Show The Progress Of Your Oldest Coins

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Author	Replies: 14 / Views: 3,227
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 10/27/2015 08:16 am Fun idea for a thread--show us the progress you have made back through time as you built your collection. Describe what each coin is, and for how long it was the oldest coin you owned. Here's mine: From left to right: 1. 1944 Wheat cent; one of the first coins I owned as a "collectible", given to me by my mother when I was about 5 or 6. I think it was from my grandfather's coin jar or stash of wheat pennies. Interesting side note: one of the previous owners cut a little nick into Lincoln's mouth to give him a little smile. I had a friend in elementary school (who I would now describe as a pathological liar) who convinced me that this coin was a known and very valuable variety or error coin. I was so convinced that I talked my parents into taking me to a coin show so that I could have my $5,000 error penny attributed and retire at the ripe old age of 10 Which leads us to: 2. 1855 D France 10 centimes that I bought at said coin show for 25 cents. 3. German states, 5 kreuzer 1765. This one was given to me by my grandfather when I was a little older. He does not know it's history, but it belonged to his father and has been in the family for over 90 years. 4. Cologne, silver denar of Heinrich von Molenark, ca. 1225-1238. My grandfather gave me this coin when I was a teenager; it was also part of his father's collection and likewise of uncertain origin. 5. Philip II of Macedon, ca. 359-336 BC. Bought this one off of ebay a couple months ago because I saw it and fell instantly in love. The obverse is pretty rough, but thhis was a robust, well-detailed coin that held up against the test of time. Who could resist for $6? Now share your collection's journey back through time! Report this Post to the Staff

jbuck Moderator United States 196880 Posts	Posted 10/27/2015 10:35 am 1847 Large Cent was Queen for a year - 2000. 1833 Large Cent took the throne in April 2001 for the longest reign to date. 1827 Capped Bust half dollar was purchased in October 2010. 1806 Draped Bust Half Cent is the current holder of the "Oldest Coin" crown - purchased October 2013. Coin Collector Since 1978 Avatar Old Avatar 7070 Eisenhower Australia Canada World CCF Members on eBay CCF eBay Search Engine Report this Post to the Staff
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 10/27/2015 3:52 pm Those are some nice coins jbuck! I especially love that capped bust half! Report this Post to the Staff
jbuck Moderator United States 196880 Posts	Posted 10/27/2015 3:53 pm Thank you! Yes, that half dollar coin is one of my favourites. I should have said earlier, before diving in, that you have a nice selection there. Coin Collector Since 1978 Avatar Old Avatar 7070 Eisenhower Australia Canada World CCF Members on eBay CCF eBay Search Engine Report this Post to the Staff
january1may Pillar of the Community Russian Federation 5186 Posts	Posted 10/27/2015 4:43 pm Sadly, I do not have photos of most of my coins... and my memory isn't perfect either. And while I don't think I actually have OCD, the question you asked made me really seriously consider just what was my progress of oldest coins (particularly between 2008 and 2012; I'm fairly certain of 2002-07, mostly certain of 2013-15, and I'm not sure how much I can trust my memory for dates before 2002). Now that the pre-2011 parts of my collection are not missing anymore (so far), perhaps at some point (hopefully soon) I might be able to assemble a reasonably full list (past 2002 anyway). As a bit of a teaser, my last three (or perhaps four) oldest coins, which I do have photos of... Coin #(x-2) Ivan IV, post-reform wire denga, 1535-1547 This coin almost certainly held the position between mid-December 2012 and January 5, 2013 (circa 4:20 AM, forum time). Usurped it from a different, only slightly later, coin of Ivan IV that I sadly do not have photos of (which most likely held the top spot since 2010). [EDIT: on further search, perhaps it didn't; I'm a bit unsure on dating a very late Tver pulo, which I apparently acquired a few weeks earlier, perhaps in October or November 2012. No photos of that one forthcoming - I lost it sometime in late December '12 or early January '13, complete with the ziploc, and haven't found it again to this day. But there wasn't much to see on it anyway.] [EDIT 2: apparently, modern research dates that type of Tver pulo to ca. 1545-1560. So while it might have been briefly my oldest coin after its purchase (likely around November 2012, as mentioned above) - I'll have to check the specific type of the 2010 purchase - it definitely stopped being the oldest after mid-December.] Coin #(x-1) Valens, Securitas (AE3?), 364-378 CE Bought for Smackdown XXX. Held the position between ca. 4:20 AM January 5 and ca. 5:50 AM June 8, 2013 (both forum time). Coin #x Pantikapaion, tetrachalkon, ca. 210 BC Sometimes I count it as my oldest, sometimes I don't (see below); definitely held that position between ca. 5:50 AM and ca. 6 AM June 8, 2013 (times approximate - I'm much more confident of the difference). Coin #(x+1) Olbia, dolphin, perhaps ca. 5th century BC If this verdigris-addled piece of copper counts as a coin, it's my current oldest coin (since June 2013). I usually prefer the Pantikapaion coin above, which is at least pretty. Edited by january1may 10/27/2015 5:26 pm Report this Post to the Staff
jbuck Moderator United States 196880 Posts	Posted 10/27/2015 5:51 pm I say your memory and photos are good enough for this topic. Nice spread! Coin Collector Since 1978 Avatar Old Avatar 7070 Eisenhower Australia Canada World CCF Members on eBay CCF eBay Search Engine Report this Post to the Staff
