What's the most aesthetically pleasing ancient coin in your collection?

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Very nice coins, especially love the Claudius. Also they are excellent photo's do you take them yourself?

 

Thanks! Yeah I take take my own pics.

 

I will pick out three of my Greeks.

Aeolis, Myrina, Tetradrachm

Obv:– Laureate head of Apollo right, hair braided, ribbons flowing behind.
Rev:– MYRINAION left, Apollo Grynios advancing right holding patera and laurel branch with fillets; omphalos and amphora at feet; monogram left, all within laurel wreath
Minted in Myrina. Mid 2nd Century B.C.
Reference:– Sacks, ANSMN 30, Issue 25



Kyme, Aeolis, Tetradrachm

Obv:- Head of Amazon Kyme right, wearing taenia
Rev:- Horse walking right, oinochoe below, ΚΥΜΑΙΟΝ left, ΚΑΛΛΙΑΣ (magistrate) in ex, all in wreath;
Ref:- SNG Von Aulock 1636, SNG Cop 103
ex Pegasi; ex Forum;
weight 16.392g, maximum diameter 33.1mm, die axis 0o



Ptolemaic Kingdom, Ptolemy VI Philometor, Tetradrachm

Obv:– Diademed head of Ptolemy I right wearing aegis
Rev:- PTOLEMAIOY BASILEOS, eagle standing left, head left, on thunderbolt, wings closed
Minted in Alexandria, B.C. 180-145
Reference:– Svoronos 1489, SNG Cop 262
Ex Forum
14.031g, 27.3m, 0o

 

For me, nothing beats realistic portraits

 

Amazing coins, Steve! The "Love Geese" are very nice!

 

Sigh. So hard. I will stretch the thread and show my most eye appealing coin/medal.

I bid and missed on this a year and a half ago. I kicked myself often for not bidding higher. Fortunately it came up for auction again this year and I grabbed it for the same price it sold last year. I wanted a compliment to the second medal posted just beneath. I won't re-post the details as they are in my gallery, but both are about 50mm in size.

 

@4to2centBC Love those medals! If you ever feel so inclined, there's an ongoing exonumia thread in the Coin Chat sub-forum. It can be pretty random but there are a few members here who have some incredible medals that get posted. Here's the link:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/lets-see-your-exonumia.203005/page-320#post-2732282

Everyone there shares a love of exonumia and I'm sure they would like to see your medals.

 

I'd say that my Kimon dekadrachm is my most aesthetic although it's hard to pick a favorite child:

 

You have plenty of options under $400, but it gets harder when you want aesthetically-pleasing big silver under $400.

The First Meris tetradrachms are relatively affordable for ~16g of silver, and some of the obverse portraits can be pretty stunning. This was $385.

 

Really? I mean, it's gorgeous but for sheer artistry I'd pick your Agathokles tetradrachm or your Philip III Kolophon stater. Or your Klazomenai drachm, or the Lampsakos stater...

 

Holy cow! Y'all got some drool-worthy coins!

Here's my bro's:



And mine:



I love lite lizards.

Erin

 

WOW!!!

 

Can't wait for non_cents to find that coin within his $400 budget... ;-)

 

Usually, I select my roman coin purchases based on two premises: either those which have historically interesting reverses, or, obverses which seems attractive to me due to the cut and style (and majesty) of the busts.

With that premise, these are some of the ones I find most appealing to me:

 

He won't sell it at that. I'd go to at least $450.

 

My most favorite coin-esthetically - is AE21, Time of Pyrrhus in Sicily,head of Kore-Persephone, (selected as my avatar), reverse Demeter on throne,278/5 BC.

 

@AncientJoe 's Sikyon Stater has always been my favorite. I'm a sucker for oil spills; but in addition, I've never seen a more anatomically correct lion (save the mythological additions) on an ancient.

 

And, interestingly, small silver versions of this coin type (i.e., chimera) are available within non_cents' budget, as I posted earlier in this thread.