I May Be Hooked, But What Ancient Coins Stir You?

After my post regarding how to start slowly (not sure if I can do that now) and cheaply in ancient coins, my interest has increased greatly. However, as I have started to look at more ancient currency, I have found some very uninteresting (I know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder) "coins" go for $100-$200 beyond expectation. I found the expectation high, but I am ignorant to these things. Anyway, some of these objects did not have much to them, and therefore, I have trouble having even the slightest desire to own them (I can go outside and collect non-descript million year old rocks for free).

THE QUESTION:

What ancient coins attract you and why?

 

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Based on reading some of your other posts you left the impression of being more an investor than a collector. If you search return on value which your comments seem to imply, bullion investing might be more aligned to your interests!

 

Whoah, I need to clear up any misunderstandings.

I collect coins primarily because I like them, however, I would be lying if I did not hope my collection would appreciate in value.

I find Draped Bust cents appeal to me greatly beyond any investment potential because I would love to meet the model. Also, as I have researched them, unless you buy the best and wait, any return is modest.

 

PS I also like bullion.

 

Coins of the upper Black Sea area, Tyras, Phanagoriya, Khersonesos, Olbiya, Pantikapayon - they are fascinating coins from Greek colonies in what is now Ukraine. I have at least one coin from each of them, Tyras is the rarest and one of the oldest cities in the world. It is one place where I have visited the excavations of the Greek era ruins there at the mouth of the Dnestr river.

 

You find them fascinating. Is it a combination of their history, region, and beauty that draw you to them?

 

Byzantine gold, I have been trying to learn more before I make the leap. Primarily because from what I've been seeing you can find a lot with lots of detail. (Omg I've become a coin snob)

 

I would concur and add Colchis from the Eastern Black Sea region. Its the site where the golden fleece was found. An exchange student I had once was from Kutaisi, the closest city to ancient Colchis.

Myself, I am dranw today to the Silk Road and Central Asia mainly, but still collect Byzantine, interesting Roman, ancient Chinese, and occasional world coins. I just got a Lannathai 4 baht silver bar from medieval Thailand, (well ordered it, has not arrived yet).

Overall ancients attract me as a way of forcing me to learn more about ancient history. When you own a tangible artifact of the culture you are naturally driven to learn more about it. That and the sheer beauty of some coins. Look at some early Sassanian coins, like Shapur or Vahran II and tell me those are not works of art!

 

I am attracted to Roman Republic and the 12 Caesars silvers currently. My interest span 3,00 years and all of Earth. I am a history buff and use my knowledge to try to explain current and future events. :thumb:

 

Most of the Black Sea coins are NOT pretty, really. I do appreciate the history of them, the region they are from though. A place I know well, except for Krim - haven't been there yet but hope to change that soon with visit to Kherson.



This is a very rare coin from Tyras from the time of Roman rule, Antoninius Pius was the emperor when this coin was made. Tyras is now known as Belgorod-Dnestrovskyi and is in a part of Ukraine across Dnepr river from Moldova, and only few kilometres from Romania also. There is an Ottoman fortress there. This part of Ukraine has been ruled by ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Bulgarians, then Ottomans, Russians, Romanians, USSR and now Ukraine.

For sheer beauty in ancients I elect Syracuse:

 

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Those are lovely!

 

I like to also learn as I go, and in general, I like the look and feel of bronze coins. I like the style of most early imperial coins allot, but I also really like the Fel Temp fallen horseman type.

 

Ionia Miletos coins are pretty cool, they are common and some of the oldest coins around:



This one is from ca. 600-500 BC. I always liked the star pattern reverses on them.

 

Most people either collect generally ("Coins I like that I can afford") or specifically ("Eastern mint denarii of Septimius Severus") there is also an opportunity here to collect ancients in a technical sense. That would include errors, coins with unusual shapes or coins that were first (last or only) to introduce some feature (legends, dating, reverses etc. etc.). I collect in all of the ways mentioned and a dozen more.

Here is a point. Ancients need to be collected when you find the item. I can go to a large coin show and select between a hundred various 1909S VDB cents or a thousand slabbed dollars in MS65 or higher. I can buy bullion until my back can't bear the load. What I can't do is find exactly a match for the ten ancient coins I bought at the last show I attended. There are coins marked as common in the standard catalogs that you might see offered a few times a decade. Most beginners are not seeking such specific things so it is not a problem but I do recommend that you familiarize yourself with what exists that you might want if you happen to see it so you can avoid a decade of bad feeling for having passed over the coin you saw back then.

