Present for My Niece

Get her a honkin' hunk of shinny silver (ASE). That should set the hook. Gradually, you can entice her to the 'Dark Side'............

 

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Some budget selections from ancient China:

1. Bone Imitation Cowrie. 1000-200 BC. $10-20


2. Ant-Nose Coin, cast by the state of Chu sometime before 220 BC. $10-20 for decent specimens.


3. Large Mongol 10-Cash Coin. I can get you a low-grade example for $20-30.


4. Coins from the time of Wang Mang (7-23 AD), a very turbulent time in Ancient Chinese history. High-grade examples of the common coins can run you 50¢ to $10.


5. Northern Song "Chong Ning Tong Bao" 10-cash coin in gold script. It is a large coin with beautiful calligraphy. High-grade examples will cost you $10-15.


6. Ban Liangs. The first unified currency of China. 350-120ish BC. Common small examples in high grade will run you $5-10, while larger, earlier specimens can go to $30 or more in high grade.

 

I gave a present of an Ancient coin to my niece a few years back. Her name is Larissa, and, coincidentally, as a teenager she was an equestrian. So I gifted her a coin from Larissa with a horse reverse. I no longer have an image of that coin, but it was something similar to this other one of mine:

THESSALY, LARISSA
AR Trihemiobol
OBVERSE: Head of nymph Larissa three-quarter facing left in necklace, hair confined by fillet & floating loosely, with ampyx in front
REVERSE: ΛAPI (Laris) above, horse feeding right.
Struck at Larissa 395-344 BC
.75g, 10mm
SNG Cop 135

 

Actually, if you truly think your niece would enjoy these Chinese coins, I will send you these two free of charge.

 

Since she's eleven and you have a limited budget, I would go for a cheap yet attractive coin struck for a kid-Emperor : Gordian III antoninianus comes to mind

Q

 

Great coin!
Has your niece taken up the hobby since that gift?

 

My thinking is, if you care about the person... make it count.
I would go with something silver as far back b.c. as I can

 

No. She is too wrapped up in her life now with a baby on the way. When I gifted her the coin I never thought she would be very interested. She's not the kind of person that's overly interested in history. But she loves the coin and shows it off at times.
My thought in sharing this experience, however, was that when gifting a coin to someone, think it through and come up with something that makes that coin personal to the receiver. Good luck