*Ancients Giveaway!* For New Ancient Collectors in 2018

Hi CT Ancient Forum, I have been part of a handful of giveaways the past year or so and have actually won one of them. I really think that they help to drive further interest and community building, especially for those starting out.

I have a big, chunky 2nd century sestertius, along with a few 4th century bronzes that I'd like to giveaway to to a new ancients collector.

Rules for Entry:

• I'd like to find a deserving individual who is new to collecting ancients, so I'd like you to self-identify that you've just started ancient coin collecting in 2018. EDIT: in an effort to widen the eligibility, let's make it collecting in the past 12 months, so how about since 9/1/2017...
• I want to have the winner someone who is active (at least mildly) in participating in the forum, so please have created a thread or posted a reply in the ancient forum a time or two between August 1st and yesterday, 9/17.
• United States only. I don't have the funds nor experience to send something over seas, sadly, sorry. (If a regular forum poster in the US volunteers to sponsor the forwarding of these coins to a winner in another country, I'm definitely willing to do that.)

If you meet the above criteria, please post a reply letting me know of your interest in participating in the giveaway and include a photo of the ancient coin that got you interested in ancients and a short description of why it intrigues you.

You have until 8pm CST Sunday September 23rd to enter. I will randomly draw a name from eligible entries and post the winner that evening.

And of course, everyone else feel free to post your own coin that got you into ancients and include a note that it is not an entry (to make it easy on me ).

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Nice of you to do this, count me out, I've been collecting for years.

 

Awesome that you are doing this! I am new in 2018 but have already been lucky enough to be given 2 great books from the wonderful people here. I would like to see someone else benefit from this for sure..

 

..where's muh prize?(jk)..kool of ya Justin..but really where's coins..i wanna C'em..

 

Very nice of you to do this...count me out though.

 

I was thinking it'd be best to have the winner have the privilege of sharing their new coins when they get them... I know waiting is tough!

 

Awesome example of goodwill, @Justin Lee ! Well done, Sir!

 

Very nice of you I am a new Ancient coin collector but unfortunately in Europe!

 

I fit all of the required criteria. I would feel bad however, entering for myself, since I have been afforded amazing opportunities by members in this forum both in the knowledge that has been freely provided and several coins that have been graciously given. Therefore I will enter on behalf of my son...

He too, has been the beneficiary of the generosity of the people of this forum; but being that he is only 7, has a long road ahead of him, and so much to learn, I would like to give him an opportunity to enter and possibly win another coin(s) that will further stoke his interest and increase his knowledge.

I asked him what ancient coin that he wanted to present to show what got him interested in Ancients. He couldn't decide on one...but we were able to narrow it down to 2, plus one that got ME and by extension, us, started this year

First coin:
My son picked this out of a junk box at the Baltimore coin show this early spring right before his 7th birthday. We still don't know much about it, other than it is Persian and possibly minted around 800 AD....Not quite "ancient" but it was certainly the oldest coin he or I had actually had in our hands at this point:


The next one that got him super excited was this:
This was a gift from someone here on CT that came along with the other coins which were part of a game for my son to help him to learn to ID ancients and learn more about history. This wasn't a "game piece" but rather, was an extra gift from the person out of the goodness of their heart.
He and I tried our best to ID it and we came to the conclusion that is is a denarius of Caracalla with an image of Spes on the reverse. The reason why this one was so amazing to him is that Caracalla was about his age when he became Emperor of Rome at about the same age as my son is now.
Explaining to him what exactly that meant and showing him the territory that Caracalla was Emperor of just blew his mind. This led him to be more interested in Roman history.


Lastly, I will post my coin that got me started down this insane branch of coin collecting which, over the last 3-4 months, has been incredibly rewarding. Both from the knowledge gained and the great people I have met so far...

I was deployed to Africa back in 2015 and struck up a conversation with @Jwt708 about military POGs and we came to an agreement that I would get as many POGs as I could that he was missing in his collection. In return he sent me an array of cool stuff including a graded Franklin, a military token from an NCO club, and a bunch of unattributed ancients. I really had no idea what to do with the ancients. I thought they were super cool but also super intimidating. I looked into them a little bit but then put them aside since I was too overwhelmed as to how to proceed.

Fast forward a few years and I have been cut off by my bank for CRH coins and I decided to revisit those ancients from a few years ago. I started with this one since it showed a pretty solid obverse and reverse and I was able to see most of the legends which gave me a decent idea of where to start with my Google searches. Once I got started reading about the coins and the history behind them, I was hooked. This was around late June/early July.


Since then, it has been a downward spiral into this obsession with ancients. Every day I have spent an hour or so reading either about history of various Emperors or different styles of coins. My son has been incredibly interested too and I have done my best to include him in my research as well as helped him with his own when it came to the coins he was gifted.

I have had a wonderful few months of bonding over these coins and learning history together. I can't wait to continue the process of learning and collecting with my son.

After all that, this is why I am throwing his hat into the ring. Hopefully I didn't but you all with such a long post. I certainly didn't mean to start off writing this much haha.

 

@Justin Lee

This is a wonderful gesture. Hopefully it inspires a new collector to become a life long collector. This is not an entry.

Here is the coin that started the journey for me. After reading for quite a while I decided to enter the fray by purchasing an Otho denarius.

