A beginner collection of the Nerva-Antonines

I started collecting last November or December, with an immediate focus on Marcus Aurelius and his relations, but that quickly expanded to cover the period from Nerva to Commodus due to the rich history and (mostly) high reputation of the empire throughout the 2nd Century CE. Yesterday I hit my first milestone and secured a Nerva denarius, resulting in at least one coin from each emperor.



This seemed a natural first goal, but as I have researched the time period, and come to be a little more familiar with the types of each figure, it became clear that one each would never be enough. You can already see Trajan represented twice, and a handsome Faustina.

My next goals are to have an example of each emperor in denarii, sestertii and middle bronze. Additionally, although my beginnings were a little haphazard, I am becoming more focused now on types that seem to me to be historically appropriate or representative in some way, although I am a sucker for attractive portraiture and will still jump at a common type with good style.

Also, although Trajan's relations are well out of budget and reach, it seems like from Sabina onwards, one of each type for the female relations seems achievable.

Additionally, some of the most attractive portraiture from Antoninus onwards comes in the form of Caesar issues, and we mustn't forget the unique types available only on the divus/diva issues.

Finally, I definitely want a selection of the quadrans and semis that were issued up until the time of Marcus.

The only coin in my collection and not shown here is a humble Antoninus Pius aes from Antioch, and I hope to expand from that one coin to a decent selection of provincial coinage during the 2nd Century, considering the wide variety of interesting types, provinical gods, etc.

This has been so far achieved on a very modest budget of around £30 a month (although I am in debt until October thanks to the Nerva) and birthday/Christmas gifts in the form of money.

How are your collections taking shape? Have you changed focus over the last year or so? What are you currently focused on? Please share anything you feel relevant.

 

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Wow. That is an impressive grouping for a "beginning collector" - very handsome, well-selected coins.

 

You're off to a great start with some lovely coins!

Don't forget the emperor that almost was -- Aelius!



The adoptive emperors are a great area to collect! The economy was good and the political situation was stable. This makes for a great variety and amount of coins produced and a large supply of well-circulated and affordable -- yet appealing -- coins for the collector of average means.

While I collect the entire Roman area, including provincials, I have a few favorite subcollections -- Antonine women, Nerva, dual-portrait coins, Severan women, the "barracks emperors," and coins depicting pagan deities (especially Venus and Cybele). Lately, I've been focusing on Faustina I, Julia Domna and Julia Mamaea, and Trebonianus Gallus and Volusian.

 

Thanks @Marsyas Mike

I'd forgotten Aelius in my write up @Roman Collector , so thanks for the reminder! I have spotted a few so far that were potential options, but never anything that I was entirely happy with in my price range. There seems to be a lot of very rough middle bronze coins of Aelius about, and anything else goes for quite a bit more. Yours is a lovely example that I would have snatched up.

I initially thought I was going to have to avoid the big ole orichalcum sestertii due to the price, but I soon found out that, as you quite rightly point out, many sestertii were produced during this era which has led to an abundance of really attractive 'fine' coins with smooth surfaces available for about the same price as a nice denarius. I'll never be able to collect the more unique types of the big boys in nicer grades, but there are plenty of beautiful coins for the budget focused buyer willing to brave ebay and do a lot of study.

 

Yep! You need a big ol' Faustina I sestertius, too! Coins like this are within your budget.

 

Nice set so far, love the bronzes.

 

Quite a nice set and it looks great in the black tray! Very impressive .

 

great collection, or start to a collection. Make sure to put your ID on the tags in your trays. That way in 50 years when the collection is sold, there will be a named provinence. I would love to see a staid British auctioneer state: this coin is from @thejewk collection.

 

Sweet @thejewk . That's a rather impressive collection you got there. I wouldn't call it modest.

I pretty much have them all too, so rather than posting them all, here's my favorite. I just love that portrait of Lucius Verus.

 

RI Faustina Sr 138-140 CE after 146 CE DIVA AR Denarius m Antoninus Pius 17.4mm 3.2g Ceres torch fold RIC 362 RSC 104



RI Faustina Jr 161-175 CE Ar Denarius m Marcus Aurelius 17-1mm 3g

Ex: @Brian Bucklan ’ Bargain Bin (great guy)

 

I applaud your ability to pick a specialty, maybe in another year it will further expand to include all Roman coins?

My ancient coin collection lacks focus and is guided by impulse. What I've noticed is there are areas that seem to organically grow like Caracalla's provincials or military themes. This year I wanted to focus more on Byzantine coins and put together a mint set from Constantine with the GLORIA EXERCITVS reverse.

My Byzantine additions this year:


Justinian I, Byzantine Empire, 527 - 565 AD
AE, follis; 32mm, 14.12g, 6h; Theoupolis (Antioch) mint
Obv.: DN IVSTINI-ANVS PP AVG; Emperor, pearl diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right.
Rev.: Large M, star to left, cross above, star to right, officina letter Γ below.
In Ex.: +THEVPo+
(Technically this one was purchased last year, but after I made a decision about 2019 goals)

Justinian I, Byzantine Empire, 527 - 565 AD
AE, follis, 35x37mm, 19g, 1h; Constantinople, 542 - 543 AD
Obv.: DN IVSTIN-ANVS PP AVG; Emperor, helmeted, cuirassed bust facing holding cross on globe and shield, cross to right.
Rev.: Large M, ANNO to left, cross above, regnal year ϥ to right, officina letter Є below
In Ex.: CON
From the David@PPC collection

Maurice Tiberius, Byzantine Empire, 582 - 602 AD
AE, pentanummium, 13x15mm, 2.27g, 7h; Carthage, 596 - 601 AD
Obv.: DN MAVR Tib PP AV; Bust right, diademed, wearing cuirass and paludamentum
Rev.: Cross potent over Є; N left, M right (dot above and below each letter)
From the David@PPC collection


Basil II & Constantine VIII, Byzantine Empire, 976 - 1042 AD
AE, Anonymous Class B follis; 28x24mm, 9.96g, 6h
Obv.: Facing bust of Christ, nimbate with small square, holding gospels
Rev.: IS XS above crossbar on either side, bar above letters (denoting an abbreviation) / bAS ILЄ / bAS ILЄ; cross on three steps, three-line legend

 

Sestertius of Nerva Rv. Fortuna stg left. 97 A.D. RIC 83 28.47 grms 34 mm

 

Excellent collection! I think it's great how you managed to get this collection together with this budget. I often change focus myself, because I am a very big doubter. At the moment I focus mainly on Trajan and sometimes on the other adoptive emperors. But I also love Flavians and Severans.

 

..kool set/collection...now you can expand & or improve.. or find another rabbit hole to go down..

 

@thejewk

That is an excellent start to a great collection! I just love the portraits on the Hadrian and Trajan sestertii

 

That is a really good Verus portrait. It seems to me that at the beginning of Marcus Aurelius' reign, starting with the coins for Divus Antoninus, the portraiture became somewhat less consistent than it had been. Starting around then, I find more and more frankly rubbish portraits, often a bit cartoonish and gawky. Many Verus denarii fall into this category. I've looked at many, and a high percentage don't have any eye appeal for me at all.

I wonder if it is purely a matter of aesthetic tastes on my part.

 

Thanks, they were both bargains as well, at around £30 each.

 

@Jwt708 I think it was a pure fluke that I picked an era of interest that has all of the things I value in coins in abundance. The only other era that has really spoken to me from a pragmatic perspective of affordability is Republican era bronze. The alterations over time are fascinating and I've spent a lot of time reading up.

 

Beautiful collection! All are nice, but I really love the bronzes of Verus and young Faustina Jr, and that Divvs Marcus is just stunning!

I am working on the "all imperial personages" collection; I have a few more within reach, but I'm afraid I'm reaching the glass ceiling - coins I could bid on, but that would do irreparable damage to my marriage and credit score! Some of my more important recent additions:

Plotina, completing the Nerva Antonines and their wives set (Gordos, Julia)


I'm not holding my breath for Marciana or Matidia!

