What Do You Consider As Historically Significant In Ancients

....now how did that get in there?....

I thought about making such a list before I started collecting last year...but then I realised that this approach was not right for me.

The first coins I bought were Elizabeth I sixpence, Alexander the great drachm and Hadrian denarius. These were historically significant people to me.

After that I saw that big historical names like Nero and Julius Ceasar are expensive and many of the coins aren't particularly beautiful. I started focusing on which coins are beautiful and am trying to put together varied type collection, including key places, names and styles of coin.

Therefore my next coins were a Celtic stater, a Roman republic Denarius and a Corinth stater followed by some Roman Bronzes and a Persian Siglos plus a couple of incuse coins.

On my list are Byzantine, provincials and Selucid coins.

At the moment I am not specialising on any particular area (though the silver Greek coins have particular appeal for their age and beauty) but I am trying to build a rounded collection containing good examples of coinage of different types and places.

Often I see coins and look up the history surrounding the ruler or place and time, rather than picking the coin because of the history the coin leads me to the history.

Growing a collection in this way means it grows organically rather than to any particular plan and that I am scanning and looking at an array of coins and choosing thosse that offer the best deal or those that say something to me. Which has an advantage over trying to buy each ruler in order or following some linear plan.

The hardest coin to buy was my first, as I buy more it becomes easier to find connections and I am becoming more familiar with the different types and area's that I need to build on.

Okay guys, I took the plunge using the shot gun approach. Bought four coins from different categories. Here are my first ancient purchases.

Antioch, Roman Provincial Syria, c. 47 - 41 B.C.

Apollonia Pontika, Thrace, 450 - 404 B.C.

Claudius II Gothicus, September 268 - August or September 270 A.D., Roman Provincial Egypt

Krannon, Thessaly, Greece, 400 - 350 B.C.

Post each coin in separate threads. That way you will receive thorough comments on each.

Doug: I think you be right about Noob.

Nice!! => great coins!!




... ummm, I think that you guys might be correct?

=> here is a shot of Noob, his brother Noob and his other brother Noob ...

Wow IGE, I think you are hooked, what a great start to your Ancient collection. Very nice looking bunch, if you post each coin separately the Ancient heavy's can give you info on each one..great pick up...

My approach is to get at least one nice coin from every ancient culture.
Somewhere in the mix, ancient gold coins should be considered, but you must be critically aware of fakes, and where you buy such coins from.