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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Trebellianus, post: 2930548, member: 91569&quot;]Hi folks! Yet another new arrival here, although I&#039;ve been lurking around without an account for a few months now. I&#039;ve been collecting ancients for just about six months now (with no particular intensity) so I&#039;m intending to mostly sit quietly in the background and take in the discussions — attempting to contribute where I can, of course. I collect stamps quite seriously, and have some knowledge of ancient history, so this isn&#039;t <i>entirely</i> my first rodeo, so to speak, but certainly I&#039;m a newcomer to the world of aureii and antoninianii and all the rest. I&#039;ve already picked up a lot of information from this extremely friendly, learned (and very active!) forum and I hope that can continue going forwards. As for enhancing my tiny collection, I&#039;ll confess to have no strategy beyond attempting to purchase stuff I find attractive, though no doubt some refinement or specialism will present itself in further course. I&#039;m from the UK and am probably a young(-er) collector in relative terms.</p><p><br /></p><p>As to what I like about ancients: of course, their reflection of the history of the societies that produced them is strongly appealing, as is just the sheer curiosity of owning things made two thousand years ago or more. I find a strange allure in the often indifferent condition ancient coins are found in, as well. The fact that the coins available to me all have their flaws, in one way or another, to a greater or lesser degree, I find quite relaxing — I&#039;ll never get a perfect specimen (or, indeed, any specimen to which meaningful grading can be applied) so I can happily put those concerns aside and focus on picking up things I think are overall pleasing relative to my budget and my interest in the history. Having to apply that sort of circumspection, in area where literally every coin is different, makes me particularly attached to my purchases as well: they all had some contemplation behind them, none was motivated solely by a number grade or whatever else. </p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway, by way of actual coin-posting, I offer up the first ancient I ever purchased (back in the dim and obscure past of, uh, July 2017). A little worn around the beard and reverse, but it caught my eye immediately: one of those coins which speaks to you, as I&#039;ve heard certain members here say. A pretty common type (as I now know!), but something about the dignified, determined, slightly weary ambience of the portrait really stood out — it felt so much more characterful than the heads on the modern coins I occasionally dabble in. So I had to buy it, and now here I find myself.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]711454[/ATTACH] </p><p><font size="3"><b>Hadrian</b>, 117 AD, O: laureate bust right, drapery on far shoulder, IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG / R: Concordia seated left, holding patera, resting elbow on statue of Spes, cornucopia below throne, P M T[R P] COS II, in ex. CONCORD. Seller&#039;s photo.</font></p><p><br /></p><p>And for some variety, from my other life, what I think is the best philatelic use of classical imagery, courtesy of Greece in 1861 (my own scan):</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]711464[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>...like Roman coins, the workmanship on these somewhat declined as the years went by:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]711465[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>This ran on very long, apologies-!![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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