pepactonius Pillar of the Community United States 9395 Posts	Posted 10/27/2015 6:11 pm 1) 1950s -- Morgan dollar received in change (I can't be absolutely certain which one it is, but it's probably the one with Scotch Tape residue shown in the photo below). 2) 1960s -- 1783 Nova Constellation copper (1783 date is on back) 3) After 2000 -- 1608 Netherlands / Holland 1 ducat 4) Current -- 1505 Hungary 1 denar. I probably won't get anything older than this, unless I start collecting ancients or medieval coins. Report this Post to the Staff
jbuck Moderator United States 196880 Posts	Posted 10/27/2015 6:26 pm Lovely set, pepactonius. Coin Collector Since 1978 Avatar Old Avatar 7070 Eisenhower Australia Canada World CCF Members on eBay CCF eBay Search Engine Report this Post to the Staff
january1may Pillar of the Community Russian Federation 5186 Posts	Posted 10/27/2015 7:42 pm Quote: I say your memory and photos are good enough for this topic. Nice spread! It helps that a coin I bought in October 2010 is still attested as my oldest in a CCF post from July 2012; this was a fairly active purchasing period for me, so had it not been for that coin I would have had little idea which was the oldest at any specific time. Sadly, there are no attestations of my answer to "oldest coin" (that I could find) between July and December 2012; apparently there was an earlier purchase (perhaps sometime in October or November) of a denga of the same general type as the coin pictured. How does one define "oldest coin" when there are two nearly-identical examples? The big problem comes with the period between ca. 2008 and October 2010, which predated my posting on CCF; I'm fairly certain that my oldest coin did not change between 2002 and 2008, but by 2009 - or at least by early 2010 - I started to buy some coins, and some of them were certainly older. I'll have to check the blog where I posted my coin questions before I joined CCF, but I don't think I was posting there in 2008 either. The pre-2002 thing is just a general "I'm not sure how my collection actually started" question; for the record, in 2002, I was 10 years old. It is somewhat unfortunate that my 1521 and 1517 coins avoided being the oldest; the former, in particular, was bought just three months after the Valens, and probably was my second oldest at that point. You might have seen a photo of the 1521 in the How Far Back Can We Go thread (it just came up in the second one a few days ago); sadly I haven't (yet) taken a photo of the 1517. Edited by january1may 10/27/2015 7:43 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 17012 Posts	Posted 10/27/2015 9:11 pm 1981: an almost completely worn flat 1897 Netherlands Indies cent. I recall, as a YN, being blown away at owning a coin from the 1800s. 1983: my first Roman coin, a posthumous commemorative of Claudius II from the time of Constantine, circa AD 318. 1988: Another Roman, from a small bunch picked up from a mail-order company: a badly corroded, heavily cleaned but still identifiable as emperor Gallienus, circa AD 267. 1997: In a bulk lot of mostly-unidentifiable ancient Roman bronzes, a dupondius of Hadrian, circa AD 118. 1998: my first Greek coin: a Seleucid bronze of king Antiochus IX, dating from roughly 112 BC. 2000: my current oldest, a 1/12th stater of Miletus, circa 500 BC. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
Collects82 Pillar of the Community United States 1316 Posts	Posted 10/27/2015 10:43 pm 1992 - 1903 V nickel from a back corner of Grandma's dresser, the coin that started the madness! 1997 - 1821 8 Reales from Grandpa's estate 1998 - 1798 Large Cent from a local coin show, my first coin show! 1999 - 1794 Large Cent from a local coin shop COLLEGE YEARS 2013 - 1682 Brandenburg 6GR, FUN Summer Show 2014 - 1582/3 Great Britain 1/2 Grt, an impulse Heritage buy. Hoping to break into the ancients this year or next :) Report this Post to the Staff
jgenn Pillar of the Community United States 1156 Posts	Posted 10/28/2015 02:02 am Thank you Finn235 for suggesting this thread! I had a wonderful time scrounging around for the coins that I've kept from my earliest period of collecting and reminiscing about those long ago times. 1916 S Lincoln Cent, USA. I found this in the gravel across the road in front of my elementary school. That school is not very old so I've always wondered how it got there. 1855 BB cinq centimes, French Second Empire. This one was given to me by a kid in my neighborhood when I was in high school but when I was no longer interested in collecting coins and certainly not foreign ones. I knew it was pretty old but I never tried to identify it until today! 1783 8 reales, Spanish Empire. In 2009, I was one of those suckers that paid too much for one of these damaged coins that hopefully came from the salvage of the El Cazador. I was completely surprised to find that nice 8 reales were available and so, many decades after my last coin collecting experience, I began to build a set of quality examples of the Charles III portrait series. 1614 8 reales, Spanish Empire. I acquired this one in 2013 -- it's my oldest 8 reales and is pedigreed to the Huntington collection. At about this time I switched focus from 8 reales to other old, world crowns. 1560 Joachimsthaler, Bohemia. A recent acquisition, this type is the granddaddy of silver dollars. I'm not a big fan of medieval or ancient coins so this is likely the oldest one I will have in my collection. Edited by jgenn 10/28/2015 02:18 am Report this Post to the Staff
jbuck Moderator United States 196880 Posts	Posted 10/28/2015 10:27 am This thread has developed into a wonder show. Thanks to all who have contributed so far. I especially enjoyed the peek into Sap's world. Coin Collector Since 1978 Avatar Old Avatar 7070 Eisenhower Australia Canada World CCF Members on eBay CCF eBay Search Engine Report this Post to the Staff
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 10/28/2015 11:44 am Agreed! There are some pretty nice coins in this thread so far! Report this Post to the Staff
just carl Bedrock of the Community United States 20753 Posts	Posted 10/28/2015 8:29 pm All I can say is WOW and maybe even a double WOW. Some really fantastic coins are shown here. Report this Post to the Staff
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