Saw this Meme and couldn't help but get a good chuckle since it's was and is us. Although, mine wasn't a scrap LRB. Septimius Severus (193 - 211 A.D) AR Denarius O: SEVERVS AVG PART MAX, Laureate head right. R:RESTITVTOR VRBIS (Restoration of the City), Severus in military attire, spear in left, sacrificing over a tripod altar with right. Rome mint, 201 A.D. 3.3g 18mm RIC 167a, RSC 599, BMCRE 202
Yeah, saw that on Reddit this morning. I have no idea what the second thing is, but I have thought sometimes how I have lost the "man, this is so cool!" factor with ancients sometimes. My first two coins were a scruffy Parthian and a green toned pretty Larissa facing head. I loved the Larissa 100 times more than that Parthian, I have no idea why I then turned to Central Asian collecting over Greek, but I did. Sitting on my desk at home is a Trajan sestertius. Nothing fancy, about Fine, but pretty dark green shiny toning. I pick it up sometimes to admire it, knowing that today it doesn't give me chills like it once did, but I still appreciate its artistry and the history it contains.
hah, this is great. I'm currently the first picture and wrestling with the transition to the second. Debating my first real coin purchase (a nice denarius in the $60-$90 range). To a relative newbie, feels like a lot to spend on a coin even though I know that's lower/mid-grade in the grand scheme. But man some of these coins I have my eye on are beautiful...
@Mat What a great illustration of human nature! LOL! The more we have the more we want. Contentment in many things seems elusive. And as per the memes you included, that is surely the case with this hobby we all share. :-o My very first ancient was a Claudius II Gothicus issue, which I bought in 1993. I had no clue as to its attribution. I only knew it was in a box of nearly slick coins marked “Roman coins $5”, in a far corner of a brick & mortar coin shop in Dallas. I asked the shop owner for more information, but he could only quote Sergeant Schultz, (“I know nothing!”) Regardless, I had never seen an ancient coin before and was thrilled to own one! I still have coin and is pictured below. Believe me, as poor as the picture is, the coin is even worse. I owned it for over a year before I found out the reverse is a bird! Then over a decade later I finally upgraded to a better example to represent Gothicus II in my collection (via Zach of Beast Coins). I was highly pleased with my new upgrade! I still have it: But in 2014, having grown less enamored with the above example, I upgraded again via a John Jencek JHE auction. I was happy to acquire it, and it remains my best Gothicus representative. And I am now (trying to remain) content with it. Please suffer one further upgrade story: My first Augustus denarius, purchased from Bart Lewis in 1994, is below. Though quite porous with an off-center reverse, I was very proud to own such an expensive ($90!) silver coin of this famous ruler! But predictably, the example diminished in my estimation of acceptability for my collection’s representative of THE “Caesar Augustus”. So, in 2017, I bit the bullet and spent over 4X as much to buy this example from Den of Antiquity. Amazingly to me it is a double-die match to my above example. (I know die matches are not ‘rare’, but a double-die matched pair, of a type with such a voluminous issue, ‘strikes’ me as beyond merely noteworthy.) Plus, it has a distinct, fully complete legend on both sides – replete with fascinating flowlines! Here it is: I still love my above denarius. But, what’s up with that cheek!?!? Ugh! It’s distracting! And why ‘only’ silver?!?!? So, perhaps an example such as the one below will be my next upgrade. If so, it will be purchased immediately after I win the lottery and immediately prior to my beloved bride quoting Popeye… (To clarify and emphasize: The aureus isn't mine. It's in the ANS collection, and is viewable here: http://numismatics.org/collection/1944.100.39118 )
My first siliqua (Valens), got it from ebay as a metal detecting find for $20. My siliqua upgrade (Gratian) that got me to splurge a little.
After ll these years, I still wonder where they got that guy, with that voice, to play Popeye? He takes "gravel voice" to new grades of abrasiveness!
I think a lot of collectors learn that quality beats quantity. You don't need a lot of fine specimens to make a good collection.