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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Parthicus, post: 2520129, member: 81887&quot;]I started collecting coins when I was about 8 or so (US plus a smattering of modern world) but gradually lost interest and stopped when I was about 13 or 14.&nbsp; Then, when I went away to college in 1991, I happened to find a coin shop within walking distance from campus and my interest revived.&nbsp; I started buying a few classic US coins and whatever interesting world coins I could afford.&nbsp; I especially liked looking through the junk boxes (especially the somewhat higher end or &quot;junque&quot; boxes) and attributing the mysterious treasures I found.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Sometime in 1992 or early 1993, the coin store got in a bunch of unattributed ancients.&nbsp; I decided to dive in, and picked out a few of the nicer-looking coins from the $3 and $5 boxes ( The $5 box were mostly larger diameter and included a lot of Roman Provincial, $3 was mainly LRB.)&nbsp; I still remember the first ancient I was ever able to attribute, a LRB of Constantius II with FEL TEMP REPARATIO reverse, soldier spearing falling horseman, mint of Sirmium.)&nbsp; I spent a lot of time with those cleaned but unattributed coins, learning how to read the legends and what the usual types were, and also how to use the catalogue (Sear, which only had one volume for the Roman at the time).&nbsp; I also started buying some other ancients, various Greek and Eastern, at the coin shop and from dealers&#039; mail order lists requested from ads in Coin World.</p><p><br /></p><p>It was around 1997 or so that I decided to focus mainly on Parthian coins (with the occasional Roman or other diversion).&nbsp; Parthian coins seemed to hit the perfect &quot;sweet spot&quot; of many factors:&nbsp; reasonably well catalogued (Shore&#039;s book had just come out, and Sellwood&#039;s numbering system was there to establish order) but with some uncertainty so it didn&#039;t feel like everything had already been discovered; the history was somewhat understood (unlike some other interesting coinages such as the Kushans) but also somewhat mysterious (consider the revisions to the king list by Assar, for example), and it frequently intersected with Roman history (I love Roman history, for its inherent interest and as a proud Italian-American); the coins exhibit considerable variety; and many types were affordable (under $100 for decent examples).&nbsp; At the moment, I&#039;ve kind of reached an impasse with my Parthian collection- I fell like I&#039;ve collected all the types I can without going broke, and I may very well sell the collection within the next year.&nbsp; If I do, I guess I&#039;ll have to find some new area to focus on.&nbsp; Maybe Sasanian, or maybe some sub-area of Roman, or...</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, one coin to share.&nbsp; Not a Parthian, but I really love this coin anyway:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]537174[/ATTACH] </p><p>Phoenicia, Sidon.&nbsp; AE 16.&nbsp; &#039;Abd&#039;ashtart (c. 365-356 BC).&nbsp; Obverse: Phoenician galley on waves.&nbsp; Reverse: Horse-drawn chariot with driver and Persian king (or possibly deity dressed as Persian king).</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin beautifully combines a stereotypical Phoenician obverse (ships appear on almost all Phoenician coins) with a very recognizably Persian reverse.&nbsp; And within thirty years of this coin&#039;s striking, a young Macedonian would stop by and toss some Hellenism into the cultural mix...[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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