Your First Ancient

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Ajax, May 23, 2016.

  1. BATTERup646

    BATTERup646 Active Member

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  3. mgmgmg75

    mgmgmg75 Active Member

    I enjoy collecting US coins, not so much a complete set, but coins with some history, hence the coin to the left. I did purchase a group of 20 or so uncleaned Ancients from the back of Numismatic News, took me over a year to clean, another year to ID about 10 if them and still more to research. I will post with pictures for everyone's help, once I get motivated to do so. I did purchase a few cleaned Ancients afterwords, including 4 Widows mites, which I framed along with a description and gave as gifts to my 3 daughters.
     
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  4. Aidan_()

    Aidan_() Numismatic Contributor

    My first ancients were from Bing. (still have 'em) :cool:
     
  5. The Big Bad Wolf

    The Big Bad Wolf Well-Known Member

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  6. Jwt708

    Jwt708 Well-Known Member

    My "first" was actually a lot of 12, purchased from a CoinTalker for a great price.
    [​IMG]

    However I didn't get serious into ancients until after I purchased these two:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  7. AngelDeath

    AngelDeath Well-Known Member

    336-323 BC Gold Stater Of Alexander Great Ancient Greek Gold Coin 1925 dollars.jpg Always loved old American Coins since I was a child. Then I saw this 50 years later lol now I have the bug. But the Forgery minefield is making me CRAZY!
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2016
  8. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

    Welcome AD. We all have the bug, just some of us have had it longer than others.
     
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  9. ziggy9

    ziggy9 *NEC SPERNO NEC TIMEO*

    my first, bought at a yard sale back in '86 if I remember properly. took me about 10 years to figure out what it was IMG_0032.JPG View attachment 503937

    not a bad buy for 50 cents

    Richard
     
  10. Theodosius

    Theodosius Fine Style Seeker

    My first was this theodosius many years ago.
    Theodosius%201.png
     
  11. Collect89

    Collect89 Coin Collector

    I'd guess that with a name like "AngelDeath" you probably like the device on the other side of your coin. That large angel looking thing on the reverse is awesome. Post the reverse when you can. Here's mine:
    Side Tet Collage 1.jpg

    ....
    ......
    .......
    Prutah LR.jpg
    For the OP, this was my first ancient coin. I received it in about 1965 but didn’t learn anything about it until I posted it here on CT a few years ago. I understand that it is a bronze prutah ca. 9-11 AD. It was struck under the Roman procurator in Judaea, Marcus Ambibulus. It was given to me by the woman that raised me as a child.
     
  12. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    I do not know except I know I sold it in 1974 when I sold all my coins except for these three which appear in a photo taken in 1964. I know I bought no coins the first half of 1964 so these must have been 1963 or a couple years earlier. I kept no records then but remember being shocked I had to pay $13.50 for the Septimius Victory while the other denarii I had were $2-5.

    I am so thankful that Joel Malter would not pay me any extra for these three so I kept them. I wish he had refused my other coins.

    2 Emesa mint Septimius Severus
    rs0760fd0039.jpg rs0810fd0038.jpg

    Julia Domna Rome overstruck on earlier coin
    rs5570b00040lg.jpg
     
  13. David Atherton

    David Atherton Flavian Fanatic

    I've always been fascinated by the historical events of the late first century (fall of Jerusalem, eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Masada siege, opening games of the Colosseum, etc) so I just had to have a coin from the era. You see, I was a Flavian fanatic from the very start! Purchased from Henri Delger in 2003 for $100.

    V772.JPG
     
  14. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    What is it? I'm seeing a Flavian Roman reverse with Spes and a Ptolemaic obverse with Zeus.
     
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  15. ziggy9

    ziggy9 *NEC SPERNO NEC TIMEO*

    oops... Wrong reverse...
    IMG_0033.JPG

    There... that's better!
     
  16. FitzNigel

    FitzNigel Medievalist

    I think I've posted this before, but I started with US, then a medieval coin:
    02-APoi-Richard I-BL-D-01.jpg
    Poitou, "Angevine Empire"
    Richard I, r. 1169-1199
    AR Denier, 17mm x 1 grams
    Obv.: +RICARDUS REX, a plain cross patée at the ends, annulet in third quarter, within inner circle
    Rev.: PIC / TAVIE / NSIS, written in three parallel lines
    Ref.: SCBC 8008

    I was attracted to this coin because of my interest in the Robin Hood legend, which was often set during the time of King Richard, and these were the only coins which had Richard's name on them (I would later learn the actual Robin Hood tales are more 13th century than 12th, and my interests would shift more to Richard's father, Henry II, but still love the Angevin kings of England in general)

    First real Ancient was this guy:
    01-R3-Caracalla-AR-DE-02.jpg
    Imperial Rome
    Caracalla, r. 198-217 A.D. (211 A.D.)
    Rome Mint, AR Denarius, 20.28mm x 2.8 grams
    Obv.: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG BRIT, Head of Caracalla, laureate, right
    Rev.: P M TR P XIIII COS III P P; Pax, draped, advancing left, holding branch in right hand and sceptre in left hand

    This I saw at my local coin shop where I grew up. Initially I was attracted to a Caesar elephant, but was out of my budget. That Caracalla was claiming to be the Conquerer of Britain is what convinced me, but I already enjoyed the look of this coin.
     
  17. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    Always nice to see first purchases that are decent over a junk uncleaned lots or very low grade LRBs bought at a high price.
     
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  18. AngelDeath

    AngelDeath Well-Known Member

  19. AngelDeath

    AngelDeath Well-Known Member

  20. Eric Kondratieff

    Eric Kondratieff Active Member

    Not my very first, which was a Constantius II AE that my dad bought for my 10th birthday AGES ago... but this was among the first that I bought when I started collecting ancients in college. Got it from Frank Kovacs in Sept. 1986; it was part of a small hoard found in a well in Naples in the Summer of 1985 and published in NFA's fixed price list (with several Claudius and Caligula sestertii). It was a lot of money for a recent college grad ($100), but it was also a "two-fer", as it had Antonia Augusta on the obverse (a very sweet style portrait, I might add), and nicely detailed full length portrait of Claudius on the rev. as Pontifex Maximus. I sold it through CNG a few years back to finance a house purchase... sort of wish I still had it, but hope it's in good, appreciative hands now!
     

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  21. ewomack

    ewomack 魚の下着

    My first ancient. Hello, Probus. It was in a pile of Romans at a local coin shop and I liked that I could read the text and at least see some details on the portrait. It was by far the nicest one in the lot. The reverse needs some help, though. I had always wanted a Roman and thought that this one looked at least decent. It cost $20 or less. Maybe $10. I didn't know anything about Probus until I arrived home and entered the coin's text into a search engine.
    [​IMG]
    I only have one more ancient, a Constantius II. I hope to pick up some more in the near future.
     
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