How Exactly Do You Go About Collecting Roman Coins?

I used to buy everything that I could afford to...
After a while, I decided to buy only beautiful, affordable and interesting coins. I tried to make a small file about every coin before purchasing the next one (as you can imagine I failed, at those moments I was in a warship detached in a different city so when I visited my home I was not so self disciplined and always bought one or two coins).
In this moment I´m exposed to a very great temptation because I usually buy great lots to sell and of course I always pick several coins...
So to understand my method: I have no method at all.
Or perhaps my method is similar to the method of the mad sniper, I shot to everyone at range.

I know there are several members on here who like to collect portraits of the same emperors. On paper, the dates all start to squish together, and it can be hard to remember that many emperors ascended to the title of Augustus as teenagers or young men and died after decades of rule. I believe that Marcus Aurelius and Caracalla are some of the more popular in this respect--their coins start out with boys, and progress to show bearded, wise old rulers.

You could also collect Gallienus, who rode the Roman economy into the ground through constant debasement of the silver coins until they were indistinguishable from the bronzes.

Some general guidelines: Republic or Imperatorial/Imperial? If Imperial, silver/bronze/gold?
I only collect imperial silver and my collection trails off as the silver content drops in the mid 3rd century.
My initial focus was on collecting 1 coin/emperor from Augustus to Diocletian, but doing that I found the consecratio (deification) issues fascinating and so my collection has that as a focus. I also like the depiction of women on coins of the era, since I find that stylistically they are more pleasing than those of the men.
It also brings history alive for me - such as Plautilla's holding Caracalla's hand on the back of some of her denarii. He later had her exiled and killed.
Or Faustina I's consecratio issue. It's a very common coin but I've been to her temple in the forum, which is also depicted on one of her deification coins.

There are some coins that I will never get - like Elagabalus's 3rd wife Annia Faustina's denarius. Only a handful exist. But the point isn't to "collect them all" - it's to experience the joy of learning about a vanished people through the artifacts they've left behind.

Everybody has their own 'style' of collecting ancients but some standard frameworks are to try to get a good example of as many emperors as possible, picking a favorite emperor or time period and collecting as many nice specimens as you can from then, or just buying what you find interesting either due to the history of a coin or the aesthetics. I definitely fall into the third camp with a little bit of the first. Personally I like having coins from as many cultures as I can, especially if they're also aesthetically pleasing. I like having as many emperors as I can, again, especially if the coins look nice. There are several emperors of whom I have more than one coin, either because I've upgraded a coin, I've gotten a good deal on a good quality coin, or I liked the design on a coin even if it wasn't a straight upgrade of whatever I had before. Sometimes I start reading about a certain historical period and just get the bug to pick something up to hold in my hand while I'm reading. If only I could find something affordable for while I'm reading I, Claudius...

Thank you everyone for posting examples of various methods of collecting Roman coins and your other thoughts related to this subject.

DavidUK:



Collecting a set of selected coins, each of some historical importance or at least related to a major event, is quite an interesting take on it, and one I haven't encountered before!
This method could well be used to collect other cultures or countries as well (though I must say it does feel very random to someone who was taught to collect every date of every type available).


moxking:



Yes, if I learned anything in the course of my collecting - it's that.


Finn235:



I haven't considered that before. But when you think of it - if every coin is your collection is selected for a reason (and that reason isn't of the my catalog says I need it type), there's a lot more meaning to it.
On the flip side, if there comes a time when you need to sell, it's much harder to let such a collection go...


antwerpen2306:



I realize that deciding to collect Roman coins will not result in having a large collection. The prices at reputable sites greatly limit the possibility of frequent purchases for me. Then, insisting on above-average specimens (regardless of the actual criteria employed) limits it even further. But when you do find something suitable among the hundreds of coins on offer, it has the personal factor, as pointed out by Finn235.


caesar77:



That, in fact, summarizes the background to my question. For years - on and off - I've been buying random coins from various countries and eras. Just about the only good thing that came out of it is some familiarity with various coin types. Having nothing to show for all these years, I decided to give the process of selecting an area of collecting some more thought - hence this thread.




It has been brought up 3 times already and it is something I have also noticed myself. The quality of the portraits on Roman coins varies greatly (for some rulers more than for others) - but the best ones are simply amazing. I am astonished at how good some of them can be!


orfew:



I must agree. Somehow, rushing to buy has never worked for me - for coins or any other collection. I wonder why...
And that's even before we take the knowledge issue into consideration - the fakes, the prices, the relevant vocabulary etc.




Having been collecting coins rather aimlessly, this time I have taken the time to attempt to properly select an area to pursue. I started with listing about a dozen - those that I found at least somewhat interesting over the years. Then, I listed pros and cons of collecting each of them. Having the arguments on paper, it was clear that only two of the initial options were viable - Roman coins and Germany.
The problem is that at the moment it's still "Roman coins", not "The coins of Gallienus" (to quote Finn235's example).

On one of my pages I discussed "What do people collect?" http://esty.ancients.info/numis/intro2.html
I also edited answers to that question asked ln 2004 on the Moneta-L Yahoo e-mail list
http://esty.ancients.info/numis/collect.html

The field of ancients coins is so large that everyone can collect something they are interested in without too much overlap with everyone else.

Thank you, such list is what I initially wanted.

And while at times, the thread went in a somewhat different direction, I do not complain