What's Your Favorite Coin???

This question has probably been asked before. My first coin ever was a Gordian III antoninianus I bought back in 1980 (10.5 years old at the time) for $30. It featured the MARTEM PROPVGNATOREM reverse struck ostensibly for Gordian's campaign against the nascent Sassanian Empire. I sold my first collection in 1988 so I could partially fund my undergraduate education, so I was suddenly without my favorite coin.

When I got a chance to purchase another Gordian (and there are a lot of them out there!) I picked up this one, which has become a favorite coin for me. I like the strike and the full flan, and it brings back memories of my early collecting days.

Gordian III, A.D. 238-244

AR Antoninianus, 24mm, 4.9 grams

Rome mint, A.D. 241-243

Obverse: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG; Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right

Reverse: PM TRP III CIS II PP; Apollo seated left, holding laurel branch and leaning on lyre

Reference: RIC IV 114





So yeah, it is a humble type but reminiscent of my first coin! It has grown on me.

So what's YOUR favorite?

 

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I have a couple of favourites that I cant decide which is first, all really expensive and rare might be awhile before i can ever find one or even buy one


Æthelred the Unready
Lamb of god/Dove
They are an anglo saxon coin but only ever found in Scandinavia as the vikings took them back, also they all have holes in as they used them as pendants. I remember a spink video with one on and the expert said there was about 21 found in total.


Anlaf Guthfrithsson
He was a viking king of Dublin, he got defeated by Athelstan in 937 and retired back to Ireland. After Athelstan died he came back to York and minted these coins to try take back the north.

 

Wow those are a couple of great coins. Love the Aethelred!

 

This question has been asked often enough that no one here needs to see my favorite coins of all time (I have a page for that):
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/favs.html

Instead, I will show my favorite of the dozen coins that followed me home from the VNA coin show yesterday. It will not push aside any of my top list coins but it might hand on and make the top ten for this year.

I have several coins of Caesarea in Cappadocia (I got two others yesterday). Many have the reverse type showing Mt. Argaeus. Some like this AE27 show it sitting on a table. The coins are year dated to the reign of the emperor. This is year three of Elagabalus. I consider this an extremely well executed portrait of the boy usually considered the weirdest of the Roman rulers. He looks positively pleasant.

A side feature I like is the reverse use of ligate MH at the start of MHTPOpi = Metropolis.

I'm not sure it is altogether fickle to declare your favorite to be the coin you just added to your collection. Some hold a place in our hearts for longer than others. This is my favorite coin of today.

 

I love the history of the late Roman era so King Odoacer ended up becoming my most-sought after ruler for most of my collecting career, and was ecstatic when I got a coin of him last year. Right away it became the favorite of my collection.

Odoacer, Kingdom of Italy
AE nummus
Obv: OD[O-VAC], bare-headed, draped, cuirassed bust right
Rev: Odoacer's monogram (letters ODOVA) within wreath
Mint: Ravenna
Date: 476-493 AD
Ref: RIC X 3502

 

There is no possible way I could pick a single favorite .

It would be very difficult to even narrow it down to ten or twenty favorites.

I do have a new one for the favorites list but I'm not ready to show it yet. Maybe by the end of the weekend or next week if I have time to work on pictures and the writeup . It is definitely going to be my favorite coin of this year.

 

Well, call me fickle. Like Doug suggests, I too tend to be especially fond of the latest arrival. Yesterday, from fellow CTer via eBay came an interesting countermark. At least I think it's interesting...it is today's favorite anyway.

It took me quite a while to figure anything out about it - it was issued by Seleukos I. That's Medusa on the obverse, showing her good side (at least it hasn't turned me to stone yet). On the reverse is a bull with a monogram (?) countermark on his flanks.

I found several of these countermarks, all on this type, all placed squrely on the bull. The ANS site had a few examples, but no information on the countermark.

http://numismatics.org/collection/1956.43.2

The Guberman blog had one as well (I find this blog to be very helpful sometimes - is this a CTer?):

http://guberman.blogspot.com/2018/07/greekseleucid-seleucus-i-bce-312-280.html



Seleucid Kingdom Æ 18
Seleukos I Nikator
(312-281 B.C.) Sardes mint
Winged head of Medusa right / BAΣIΛEΩΣ [ΣEΛEY]K[OY], bull butting right; Σ between hind legs (?).
SC 6.1; HGC 9, 107a. (?)
Countermark: Monogram on bull's flanks, 5 x 4 mm.
(6.14 grams / 18 mm)

Attribution Note:

Host: This issue comes in several varieties with various monograms and controls. There appears to be one between bull's hind legs, barely visible (ΣI?).