That does not mean that you should buy every overpriced coin you see but you need to study up on what exists and whether you are more interested in what the coins are or what they are worth so you will know when to buy and when to walk away.

 

I visited Istanbul earlier this year and have become interested in late Roman and Byzantine coins.

Both of these are from Harlan Berk of Chicago.


Theodosius II Solidus Constantinople
Diademed, helmeted & cuirassed 3/4-facing bust,
spear over right shoulder & shield decorated with horseman on left arm
DN THEODO SIVS PF AVG
Theodosius standing facing holding labarum & cross on globe; star to left
GLORORVI S TERRAR Z (Gloria Orbis Terrarum, Officina Z)
CONOB in exergue
Struck: AD 424-425, Constantinople mint
Size: 22mm x 21mm
Weight: 4.18gm
Catalog: RIC Constantinople 232
Gloria Orbis Terrarum is "Glory over the world"


Justinian AU Solidus Constantinople
Helmeted and cuirassed bust facing three-quarters to right, holding spear over shoulder and shield
DN IVSTINI-ANVS PP AVG
Victory standing facing, holding jewelled cross and cross on globe, star in right field
VICTORI - A AVGGG B (Oficina B)
CONOB in exergue
Struck: AD 527-537 Constantinople mint
Size: 21mm
Weight: 4.43gm
Catalog: Sear 137

 

I don't own any yet, but I think Bactrian coins are fascinating, they issued them in square shapes with pretty cool designs with elephants etc. I also like the Cartaginian coins with Tanit and the horse.

 

Indo Greek, (Bactrian), can be tough, but also interesting. While you can get them that are definitely Greek, you will find loads of these that don't quite "look right". Right after the Indo greeks there were massive migrations of people through those same areas. They simply made inferior imitations of the coins the greeks made, so the hobby is replete with indo-greek copies made by the Scythians, yueh chi, local issues in Taxila, etc. The problem is WHO made particular copies is not always known, so its a moving target, but sure makes for an interesting collecting area.

I have indo greek copies I have no bloody idea who struck them or when, but I still love them. Maybe some day an answer will come.

 

There are some ancients that just go against the grain of what we perceive as "normal" on coinage take for instance this:



This is a 40 nummiae of King Sauromates from the Bosporus Kingdom - looks like a run of the mill coin until you read the legend with the king's name on the obverse - it reads from 6'00 counterclockwise. There are not very many coins that have counterclockwise legends on them - at least with Greek/Roman lettering. The Bosporus Kingdom was a client state of the Roman Empire in what is now S. Ukraine.

Then there are the Celts. They produced coins with fantastic and very evocative designs with an amazing artistic flare that is distinctive:



Gallia Belgica (from the Seine to the Rhine), the Remi. Cast Potin (4.13 gm, 12h, 21mm), ca. 100-60 BC. Obv.: Male figure (druid?) with hair in a long plait, running right, holding spear and torc. Rev.: Wolf (?), right, gnawing on prey; above, fibula. BMC 501 ff. DLT 8124. DT 155. Scheers 191. This is a cute coin in my opinion. One aspect of Celtic coins that is quite fascinating is their stylised imagery. This mysterious piece is a popular one because of the man on the obverse of the piece and his resemblance to a Gnome.


The Celts resided in much of Europe, from the British Isles to the mouth of the Danube River in what is now Romania. Their vibrant culture, celebrated in myth and legend, remains a bit of an enigma to this day. For coin designs they often "borrowed" designs from nearby Greek or Roman states coins, but their own designs were often stylised and quite attractive.

 

Celtic and Roman is what stirs me.

Both of these folks inhabited the area where I live. For me, their coins are living history.
These two little coins (only about 1.5 grams each) were minted by Celtic tribes which inhabited the Rhineland area.
Their culture in this part of Europe started to decline with the arrival of the Romans in this
area - around 50 BC. It is assumed that they later merged with the Germanic tribes.

One of the coins shows the so-called Little Dancing-man motif. On the reverse an stylized horse. The other coins is the the so-called bird-man, on the reverse a stylized head. I agree with scottishmoney - Celtic coins have something mystical and mysterious about them.