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 Replies: 11 / Views: 3,428 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
When I was just a kid, I first saw the Athens owl tetradrachm. It may have been the Smithsonian, or in a book; I don't remember exactly, but it sparked my interest in coins and ancient cultures. Many years later, I'm still not quite sure why this coin exerts such a strong fascination--and I have yet to acquire one. It has remained a distant objective, which someday I hope to attain. In the meantime, I have studied Athens tets and collected pictures of favorite examples, such as below. How about you--do you have a favorite coin that began your collecting?  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
Quote:
It has remained a distant objective, which someday I hope to attain It is a beautiful coin and I too would love to own one someday. As for the coin that set me on this path, it was a Marcus Antonius Legionary denarius. My youngest son is named Marcus Antonius and when I saw the coin I had to have it. I believe I've shown it here before, but for those who haven't seen it, here it is: OBV: ANT AVG III VIR are P C, Praetorian galley, thyrsos behind prow REV: LEG XI, eagle between standards  |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
10045 Posts |
That is a very nice coin and piece of history! Both sides are very dramatic, and suggest the vitality of Rome at that time.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
I got started in ancients almost by accident. These are my first two Roman coins. Stumbled on them at a coin show and was amazed at how affordable they were, so I bought them and became immediately hooked to ancient Romans. Gallienus Antoninianus:  Constantine II as Caesar, AE 3/4:  They hold a special place in my collection  |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2838 Posts |
Both great coins - I don't collect Greeks (yet, maybe one day when I run out of Romans to buy!) but the Athens owl has to be one of the most beautiful and aesthetically pleasing objects ever produced. I find JWs Roman appealing in a different way - it sums up Romes trust in and hopes for its military and as DVC said its vitality. Its what you would expect from a civilisation that would, in the following centuries massively expand its borders and rule the known world. My first coin, both seen and owned, is a lot less exciting visually:  It was a present about 20 years ago and lit a fire of interest in the Romans for me. My main areas of interest are still around this coin, radiates, 3rd century, break-away empires etc. |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
I have an Athenian tetradrachm, probably a grade and a half below that pictured.
In the hand, the dumpy feel of if it gives you the impression that it feels like a real piece of money, something of real value. Mine came from an ex employee of Seaby's in London, way back in 1979.
The very first Roman I had was a denarius of Antoninus Pius, with the modius and corn ears reverse, in good VF, bought for $4.50, in 1968.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2100 Posts |
I was collecting English Hammered silver (mainly Anglo-Saxon pennies) living in ignorance to the possibility of owning anything ancient when I saw the attached coin on the list of a dealer that I did business with. It appealed to me on various levels including a purely ego-centric one in that it depicted Mars and my christian name is Martin.  I stopped collecting English coins and a few thousand ancients later here I am...... Martin |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Wow, great to read and see the coins that started your collecting!  Probably because I set my sights so high, I did not realize most ancients were affordable, so I got into modern world coins. Now I'm slowly getting a collection started in ancients, and someday I hope to get that Athens tet. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Here's another "classic style" owl tet, possibly looking like it was struck!  This particular owl might be my favorite of all. Maybe I'll make it my avatar?  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
I got started on US coins when I was a wee lad. But when I was 11 my uncle gave me the coin pictured below. I know that it is nothing too wonderful, but it was my first ancient coin. I switched to darkside coins when I was about 16 and have been collecting these ever since. I always just thought of my ancients as being just really old world coins. So I picked up an affordable ancient that really called out to me every so often. But in the past two years or so I have found that cleaning ancient coins is a great stress reliever for someone who has a very high-stress job, such as me. So cleaning ancients has gotten me much more into ancients in general.   |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
With ancients like most ancient fans, I started with Roman coins. After some years, with the included presence of ancient Greek coins, I gradually became familiar with the main types, so I stepped off the deep end. In 1979, I went to an affiliate company (Noble's) of Spink's in Sydney, and a put in a request that I wanted to buy a nice Greek classic coin, from Spink's in London. I received a reply to my request about six months later. That coin (and I still have it), is a gold stater of Philip 11 of Macedon (Alexander the Great's Father). The price at the time was six hundred and eighty pounds, and a photograph was sent with the reply. The mint mark is a thunderbolt under the horse which identifies that it was struck in Pella, which is a town about 40 kilometres to the Northeast of Salonica (Thessalonica in the Bible). It wasn't a hard decision to buy it; I had actually visited Pella about 8 years earlier. (See my first ever thread on the CCF: 'The Bus Driver'.) This is an old thread; you will need to do a CCF Google custom forum search to find it. I have added a few nice classic Greek coins to my collection since, and they have all come from dealers or auctions that have an internationally recognised reputation. To me, buying coins at this price level is a bit like buying a house, and it doesn't happen often.  Edited by sel_69l
01/24/2012 06:17 am
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Valued Member
Bulgaria
59 Posts |
 It was struck under Severus Alexander.This coin was the reason for my coin collecting passion. I realized how much history is in there in every coin. I started collectiong Vespasian and Titus coins, because I'm thrilled with the colosseum and everything related to this structure. I know there are only a few of this type known, so It's extremely expensive to get one of these. |
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Replies: 11 / Views: 3,428 |
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Posted 01/17/2012 10:13 pm
