Just starting..

Like you, I started and specialized in US coinage (in 1957) but a few years later acquired my first ancient. Some time ago I decided to concentrate on my ancients. I would offer something of advice I had many years ago from a seasoned collector. The advice sounds harsh but it was good advice. Junk stays junk, forever. Limit the number of coins in your collection to those with no problems (corrosion, bronze disease, roughness, over cleaning, excessive wear). A coin that that is a joy to behold (look at my avatar) will always be a joy to behold for many, many years to come. In my opinion it is better to have common coins that look great than rare ones that look like they have gone through a blender with scrap metal, gravel and battery acid.

 

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@Roman Collector @otlichnik your posts have been very helpful. thank you! I think I have the taxonomy as close to what you mentioned as possible. See here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lJ0m1f2xX10-lXjorMGkFDseFro_0VRrKu2Qyrk-HO0/edit?usp=sharing (reference column Z for the majority of the taxonomy) let me know if you see anything that I've done wrong. Also let me know if you know of a place on the internet that has a complete list of Empress's... Mints... and Leaders in the different Hellenistic Kingdoms... I found as much as I could but I know I'm probably missing several thousand options.

 

Looks like you're missing a "references" column in your spread sheet.

For a list of empresses/queens of the Hellenistic kingdoms, I recommend Forrer's book.

 

Nice chart. Ultimately, whatever works for you is good.

Personally a couple of observations. I agree with Roman Collector that a references column would be good to add you RIC etc numbers if you use them.

You may also wish to add size and weight columns. You can do moderately accurate diameter with a simple ruler though eventually I bought a pair of steel calipers online for about $20 (and I see there are digital ones now for under that). I also bought a digital scale for about $20 online. Mine only does tenths of grams, some do hundredths. The scale is more important as you can't get any weight without one - unlike the ruler trick. And weight can help you avoid fakes and properly ID when coin types are similar and weight is a factor.

Lots of people divide the obverse and reverse into separate legend and design columns. But I can't actually say why that would be better. In a searchable spreadsheet it really doesn't matter.

SC

 

@Roman Collector @otlichnik -- in regards to size and weight... I get "23mm and 3.93 g" on this example: "Roman AR Antoninianus, 23mm, 3.93 g, 7h."

what is the "7h."?

also on the size of "23mm" most of my ancients are not a uniform circle. is this 23mm the small or the large measurement if the coin is not uniform?

 

7 h is the die axis; it means the reverse is oriented at 7:00 (like a clock) with respect to the obverse.

I measure diameter horizontally across the obverse of the coin, from the 9:00 to the 3:00 position. Not everyone does this.

 

I get a lot of good out of a couple 'code' fields that allow me to sort coins in the order I want them to printout. The first of these is a two letter 'code' that not only identifies the coin as 'Greek', 'Roman' etc. but breaks those into subgroups. Therefore I have an easy way of sorting My Greek Sicily from my Greek Hellenistic and eight other subgroups that made sense to me. Roman is divided into more (currently 29) subgroups using R0 through RZ but they were custom fit to my collection so there are 7 separate subs for Septimius Severus but the eleven Caesars are lumped into one (Julius fall into Imperatorial for my purposes). The second 'code' is a four digit number of no real importance except that it makes all the coins in that group sort in the order I wish. I code these numbers on the back flap of my envelopes so I can remove and replace coins in order working from the back of the box. The important thing is the system makes sense to me. Your system needs to make sense to you.

 

Beware, as this ancients thing is addictive, for me, far beyond US coins (yea, I'm still pissed about not getting the V75 gold).....you start recalling odd facts that make others roll their eyes (Vipsania Agrippina?), you begin reading things that only classics scholars read (Suetonius, Plutarch, Tacitus, Livy, etc)....
I must say the folks here are probably the most helpful on any forum I've ever encountered....

 

I'm writing the code to support adding ancients to my website and I'm finding the nuances of ancients and the cryptic unexplained elements are daunting... For example, when you search some sites you see the Metal the coin is made from as "Æ" -- what does this mean in the context of metal? I understand the Latin but what does it mean in the context of metal? See here: RPC — Search: Browse (ox.ac.uk) I also see it on the front end of denomination "Denomination: Æ (10 mm) Average weight: 2.64 g." -- is there anything I can read out there that can help a layman like me understand the cryptic nuances of the numismatic experts?

another recent example is "r." -- what is that? example: from RPC — Coin: 177613 (ox.ac.uk) see the obverse and reverse descriptions.... I'm guessing it stands for head facing right... but there is no reference anywhere that says what "r." references...

Most of what is tripping me up is in the references on each of these sites. I see things like "Cop 334, Sv 207, Burrer Em 1, p. 104, 1–6 " and I suspect these cryptic letters refer to books that may be well know to others but I have no clue what they mean :-(

it's one thing to understand the ancients... but it's a completely different thing to understand the experts that document the ancients

 

Æ stands for Æs (aes), which is the Latin word for copper or any copper-based alloy, such as bronze or orichalcum. Often we don't know the denomination of a coin, but only what it's made of and its size in mm. So, Æ 17 would mean "copper alloy coin 17 mm in diameter."

You may read more about the terminology used to describe such things in ancient coin collecting in my thread here.

 

AE is bronze, AR is silver, AV is gold. R. Is right, L. is left.

 

@Roman Collector I finished adding all of basics for supporting ancient coins. I took the liberty of adding your Faustina as an example for the purposes of this message. You can see it here. I'll delete it shortly given they are your pics. As you look at this do you see any info or features you would add/change? The purpose would be to provide collectors of ancient coins a means to track as well as collaborate on different items.

 

That has all the information one would need. The size in mm is off by tenfold, however (a typo).

 

thank you. I'll delete now. You have been great. this is a learning experience.

 

are there any features you would like to see in a browser app to support your collection of ancient coins? something that would really help you and make the hobby even more enjoyable.

 

yes, it's been a year now and I've completely fallen into this rabbit hole... US coins (other than Colonials) seem to be a bit boring now that I am gaining an understanding of the history and linking the coins to the location/authority etc...

However, I should have listened more to @kevin McGonigal with his comment above "Junk stays junk, forever.".

When I was getting started I purchased several (30) denarii from a second-tier auction site (yes, bad idea) that I now want to part ways with given their quality -- I now stick to graded HA.com coins and CNG.

Here is one example that I want to unload:

• Roman Empire 184-185 Rome
• Commodus (177-192) Denarius
• Lettering Obv: COMM ANT AVG P BRIT
• Lettering Rev: P M TR P X IMP VII COS IIII P P ROM
• Obverse Design: laureate head right
• Reverse Design: Roma seated, left holding Victory and cornucopia; behind, shields Composition: Silver Weight: 3.39
• Numismatics.org link
• Numista link

The questions:
1. Where do you sell such coins?
2. How do you set the price and what do you use for your pricing reference? I see higher grades on coinarchives $98 (12/5/2021)

 

it's pro

that was one of the better of the bunch. most are very well worn or scratched up. here is another:


I see much better quality examples like this but not quite sure how to set the price. or where to sell it (eBay? I've sold quite a few graded US coins there but never an ancient coin that's not been graded/authenticated). I'm still no good at telling a counterfeit coin so I've been sticking to graded for now (or not encapsulated items from CNG) until I get a bit better at this... maybe next year.

 

I see quite a few examples out on eBay -- several are just letting users bid up the price. does that work for anyone on ancient coins like this?

 

Getting back to the OP, it looks like a large SC on the reverse. I agree that the portrait looks like Claudius I, but don't know of any coins of Claudius I with that reverse. I think Germanicus or Drusus is more likely.