 

O yes, very good sir! (you know what inquiring minds do)

 

Maybe someone will be willing to act as broker? I am not in the U.S. either so cannot help you. Perhaps offer to pay for shipping? You are an excellent candidate and have shown some great taste with Greeks and I know you have recently opened up to Romans..

 

I'm pretty sure I fit all the criteria. I started getting interested in ancient coins around the August/September time period last year when I got hit pretty hard in life. I was gifted some coins to identify around that time and fell into depressed times. The coins got put away and I was not collecting again until this past June.
In June I saw a coin up for sale that got my attention and this is the coin that I give credit to getting me back into collecting again.
The coin is a Trajan Denarius Victory Reverse. This coin instantly attracted me and I knew I had to have it. I loved the amazing detail the coin had. It also had good relief in the devices. I also liked how well shaped the flan was and how centered the design was on the flan. I was in love with this coin. After purchasing the coin I decided it was time to get back into collecting. I went back and decided it was time to identify those unidentified ancients. I never did create a thread although I do still plan on doing it. This coin was my gateway into ancient coin collecting. I figured out I loved coins with odd shapes and sizes. Especially the really large ones and small ones. I also like coins with a cracked flan. Thanks for the chance to enter and for the contest @Justin Lee !

 

Thank you all for your support and posting of those coins that drew you into the collecting of ancients... Great coins!

So it looks like we have 2 eligible entries: @furryfrog02 (OR furryfrog02 IVN) and @NLL. Thank you both for throwing your hat into the ring! I was going to be placing your names on small slips of paper and drawing from a hat... BUT we collect coins and, hey, we have 2 participants, so let's have a good 'ol coin toss instead?

@furryfrog02, you'll be HEADS,
@NLL, you'll be TAILS.

Ok, here we go... ​

And the winner is...






HEADS @furryfrog02 !!!!!

Congrats!!!​

PM me your address and I'll send out out the coins this week. Woo-hoo! I hope your lil frog enjoys these!

@NLL, you deserve a consolation prize in the form of a coin or two as well, so if you could PM me your address as well? I'll get a little something in your mailbox too.
​

Thank you both for entering!!! ​

 

That was a noble endeavor Justin - thank you very much for your thoughtfulness. I sense your disappointment in not attracting more participants. I do not know why more members of CT didn’t do that - I can’t even hazard a guess. It seems there was a lot more interest in gifted coins in the past - maybe some of us gave too many? (that does sound odd!). I just want you to know that I certainly appreciate your generous offers. Your kindness will be repaid to you in many different ways, Justin - I know that for sure - it always is.

 

I can. In the past, I have given coins to people for whom they were a bad fit. I know some were expecting mint state rarities and found my coins beneath them. Coin Talk rules do not allow the kind of contest where the winner has to pass a vetting process like they do if you want to adopt a puppy. Does anyone remember a gift coin showing up on eBay a week or so later? That tends to limit the desire to gift more to random winners. I wish there were a way we could identify people who would like the coin as separate from those who did not read past 'free'.

One thing that would help would be for anyone who might be interested in receiving such gifts would fill out the profile details on Coin Talk completely enough that we would know if we are sending coins internationally (more than one of us have problems with this) or to someone which will need a parental permission. I'm not suggesting that you should share your address etc. with the world but knowing you are 18 and from Florida would get more free coins than 15 and one of those countries like Turkey that will not allow private ownership of coins.

 

I remember well. In case others don't, if that person enters a giveaway I send a PM to the person giving away the coins warning him or her that the person is just going to sell them on eBay. I don't want that member to take advantage of someone's generosity again.

 

First off, I want to thank the writers, directors, and the Academy for believing in me...But mostly I would like to thank the fans...without you, this win wouldn't have been possible...

Really though, thank you @Justin Lee . I think what you did was awesome. I really was expecting to see more entries and was looking forward to seeing other peoples' coins and hearing their stories. I told FF02 IVN this morning that he won and he was over the moon. He had his fingers, toes, shoelaces, you name it, crossed that he would win. He plans on telling everyone in class today and I feel a bit bad for his teacher and classmates. He will talk your ear off when it comes to coins haha. You put a smile on little kid's face today and and have shown him amazing generosity that I know he will not forget.

I have said it several times now but it bears repeating. You guys (and ladies) over here in the Ancients forum are really top notch. I've only been over here for a few months now but the amount of generosity, both with knowledge and with things like this giveaway, is amazing. I am still new to Ancients but both my son and I have learned so much from all of you in such a short period of time. I am looking forward to a time where we will be able to actively give back to the forum and provide a return on your investment in us.

 

Well, of course, I'd love it if there were a handful more new collectors clamoring to win, BUT I'm genuinely happy with the two entries, two noble collectors and forum members that entered. The eligibility requirements I had were meant to weed out those in it just for the quick turnaround, which I feel did work. I'm quite satisfied with how it ended up, that these coins will go to happy, appreciative homes. And I'd prefer to celebrate those who entered and won, rather than speculate why more didn't enter and dwell on past poor contest results...

Again, congratulations, to furryfrog02 & son! And thanks to NLL for participating! And to both for sharing what sparked their interest in ancients! I appreciate both of your open, candid responses!