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OK... So in I been doing some studying while nobody is watching me at the office and I do have one burning question here as I wrap my heard around this period of 44BC to 96AD that comprise these twelve Caesars. As I understand it an in depth study of these twelve was authored in antiquity that is still used as a historical document today. Is that the foundation of the twelve Caesars concept or does it have more to do with those twelve's pivotal role in forging the empire?... Or perhaps is it a combination of those two or something other that I am not seeing quite yet?

 

Congrats @Randy Abercrombie .

It is no mystery, or truly "The Darkside". Rather it is an earlier historical period of Humanity that you can learn, just like most folks learn with coins of the Modern Era.

Although I have many coins from the Empire, I am more fascinated with the Roman Republic. THERE was the history that were the seeds and foundations of what later became the Empire. However, if you learn the struggles, failures, and also the unprecedented successes that they had, you really appreciate what the Roman Republic accomplished. I enjoy their struggles in the 3 Punic Wars, where at many points, Rome ALMOST was destroyed by Carthage (remember Hannibal?). It is also the foundation that the United States sought to use in developing our laws and system of government. The Empire corrupted those ideals, and formed a Kingship / Dictatorship starting with Julius Caesar.

By default in my collecting, I have accumulated around 150 of the Rulers of the Roman Empire (including wives, etc.). But, the Empire is not my focus. Here is one of my sets of the Seutonius Twelve ( Commonly known as the 12 Caesars). I added Vindex and made it a Round Baker's Dozen , cuz he started the Civil war to kill off the Julio-Claudian Dynasty.

My set is a mish-mash of Common, Scarce, and Rare coins across the Empire and several of the denominations.

I really do not focus on how perfect a coin is, I focus on touching the critical junctures in Human History.

Good luck and ENJOY!

 

+1 to Alegandron I've followed a similar path.

Yes, Suetonius is the basis for the set which nicely covers most of the 1st Century. Sort of a "one stop shop" but one needs to remember that (1) he and other ancient authors wrote with their own biases sometimes which were extremely positive or negative and (2) the work of many/most ancient authors, perhaps with very different views did not survive. Tempering Suetonius with something like the very accessible "The Roman Emperors" by Michael Grant will provide a more balanced view of the period and the personalities.

There really is no "right way" to collect this set - it comes down to personal preference. The topic has been discussed several times and links to a couple of the more recent that I recall are attached. In my case, altho I've collected ancients for years with varying intensity, I'd never focused on this period and moved primarily into US National Banknotes some time ago. As the supply of NBNs of interest to me became fewer and fewer I revisited several of my "inactive" collections including Morgan $ date/mint set and the Dansco 7070. Since I already had about half of the Caesars, it was an obvious one to also pursue. But, I wanted to have coins that had decent portraits, preferably with the title of the emperor legible AND coins that provided some insight into the personality of the emperor, or significant events during their reign. To guide me I used Clive Foss' "Roman Historical Coins," which I highly recommend if you're interested in building a basic library (and it and the Grant book are still available on eBay and Amazon reasonably). I didn't focus on making it only denarii - I really like the sometimes more affordable large silvers of the east - and it didn't take too long to get a basic set filled. Sure, there are several I'd like to replace if/when the right coin comes along, but even if I don't buy another coin for the set, I wouldn't be disappointed with it as it is.

In addition to the other suggestions, I would recommend taking your time initially to get familiar with the period, what's available, and some sense of what might be of interest to you personally. Most of all have fun with the set and buy what really appeals to you. Pretty much the same advice for a new collector or one interested in a new area. Frankly most of the set could be relatively easy to assemble at many larger regional coin shows, especially if one were not concerned by cost or condition. But being so popular the set can be pricy. My out of pocket for the 13 coins (I also did the baker's dozen and separated Octavian from Augustus since it made more sense to me and just because I wanted to) which has several better pieces is probably less than $5k spread over the years. I did get lucky in a few cases. In perspective, that's about what my last significant NBN cost. I think with a bit of time, care and effort one could put together a meaningful set for less than that, but a few years ago CNG offered a lovely set of higher-grade denarii for around 100k. Pretty big range that lets everyone play.

What fun!

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Caligula down! Now just two left to finish the Twelve Caesars! | Page 2 | Coin Talk

 

I like the Octavian vs Augustus distinction! Great idea. Have many of both.

A collection of the Imperatorial Period of The Late Republic period is fascinating too.

