Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ROBERT THOMASON, post: 2609952, member: 84116&quot;]No photo available, unfortunately, but my first Roman coin was a sestertius of Antoninus Pius. I was 15, and I took the bus downtown (Dayton, Ohio) to the Penn-Ohio convention and show at the Biltmore Hotel. June, 1963. I recall they had one of the five 1913 Liberty Head nickels on display, and one of the 1943 bronze Lincoln cents.</p><p>It was all so overwhelming to a kid at his first show. I picked a good one to break myself in.</p><p>&nbsp;A lot of dealers on the bourse floor, and one of them had a cigar box of Roman coins @ $3 each. I was amazed that an almost 2000 year old coin could even exist, much less be in my pathetic price range. It was in really nice condition, with a clear portrait and complete lettering. I also bought the Zander Klawans book on reading and dating Roman Imperial Coins (which I still have, but the coin was stolen while I was in the Army some 50 years ago). I did write in the book, on the page depicting Antoninus, that the reverse showed &quot;Venus - goddess of love&quot; (in case that might assist any of you in ID&#039;ing the coin). I know I determined the date of the coin by the TR P indicated on the obverse, but I never wrote it down.</p><p>One thing that struck me at the time was that the design was so similar to our modern coins, with a &quot;head&quot; (portrait of a real person) and a &quot;tail&quot; (a representation of something of importance to the issuing nation). Everything on it just looked so &#039;familiar&#039;.</p><p>I have since obtained a handful of silver denarius (should that be &#039;denarii&#039;?) (of Antoninus, of course - you never forget your &quot;First&quot;) on ebay about ten years ago, and have always wanted to get a sestertius of Antoninus with the &#039;Brittania&#039; reverse (which reminds me of the large bronze pennies of England).</p><p>(My &quot;first coin&quot;, by the way, was a large bronze penny of England, which I obtained from a WWII ETO veteran who was the father of a schoolmate. Until that time, at age 8, I had no idea that people in other lands used money any different than ours. So young, so naive.... so damned long ago).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in