Your First Ancient

Its a beautiful coin I like it a lot!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

My rather humble start in the world of ancient coins

 

My first ancient coin purchased in 1967 at a coin show in the Peabody Hotel; Memphis, TN when I was in the 8th grade. Cost $1. Gallienus / Stag 267 - 268 AD.



My second (and third) ancient coins purchased after my kids graduated from college in 2004 at the Houston Numismatic Exchange in Houston, TX.
The Gordian was $35 and the other was from a junk box for a dollar or two.

 

July of 1999, my first ancient is quite humble and will remain one of my favorite coins not for what it is but because it was my first. They say, you never love a woman coin quite the same way as the first.

Arcadius AD 383-408
AE 20.9mm x 5.89g
Struck.Between 15 May AD 392 and 17 January AD 395
Alexandira, Egypt; Roman Mint
Obv: rosette diademed, draped & cuirassed bust right-DN ARCADIVS P F AVG
Rev: Emperor standing facing, head right, holding labarum & globe-GLORIA ROMANORVM, ALEA in ex.

 

My first coin was given to me on my seventeenth birthday by my Grandmother. I was surprised and shocked at it, I had only thought that such relics would be in a museum not in the palm of my hand. My grandmother passed away a few years ago, everytime I see this coin I think of her. I honestly can't imagine what my life would be like if she hadn't given this coin to me, Ancients have certainly changed my life for the better.



Gordian III
AR Denarius
Rome mint
239/40 CE

 

An As of Nero which I no longer own.

 

Your grandma must have been an amazing woman. That was a very thoughtful gift she left you. My grandma was also responsible for getting me into numismatics. She gave me a handful of old Cuban silver coins. That sparked my interest in coins.

 

She certainly was a hell of a woman. I miss her a lot at this time of year.

On a lighter note, that Gordian III denarius was issued to mark the marriage between Gordian III and Tranquilina. It's my only Denarius of Gordian III, I hope to add a few more this summer. Unlike Antoninianii, denarii are a bit more pricy!

 

Sorry to hear about your grandmother. Since they live thousands of miles away in another country I don't really have a close relationship with my grandparents unfortunately. But one year I visited them for the first time in a very long time. It went really great and now I really wish I did have them more in my life, them and my other set of grandparents that have already passed away. It is what it is I guess.

But yeah that's a really cool Gordian. I'm not into him since he is so common (I just have a kind of worn sestertius), but that's the kind of Gordian III silver I would want.

 

I don't have my 1st but this is my 2nd . I'm not sure if it's described right , but I'm trying .


98-117 AD
Weight-3.18
Grade VF
Obv: Trajan with title PARTHICO; bust laureate, draped r. Rx: P M TR P COS VI P P SPQR Felicitas standing l. holding short caduceus and cornucopia

 

I really need to get better pics, but this was my first


Maximianus
Follis, Trier mint, 2nd reign (autumn 307-end of 308 AD)
Obverse: IMP C VAL MAXIMIANVS P F AVG
Reverse: GENIO POP ROM, S-A across field
Genius facing left holding patera and cornucopia
PTR in exergue
(RIC VI 768)

 

This was my first from NFA in 1983.
AV Hyperpyron 28mm./4.46g. Constantinople Mint
Emperor Manuel I Comnenus 1143-80
obv. Christ facing
rev. Emperor Standing holding labarum/globus
Paid $125 back then.

 

My first is a Mithradates VI gorgon and Nike AE coin, I got this in 5th grade after winning a spelling bee.

 

that's cool noname, is that when you started collecting?

 

Nah, I started collecting when I was 9 in 2010, when I found a "weird penny", which turned out to be a 1940 wheatie. For the first year of coin collecting, I mainly relied on going through change to get wheat pennies, I didn't buy my first coin, a 1937 San Francisco mint merc until 2011. But I've always been interested in ancient coins since I started collecting, though I didn't get one until over a year later.

 

My second ancient was purchased a month or so after my first, its supposedly a azes ii silver drachm, but it looks more like a fouree or a fake.

 

These 3 culls were purchased soon after, this really got me into ancients,

 

These were the first ancients I ever purchased, at a small antique shop I found while wondering around Estes Park CO shortly after moving to Colorado in June, 2014. I really should reshoot Julian at some point, this photo was taken with my cell phone that night:


Julian II "Fel temp reparatio" fallen horseman type from Siscia, circa 355-360 B.C.


Byzantine(yeah, technically medieval) Justin II & sophia half follis circa 565 to 574 AD

 

"Everything is Beautiful in its own way"!

 

That's a helluva first!