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

Interesting how modern designers often look to the past for inspiration.

 

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Just 30 feet Doug? Do what I did and have a bookshelf made covering a wall in your living room. I have about 70 feet of book space there, but of course is never enough and when some new volumes come in have to do the whole, "who gets sent down to the basement" exercise.

 

My wife insisted on her share of the living room wall shelf. I do have boxes of old auction catalogs and printed price lists in the attic.

 

Cool coin, but what is it?

 

This site will help you identify coins when you can read the legends like this. To get you started, this is a coin of Constantine, and it looks like it's from the Siscia mint.

 

My latest Ancient. A Greek coin of Kassander circa 300 B.C.

 

^Glad you like it.

Latest addition to my set. Just need 1 more before she's complete.


Crispina (178 - 182 A.D.)
AR Denarius
O: CRISPINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right.
R: CONCORDIA, Concordia standing left, patera in right, cornucopia in left.
Rome 180 -182
2.9g
17.5mm
RIC III 278, RSC II 5, BMCRE IV 36, SRCV II 5996

 

I like that one a lot. I'm a sucker for women on coins as I have probably already mentioned.

I am also starting to actively pursue the British penny for a cheap alternative to U.S. coins in general.

Regarding ancients, I am still trying to decide on a direction (ther than relatively cheap i.e. mostly $20-$60/coin). Is there a Roman series that can be completed with nice coins for that price per coin?

 

Thats entirely up to you. I only picked the empress above and another cause they didnt have a ton of reverses to buy. Some like Faustina Sr & Jr, Domna and others have many as with having some being very rare. So I wanted something easy but still a bit of a challenge.

Also most ancients there is no way of completing a set. There is new/unpublished types being found all the time.

 

I think this really depends on how you define a set. Obviously, one can't get every single type of ancient coin ever, but can still come up with "sets" that have a chance of completion. For instance, I think he could try collecting a coin of each emperor in a certain dynasty, like the Constantinian or Severan dynasties. Or a coin from each mint in a certain period (slowly trying to do that for the first tetrarchy at the moment), or perhaps an example of each non-gold imperial Roman denomination. These examples should all be doable in his price range. Unfortunately, it's probably a bit harder to figure out an affordable and completable set for females (some can get expensive), but I'm thinking that maybe he could try doing a set of all female deities and personifications on Roman coinage as long as he doesn't mind a full bodied female rather than portraits. Anyone know if that be doable in his price range, or are their some personifications that aren't popping into my head that are a huge pain to acquire?

 

Good points. I have one "set" of ancients, a group of every type of Byzantine anonymous bronzes. I do have somewhat a "set" mentality for other series, like Parthian's etc.

The beauty of ancients, though, is you get to define what YOU consider a "set", and never have to worry about an "unfilled hole". Does your set have a stopper like a 16d dime or a 01s quarter? Just redefine what YOU consider a complete "set".

 

I think I will start with female deities and female personifications on Roman coinage (full bodied just fine). I think I would also like to do this in silver, unless a copper really strikes me, of course.

Thank you all for the guidance and help thus far and anticipated same in the future.

 

I like coins from the Roman Impertorial period because of their historical significance. I like any other coin of special historical significance/famous individual or that is in great condition. I also like working on sets rulers.
In photos:
1. Lepidus and Octavian denarius
2. Marc Antony and Octavian denarius
3. Quinarius struck to commemorate the reconciliation of Antony and Octavian
4. Brutus denarius struck after the assasination of Julius Caesar
5. Cleopatra and Marc Antony denarius.

I also have a Cistophorus of Antony commemorating his marriage to Octavia, a Julius Caesar portrait denarius, and a portrait coin of Pompey the Great.
Nathan

 

Nice, I really like that Brutus coin.

 

sweet!

 

The Lepidus and Octavian denarius is outstanding. I do have a plain one but much more worn than your 3/4's



Q

 

My very first Roman ancient coins from member froggycoins of France. Thanks Phillip.:thumb:
[video=youtube;_xrcPPcgKGo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xrcPPcgKGo[/video]

 

Here is another really cool ancient (Constantius II) purchased from a great CT member. Next to women on coins, you can't beat battle scenes!

 

I am currently trying to get a one coin per mint set of the falling horsemen as shown above. I am short one mint and have only one coin from another. All together there are supposed to be 2200 variations on this coin but I'm not trying to get them all. Still, I cant find that 15th mint. Six months ago I started writing up the group but it may never get published.

Ordinarily I do not believe in sets of ancients but prefer groups of coins that go together without drawing attention to the fact that there is something missing.

 

Nice Pic

@Doug, hopefully you can achieve the goal:thumb: