What's the oldest coin you own?

1801 Large Cent. Hopefully I will get into the 1790's sometime this year.

 

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Not the best pic, but my oldest is a posthumous bronze of Alexander the Great, minted 323-310 BC:


And my third oldest (don't have a pic of my second):

Zeugitana, Carthage - Obv: Head of Tanit left, Rev: Horse head right, 3rd century BC

 

I actually just got it in the mail so I will remove it. Thanks for the advice!

 

This is a Carlos y Johanna 4-maravedi copper coin. It was minted in Santo Domingo sometime between 1542 and 1556. It circulated in the New World a few years before the USA had the Philadelphia mint in operation. :smile It is not my oldest coin but it is the oldest coin I have that was minted & used in the New World.

 

I do have some Ancients & Spanish Maravedis, but this is my oldest US coin. It's not much to look at though...

 

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Constantine I The Great - Roman Emperor: 307-337 AD. - AE3 City Commemorative (Founding of New Roman Capital Constantinople) - Thessalonica mint 330-333AD.
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1680 years old, give or take a few
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As I only collect US and Canadian copper this is my oldest.

 

Those periods, roughly, didn't exist, that's why: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_time_hypothesis

Just kidding. I know, what about Charlemagne. Interesting read, though.

 

Before I got into ancients my oldest coin is a 1846 US Cent. Now my oldest coin is 325-310 BC Greek coin.

 

Carolingians are available. Basically they struck coins even in the "dark ages" of Europe all of the time. Its just they are scarcer. I have not seen any period that coins are not available, even just for Europe, its just a matter of how much do you want to find them. Hardest is 6th and 7th century, 8th not much easier, but starting in the 9th century with Charlemagne and a resurgence in England and some other countries, western Europe becomes easier to find.

Most sets of "Coins from every Century" that people put together have Sassanian, Persian, and Chinese coins for the 6th through the 8th centuries. Those are much cheaper.

 

Got an archaic turtle, around 500 BC (or earlier, not 100% sure of my attribution )...

 

Lucky!

 

TRV, I had a 1797 when I was your age and your 1798 looks lots better than mine did. I look at old coins and wonder who spent them and what did they buy...

 

Oldest I have with a date in Arabic numerals is this 1546 silver Hungarian coin.

 

I think this is my oldest. Again, I'm not an ancient expert by any means, but I have a handful of Roman coins. I find them fascinating.

If I'm not mistaken, this one is a Roman imperial silver coin struck between 70 & 79 AD during the reign of Emperor Vespasian.

In 66 AD Vespasian was sent by Emperor Nero to Judea as proconsul to subdue the Jews. Vespasian was proclaimed Emperor by his troops in Judea and Alexandria after Nero's death in 69 AD. He returned to Rome and set about restoring the state and its finances after the abusive reign of Nero. Vespasian erected the colosseum, which can still be seen in Rome to this day.

 

I believe you are correct with that!

Cool Vespasian and with historical info for the rest... He was leading a force including the 10th, better know as Caesar's Legion

 

It's been mentioned before, but I never hesitate to beat a dead horse, that the earliest coin dated with Arabic numerals was from 1234 (kind of easy to remember).

 

Really? I did not know that bit of trivia (I mean history). If you could share a link to it, I would enjoy reading about it.

 

Where else would you find fascinating information, CoinTalk! http://www.cointalk.com/t186015-3/