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Message:: [QUOTE="IdesOfMarch01, post: 8251040, member: 39084"]The two major factors that drew me to collect ancient coins are their history and artistry.  The Twelve Caesars period is, for me, the most interesting historical period of Ancient Rome.  In addition, the artistry exhibited by many of these coins is stunning for such a small, difficult-to-work-with canvas.  My imagination travels back to that period through these coins, trying to get a sense of what life might have been like for the average citizen of Rome, and what the coins would have communicated to me about the Caesars. Another factor – albeit not as strong as the first two – is the mythology illustrated on ancient coins.  For Roman coins, this is mostly the pantheon of deities, and Hadrian’s personification of countries and even individual features such as the Nile.  So within the last few years I expanded my focus to include Hadrian’s travel series. Arguably, Greek coins exhibit greater art and artistry than Roman coins, and the mythology illustrated on many of them is (in my opinion) without equal in the Roman world.  But (again in my opinion) the greater historical aspect of Roman coins was the deciding factor in my choosing to focus on Roman coins rather than Greek coins.  Nevertheless I remain highly attracted to the purely art aspect of Greek and certain other coins. As an illustration of pure, classical coin art, perhaps no coin is a better example than this tetradrachm by Kimon, which hammered for about $2.6M at NAC 77 in 2014 (Not my coin!  Image is from NAC shown here under what I believe to be fair use): [ATTACH=full]1453649[/ATTACH] It strikes me that the obverse of this could only ever be recognized as a portrait, regardless of its orientation.  Even with the portrait upside down; it’s still instantly recognizable as a classic portrait: [ATTACH=full]1453650[/ATTACH] Despite having the shadows at the wrong angle – I simply rotated the image – it’s obviously a portrait.  For a more detailed analysis of Kimon’s artistry on this coin, it’s enlightening to read NAC’s description of it from their catalogue: <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=kimon&category=1-2&lot=&thesaurus=1&images=1&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&currency=usd&order=3" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=kimon&category=1-2&lot=&thesaurus=1&images=1&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&currency=usd&order=3" rel="nofollow">https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=kimon&category=1-2&lot=&thesaurus=1&images=1&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&currency=usd&order=3</a> An ancient Greek who was handed this coin upside down would immediately know to rotate it 180 degrees to further admire this tiny masterpiece! Now consider an ancient Celt being handed the coin below: [ATTACH=full]1453651[/ATTACH] His/her first thought might be “What might this be?  Are those waves on a shore at the right?  Is that some sort of boat on the top?  Are those fish swimming below?”  But by rotating the coin 180 degrees, its obverse subject matter becomes readily apparent: [ATTACH=full]1453652[/ATTACH] A similar epiphany happens if the reverse is initially viewed in the wrong orientation: [ATTACH=full]1453653[/ATTACH] Is it some sort of odd plant life, or a snake slithering among grasses and weeds?  But rotate it 90 degrees counterclockwise and after an instant of staring, the galloping horse is obvious: [ATTACH=full]1453654[/ATTACH] I first became aware of this coin type just a few years after I started collecting ancients, and from a pure art perspective – as someone who loves abstract “modern” art – the coin’s art struck a chord that no other ancient coin strikes.  Historically, it doesn’t share the richness of a 12 Caesars coin, and fell well outside my collecting criteria.  But to my eye, it’s a work of abstract art created 2000 years before abstract art was invented.  In fact, the famous Surrealist artist Andre Breton had a significant collection of Celtic coins and now the Belgian artist Wim Delvoye also collects them. I didn’t discover the above aspect of this coin’s artistry until I had it in my hands and was admiring it from various angles, when I noticed that at most rotations the actual (obverse) portrait and (reverse) galloping horse were not only not recognizable, but could easily appear as other animate or inanimate objects. For those interested in its acquisition: This coin was offered in the recent Maison Palombo auction but I declined to bid on it, partly because my main interest in it was purely for its art, and partly because I have no expertise in evaluating the Celtic market and setting a reasonable budget for it.  Its hammer price, though, seemed eminently reasonable and exactly what I had informally estimated its worth.  I thought I had missed it. But I had contacted a Belgian coin dealer/expert regarding a different coin in an upcoming auction, and while discussing interests outside the 12 Caesars and Roman coins in general, I mentioned this coin.  The dealer made some inquiries and discovered that the Parisii stater was available!  I made an offer representing the price I would have paid including commissions and buyer’s fee, and after some short negotiations it was accepted.  Less than two weeks later the coin is in my hands: [ATTACH=full]1453659[/ATTACH] GALLIA. PARISII. Stater, gold, about 100-50 BC. AV 7.03 g. 25.45mm Head with flowing locks r., in front, large double volute, below, pine cone (or club ?); below truncation, zig-zag band. Rev. Bridled horse galloping l., above, aegis-shaped net; between legs, dotted rosette. Colbert de Beaulieu 26, fig. 18,55. D./T. I,42,83.Rare. Large flan. Which coins did you acquire because they were so attractive, so compelling, that not fitting into your current collecting focus didn’t matter?  I would love to hear other stories of ancient collectors who acquired ancient coin(s) well outside their main area of focus, and why they were attracted to those coins![/QUOTE]

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