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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ancient coin hunter, post: 3024883, member: 87200&quot;]Welcome to collecting ancients. I&#039;ve been collecting them on and off since I was eleven when I used the proceeds of my lawn-mowing and gardening business + paper route to fund my purchases. I got to know the noted dealer Frank L. Kovacs who kind of mentored me in the early stages of my collecting.</p><p><br /></p><p>At first, as a suggestion, I wouldn&#039;t restrict myself to a particular type of coin for each ruler as you can get frustrated that way. A nice sestertius of Augustus or Caligula can really set you back financially. </p><p><br /></p><p>I collected a variety of coins types and styles, first authorized imperials. More recently I have branched out into Roman provincial coins and those of Alexandria as I find the mythological types fascinating. It&#039;s also fun to see how the changes in artistic styles is reflected in the coinage. In the early stages of the empire up into the 260&#039;s there was a focus on realism in portraiture. </p><p><br /></p><p>The changes of Diocletian brought an austere, otherworldy look to the portraiture which is also reflected in the statues of that period, and also court rituals that were imposed such as proskynesis.</p><p><br /></p><p>A few years later and the coinage reflected another change in portrait styles which also is reflected in statuary and public works, that of the dominate, in which the emperor was addressed as lord and master and the coinage also was impacted as the prefix to the emperor&#039;s name became <i>dominus noster</i> (our lord) as opposed to the earlier days when <i>imperator</i> was used as a prefix. Portraits became even more uniform with an ethereal style which did not reflect reality, thus it can be hard to distinguish between later period rulers based simply on the portraiture, whether your coin is Theodosius, Valens, Valentinian you will notice very little difference.</p><p><br /></p><p>By the early fifth century, the style on the bronze coins became crude and the ethereal style was restricted to the much rarer gold and silver pieces. Eventually the eastern part of the roman empire morphed into the Byzantine empire when once again new styles of portraiture were introduced. Some folks who started out collecting strictly romans also collect Byzantines. So the point is there is a great variety of coins to choose from, periods to focus on, mintmarks to collect, and whatnot. Anyway, it is a really fun hobby to get started with and I wish you much success in your endeavor.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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