CM: This countermark seems to be fairly common, but precise information is basically nil, from what I can find online.

Any additional information on this would be greatly appreciated!

 

I find it amazing that this blog has been going for 12 years and I had never encountered it before. Thanks for the link.

 

I've never come across it either! That blog must have been set up before the days of "search engine optimization" .

Blogs are not very conducive to useful and entertaining coin websites though. It's so hard to find things on them.

 

My latest coin of course.

 

He has a search engine so I typed in several key words of subjects that interested me and found that he and I share few interests. There are thousands of ancient coin topics and probably thousands that neither he nor I covered. When I started my pages, I did not know what a blog was so I put an index page as the home. The Internet has changed quite a bit in these past 22 years.

 

Among the thousands of coins I have, I cannot point out a favorite, but I can point out a coin that led me on the trail of collecting Antoninus Pius of whom I now have over 1200 coins. It is a very early coin when Hadrian was still alive and it took me on a journey of finding out all the issues (both of coins AND of politics) that took place in his first year as caesar and Augustus

 

I certainly agree with you there, TIF. I have tried to do it at:

https://jp29.org/twenty.htm

………………… the most difficult coin task I have ever undertaken - I am still struggling with it.

 

IMP T AELIVS CAESAR ANTONINVS his bare head right / TRIB POT COS DES II , PIETAS in exergue. Pietas standing left offering over altar out of a box.
My up- and download here in the south of France where I am on holiday, is about 5 kb/s So I'll try again to upload my file.

Frans

 

Whatever I am holding

 

I'm in the fickle group also. None of my coins have a sentimental attachment beyond being something I thought worthy of being collected. I have a soft spot for large bronze coins and today's favorite is one I purchased from http://augustuscoins.com/index.html but I suspect it's ex - @Bing


Philip I, Rome, 244-249 AD
AE, sestertius, 32mm, 23.47g
Obv.: IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG; laureate, draped & cruirassed bust right
Rev.: LIBERALITIAS AVGG II; Liberalitas standing holding counting board (abacus) and cornucopia; S-C in field

I have some new favorites on the way but I'm superstitious and won't post until they arrive.

 

The first ancient coin that got me hooked on the hobby. Any other coin might be dispensable if the situation is right (ie. dire financial situation or health emergency, etc), except this one which I will hang on to till the day I die. After all, it was my first...

 

I agree with Sallent... My very first ancient .....Nothing that special.....But I would never let this one go,,,
Licinius I AE Follis 20mm/3.43gr (Emperors name Misspelled)
Obverse-IMP LICINVS PF AVG- laureate, cuirassed bust right
Reverse-REV SOLI INVICTO COMITI- Sol standing right, looking left, chlamys across chest and over his left arm, holding globe and raising right hand. C-S across fields
Exergue-PARL- minted 313-318AD Arles
Licinius I (RIC VII#155 Arles)-Unlisted-

 

It is.

 

My most favorite ancient coins are mostly the ones I dug out of the ground myself when I lived in Spain. I have posted this coin here before and it is my avatar also. This was the only coin found the whole day when I found it.

Asido
Ancient Spain 110 BC.
Phonecian and Punic.
Obv: Melkart head facing
forward.
Rev: Two tunny fish right
Libio-Phoenician legend
( B B L ) Semis 3.68 grams
Found by me metal detecting
in 1988 close to present day
Medina Sidonia.


Asido, an Iberian settlement
which may have been founded
by the Phoenicians, hence the
later name Sidonia reflecting
its foundation by Sidon. Its
earliest phase is known through
its coinage and its 2nd and
1st centuries BC issues bear
the Latin inscription Asido but
also Punic inscriptions such as
'sdn or b'b'l, with Herakles
and Dolphins being notable
obverse and reverse designs