 

Here is set of obverses. I don't think that I will be able to get a Julius Caesar coin with his portrait which was issued during his lifetime. They have become wicked expesive. The last one I saw in a Heritiage auction was not to my liking. It still sold for over $10,000.



The piece is my set is really the reverse of the coin. It was issued by Mark Anthony's army 11 months after Julius Caesar's assassination.



The most common coin that was issued during Caesar's reign was the elephant denarius. It counts only if Caesar looked like an elephant.

 

@johnmilton ..... As always, just jaw dropping specimens.

 

HOLY COW, REALLY??? Wow, I have been kinda out of circulation on my Ancients coins for the last few years.

I do have a portrait Caesar minted in the last two weeks before his execution by the Senate. Paid a purdy penny (relatively) for it, but far from 10k. Looks like I need to catch up on Ancients values….

 

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I posted mine in your thread when you got yours. Off top my head I cannot remember what I paid at the time. I will have to look into my records.

Mine:



Roman Imperiatorial
Julius Caesar Lifetime
P Sepullius Macer
AR Denarius, 1st 2 weeks-Mar 44 BCE, 19 mm, 4.03g.
Obv: CAESAR – DICT PERPETVO Veiled and wreathed head of Caesar R.
Rev: P·SEPVLLIVS – MACER Venus standing l., holding Victory and sceptre resting on star.
Ref: Syd 1074a Sear Imperators 107e Crawford 480-14 Rare

- minted in last two weeks of his reign, or two weeks before he was assassinated.
- veiled, as he held the offce of Pontifex Maximus for several years, and that office was very important to him personally.
- wreathed... just short of being king... big no-no
- DICT PERPETVO - yeah, he was a king... so Roman Republic inherently and culturally hated kings.
- fairly difficult to capture with the star on reverse
- reasonably centered with most/all devices and legends (this is not as important to me cuz its numismatic vs the intrinsic Historical impact.)

Alföldi arranges Crawford 480 series coins in (44 BC) month order as follows:

RRC 480/1, Buca - January
RRC 480/2, DICT QVART - early February
RRC 480/3/4/5, CAESAR IMP - late February
RRC 480/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14, DICT PERPETVO - early to mid March
RRC 480/17/18, CAESAR IMPER - late March
RRC 480/19/20, PARENS PATRIAE - April
RRC 480/15/16, MARIDIANVS - April
RRC 480/21/22, CLEMENTIAE CAESARIS and Mark Antony - April

 

FORUM COINS:
"The coin that killed ."Caesar The obverse legend declares Caesar is "Dictator for Life" and he wears the veil, symbolic of his life-term position as Pontifex Maximus. Caesar would be both the dictator and high priest of Rome for the remainder of his life, but his life would end only a few weeks after this coin was struck. For Caesar to put his image on coins and in effect declare himself king was too much for Brutus and his republican allies. On the Ides of March (15 March) 44 B.C. Caesar was stabbed to death by as many as 60 conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius. According to Plutarch, a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar no later than the Ides of March. On his way to the Theater of Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, "The ides of March have come," meaning to say that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied "Aye, Caesar; but not gone." This meeting is famously dramatized in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March."

Minted for Caesar's planned Parthian war, this type was often carelessly struck indicating the mint was working under great pressure.

 

If Alfoldi's analysis is correct, yours and mine were minted roughly the same time in the 1st 2 weeks of March 44 BCE prior to Caesar's execution by the Senate on 15-March.

I reckon he was going bananas pounding out money so that he could go beat up the Persians... That did not truly happen until Trajan bashed them 150 years later.

When I saw my coin, its condition, etc., I jumped on it as it seemed a fair price for the time, as well as for the comparatives that I had seen for past purchases on auctions etc. I saw a similar coin's purchase for 33,000 CHF a few years before mine. My coin was MUCH less than that price. I figgerred that high auction price in 2008 was a frantic bidding war that got out of hand...

Regardless, I was after a decent in-hand placeholder in human history.

 

Well.... As I am a pre-schooler in terms of this field, I put in some very weak bids on a Heritage auction that took place last night for three of the Caesars and it appears I have won one of them. So it looks like Vitellius will be keeping Vespasian company while I get my feet under me on this new journey.

 

I do! Though it appears he lasted about eight months. Seems pretty good for AD 69..... So it has been a while since I won a Heritage auction. I can't find any link to complete the business. Do they send an invoice?