Next are the PB&J emperors - once they got smushed together, history couldn't really say much about one without mentioning the other...

They completed my run of uncontested, Senate-approved emperors from Augustus until Valentinian III


Now I'm only missing Pescennius Niger, and Gordian I & II from the traditional list of emperors... Niger is affordable with planning in lower grade, but I'm not sure about the Gordies.

To keep my sanity, I did expand my goal from "one of each emperor" to "one of each emperor as Caesar, Augustus, and Divus". Jury's still out on whether that was a good or bad idea, but I did pick up some goodies:

Pius as Caesar


Faustina Sr. Before she went full Diva


Divus Verus


Divus Marcus


Diva Faustina Jr


Commodus Caesar


Commodus as HERCVLI ROMANO


Best part is, these were all buried in the mountains of ho-hum and vaguely attributed Savoca Blue lots, so only the posthumous Aurelius set me back more than $100.

 

That's a beautiful collection, nicely presented, and your handwritten tags look wonderful. I especially like your Lucius Verus sestertius and the Faustina – it's obvious that you have a good eye for well-engraved portraits.

Also, I guess you are doing everything right with starting with the adoptive emperors. Everytime a new collector posts here and announces their plan to build a "12 Caesars" set in gold or something similar, I have somewhat mixed feelings. In my eyes, it's a wiser choice to start with a more affordable and approachable field in order to find out what you actually appreciate, develop a sense for the aesthetics of Roman coins, and accumulate some 'working knowledge' of ancient numismatics. In this sense, good luck with extending your collection – getting the adoptive emperors in different denominations sounds like a fantastic plan to me!

(Also, if I were you, I would try to add a Marcus Aurelius as Caesar to the collection. His young portraits rank very high on the list of beautiful imperial portraits.)

Below are some of my Nerva-Antonines:


Nerva, Roman Empire, denarius, 97 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP NERVA CAES AVG GERM PM TR P II, laureate head of Nerva right. Rev: IMP II COS IIII PP, Aequitas standing left, holding scales and cornucopiae. 18mm, 2.98g. Ref: RIC II, 40.


Trajan, Roman Empire, denarius, 101/102 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP CAESAR NERVA TRAIAN AUG GERM, laureate head of Trajan right. Rev: PM TRP COS IIII PP, Victory standing facing, holding wreath and palm branch. 18mm, 3.04g. Ref: RIC II, 58.


Hadrian, Roman Empire, denarius, 119–122 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG, laureate head of Hadrian right. Rev: PM TR P COS III, Pax seated left, holding Victory on globe and branch. 18.5mm, 3.05g. Ref: RIC II, 95.


Antoninus Pius, Roman Empire, denarius, 155–156 AD, Rome mint. Obv: [ANTO]NINVS AVG PIVS PP [IMP II], head of Antoninus Pius, laureate, r. Rev: TR POT XIX [CO]S III, Annona standing l., holding corn ears, resting l. hand on modius standing on prow with rudder leaning on it. 18mm, 3.27g. Ref: RIC III Antoninus Pius 249.


Marcus Aurelius (as Caesar), Roman Empire, denarius, 140–144 AD, Rome mint. Obv: AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG PII F COS; head of Marcus Aurelius, bare, r. Rev: IVVENTAS, Iuventas (youth) standing l., dropping incense in candelabrum and holding patera. 17.5mm, 3.16g. Ref: RIC III Antoninus Pius 423a. Ex CNG.


Lucius Verus, Roman Empire, denarius, 167/168 AD. Rome mint. Obv: L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX, laureate head of Lucius Verus right. Rev: TR P VIII IMP V COS III, Aequitas seated left, holding scales and cornucopiae. 18mm, 2.62g. Ref: RIC III, 595. Ex Coast to Coast Coins.


Commodus, Roman Empire, denarius, 182 AD, Rome mint. Obv: M COMMOD[VS ANTON]INVS AVG, laureate head of Commodus right. Rev: LIB AVG V TR P VII IMP IIII COS III PP, Liberalitas standing left holding counting board and cornucopiae. 18mm, 2.24g. Ref: RIC III, 36A.