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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Cherd, post: 8100788, member: 24754&quot;]I&#039;ve never posted a top ten, and wasn&#039;t really planning to do so. But, I&#039;ve enjoyed going through all of the other member&#039;s lists that have been posted recently, so I figured I&#039;d do my part <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>I only really got into ancients in earnest over the past 6 months and have purchased the bulk of my collection over that time, so I have quite a few coins from which to choose. In one sense, considering the inflated market, I couldn&#039;t have timed things more poorly. However, most of my budget came from dumping off other collections that I&#039;ve accumulated over time (primarily baseball cards), whose markets were even more inflated than that of ancient coins! So I still feel like I made out pretty well in the end <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie80" alt=":shame:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>10. Drusus the Younger As.</b> Even though it&#039;s not the greatest condition coin, I can&#039;t seem to get a picture that does it justice. I even fiddled around with some effects here and couldn&#039;t get much improvement. However, it is a Drusus and I really like it. Problem is, even though it is rather thin so far as Asses go, it was put into a thick NGC holder for some reason. It won&#039;t fit into my slab cases with the rest of my collection, which kind of sucks <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie3" alt=":(" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1408620[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>9. Crispina Denarius.</b> Although no individual one would have made my top ten favorite list on it&#039;s own, I do really enjoy the coins depicting women in my collection. So, I figured I should toss the one that currently happens to be my favorite into the mix.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1408632[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>8. Domitian Denarius.</b> I&#039;m more looking forward to adding his dad or brother. But, if for nothing else, Domitian makes the list for getting me one step closer to completing my 12 Caesar collection!</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1408626[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>7.Caracalla Tetradrachm.</b> I don&#039;t seek out provincials per se, but I certainly don&#039;t mind obtaining them for my collection if they tickle my fancy. They usually don&#039;t portray the artistic quality of imperial coins, but they are meaty, interesting, have more character, and are more fun to stare at for some reason! I mean, look at that dotty eagle!</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1408629[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>6. Commodus Sestertius.</b> This is another one where the picture doesn&#039;t do justice, but the bust on this coin looks really nice in hand. The enjoyment that I get out of my collection comes from showing it to other people and telling the related stories. It&#039;s hard to get a coin with more entertaining related stories than Commodus!</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1408627[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>5. Brutus/Ahala Ancestor Denarius.</b> I&#039;ll probably never be able to afford an Eid Mar, so I&#039;m just going to let people believe that the guy on the front of this coin is &quot;that&quot; Brutus! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie80" alt=":shame:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> Me and this coin had a rough start. There were multiple in the auction and when the one that I wanted came up, I bid like a madman to make sure that I got it. I only realized afterward that the previous coin had ended, but been reset by a late bid, and that I had been bidding on the wrong coin!! The one that I wanted was more attractive (especially in Brutus&#039; beard) and actually went for cheaper than what I paid for this one <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie3" alt=":(" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. It&#039;ll take some time, but this coin will grow on me eventually.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1408623[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>4. Trajan Dupondius.</b> Gotta have a Trajan, all the rest of the emperors tried to be as good as him after all. If I didn&#039;t know any better, I&#039;d think that this coin was tooled because the detail is extra sharp. This is one coin that I like to look at under magnification just to fully appreciate the individual strands of hair.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1408625[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>3. Marcus Aurelius Sestertius.</b> This guy was my first &quot;Favorite Emperor&quot;, and learning about the story of him and his family, and his influence in Stoic philosophy is one of the things that originally drew me to ancient coins. That being the case, I wanted to make sure that I got a large coin of his with a pleasing bust. This coin does the job and was in my wheelhouse, plus the reverse is interesting as well.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1408624[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>2. Pompey &quot;The Great&quot; Magnus Denarius.</b> This coin is a bit worn, but I feel that it is worn in such a way as to make Pompey seem more intimidating! Plus, it has some rainbow-looking toning, visible in hand, that would make Morgan collectors proud! The flan is small and some of the beading and legends are missing. But it is otherwise well-centered and is a fantastic example for me that knocks a big name off of my list. And, of course, that voo-doo dance party reverse is killer!!</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1408622[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>1. Julius Caesar Denarius.</b> The first slot in my intended collection was the biggest name of them all, and I started to get the feeling that it would stay empty forever. I silenced this fear by deciding to step up and suffer the pain of clicking that bid button beyond the point of reason... and now my collection has both bookends <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie50" alt=":happy:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. I also posted this coin for the first time in [USER=84744]@Severus Alexander[/USER] &#039;s recent thread where he apprised us of his troubling news. Now every time I look at this coin, I will be reminded of the strength, resilience, and equanimity that he expressed in that post. That&#039;s a bonus that you can&#039;t put a price on, and that alone would make it my favorite coin of the bunch.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1408621[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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