Clodius Macer
• First Revolt shekel/Bar Kokhba
• Judea Capta coinage
• Colosseum sestertius
• Trajan architectural coinage (bridge, column, forum)
• Provincial Labors of Hercules
• Noah's Ark
• Circus Maximus
• Elagabalus Emesa stone
• Philip I Millennial Games
• Double sestertius
• Constantine the Great
• Justinian solidus (Christ portrait)
• Aegypto or Armenia Capta
• AQUA MAR denarius
• Capitoline temple denarius
• COL NEM
• Claudius IMPER RECEPT
• Hadrian's Travel
• Romulus & Remus
• Roman civil wars (Vindex)
• Zodiac
• Four Seasons
• Quadrigatus
• Pharos at Alexandria
• Serrate denarius
• Social War
• Severan "family portrait"
• Trajan Restoration coinage
• De Germ/De Brit
• AD LOCUTI sestertius
• Muse denarius
• Gladiator depiction
• Augustus DIVVS IVLIUS denarius
• Late Roman Bronze
• Fourree
• Temple of Janus
• L Platutius Plancus gorgon denarius
• Marcus Aurelius
• Prutah (including the Menorah depiction)
• Pontius Pilate
• Nabataean
• Marc Antony
• Commodus
• Caracalla
• Caligula

 

Yes - all good points. These are the things that need to be hashed out first in my opinion.

 

If you would thumb through this book, it may cover virtually all that folks will suggest from 540-20 BCE...



@Orfew reviewed it on this thread, I purchased it, and it is great.
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancient-selfies.318191/

It JUST came out in 2018, and he plans a SECOND Book covering the 2nd Half of the Ancient World's coinage. It even has China's Fish money... however, it has a bias towards Western Civilization.

Under $20 USD you can find it on Amazon
https://smile.amazon.com/Ancient-Se...id=1531233132&sr=8-1&keywords=ancient+selfies

I wish I read it when I began collecting Ancients many years ago. Although, it is fun to see that I have many of the coins in the book, or their "cousins". The 2 page "vignet" chapters are easy to read, and get you to think of more research you can do if you really have interest in the coin...