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 Replies: 21 / Views: 2,761 |
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New Member
United States
36 Posts |
After spending some time on these great forums, and soaking up all I can as a beginner, I am starting to gain a little more clarity into what direction/strategy I want to go with. Luckily, I have passed on some potential impulse buys, and have opted to acquire a few books instead. But now I am needing some insight and maybe a little more direction. Also, want to verify that I am covering all my bases in terms of potential outs for starting my collection. General Strategy Thoughts: I am a theology professor, so I am loving learning about the coins around the 1st century that were around and important during the life of the early Church. I have picked up Hendin's most recent Guide to Biblical Coins, as well as 2 other books by Lovette and Banks. Initially, I was drawn to the early Caesars who ruled in the 1st century...and still am. Then I stumbled upon the past auction (150K estimated price) for Frank Kovac's 38 Tyrian Shekels that represented the life of Jesus and are believed to be the type that Judas received for his betrayal, so I was turned onto the idea of collecting based on mint year. In my initial thoughts on the early Caesars, I thought about collecting 4 of the main persecutors of the early Church: Nero, Domitian, Decius and Diocletian. This is still an option. And then there is the smaller coins representing the local rulers and governors and such...but these are not as appeasing to my eye though. So I have rambled, and really just shown how I still don't have a clear direction, but I'm working through it. On an important side note: I want to make sure I am checking out all the quality places to view what is for sale and is out there... Currently, I constantly check out: VCoins CNG Coins Forum Ancient Coins Auction site: numisbids ebayAm I missing any other quality stops? In one of my books, the author recommended getting on certain dealers mailing lists...but I know this book is older, and wasn't sure if that was still an option now with all the internet exposure. Thoughts? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
711 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4964 Posts |
i think that looks good M19. just be careful with ebay until you get your feet under you with ancients. I've been collecting for 3 years now and I still don't have a strategy, you're a well organized fellow! ;-) |
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Pillar of the Community
Spain
629 Posts |
If you are starting your collection and you are interested in "Christian killers", you can start with Diocletian, itīs cheap, affordable and very interesting, but that must be your own choice...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5155 Posts |
You would have a very tough time collecting Shekels by year, and you might need to pick up some extra adjunct work to pay them. Some years are rare and good quality coins from reputable dealers would fetch something on the order of a kidney.  Personally I think isolating yourself to collecting one type of coin severely limits your opportunity to collect other types of awesome coins.  There are key people through out history that played key roles in the spread and development of Christendom. With ancient coins the sky is the limit. Kudos. |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Wildwinds and RIC* are excellent on line reference resources.
Greek Coins and Their Values,
Roman Coins and Their Values,
Roman Imperial Coins and their Values,
Byzantine Coins and their Values
are books written by David Sear, that are well worth having in any library that pertains to ancient coins, in the identification of them.
It is well worth the effort in learning as much as you can about ancient coin forgery. Numismatic Forgery, by Charles M. Larson, is a good book in this regard.
Somewhat controversial, but I maintain a reasonable collection of forged ancient coins. If a dealer needs to know identify them in hand, why should not the collector also have this skill?
'Bulgarian School' by Ilya Prokopov, - counterfeits, with diagnostics, is probably the the best of his books.
*Roman Imperial Coinage
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
If going for a Christianity-themed collection you may also want to look at late Roman coins with Christian themes and symbols on them. Many have crosses, chi-rhos, etc.
Edited by VisigothKing
04/03/2015 9:08 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1391 Posts |
Might I also suggest coins of Medieval Europe. Many of them have Christian themes or were issued by Christian kings. These coins are largely ignored by the collecting community for the Greek and Roman coins, and I have been able to find many nice examples for cheap. I purchased a Medieval France hammered coin for 20 cents recently with a cross motif. I picked a Spanish medieval coin I have not yet identified out of a junk bin for 4 dollars. For about 10 bucks I got a Medieval Hungary coin with a picture of Madonna and child. There is also a large number of Byzantine coins available at affordable prices.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1118 Posts |
You could get a silver siglos from the reign of Cyrus the Great (or Cyrus the Elder, however you know him). That could be used in conjunction with Judean coins when you talk about the Jews returning to Israel.
I am not sure if you are only interested in coins from biblical times or using God as an all encompassing theme. If the latter you could look at the 2 cent piece of America and how it came about because of the civil war.
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Valued Member
United States
152 Posts |
I recall there being a book that was titled something like "Numismatics and the Travels of St. Paul" maybe 5-8 years ago. Definitely some theology ties there...........
Paul (no relation to St. Paul)
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Pillar of the Community
Spain
629 Posts |
Allranger:
If you post images of your inidentified spanish medieval coin, perhaps Iīll able to give more information...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
949 Posts |
@Manning 19
I can relate to the kind of casting for rationale you are going through, because I am coming into retirement after a career as a minister and sometime theology professor myself. Although I am new to this list, I have been collecting ancients since 1982, and I think I can relate to the kinds of questions you will have to deal with. Part of me struggles to answer, since I have never introduced myself in this forum. But if we set that aside for a moment, then let me focus on the questions you are raising or are likely to raise as you pursue your focus.
If I may ask, what is your theology specialty?
Mine is Biblical Studies with a focus on Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. Not too much numismatics in that if we stick to things before 500 BC. But as we move into the period of the second Jewish temple (the intertestamental period) then things liven up considerably. And if we extend to the early history of Christianity, through the fourth century AD, then the topic explodes.
The connections with Biblical Studies are so easy as to be transparent. Systematic Theology is more of a challenge. Contemporary Missiology is way removed, as are Pastoral Care and other modern disciplines. Church history, on the other hand, has numismatic touch points at every step of its progression.
So, if you are willing, as one newbie in the group to another, could you tell us a bit about how you approach your academic discipline?
Have you considered doing a specialty that could influence what you bring into the classroom?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
549 Posts |
Roman coins with early Christian symbolism interest me. I was influenced by a minister friend who collected them and became a small-time dealer. I learned from him and bought coins from him. Here is an educational site on them: http://esty.ancients.info/Christian...Symbols.htmlMy friend is now 88 and he asked me to sell his remaining coins for him. Much of his stuff is long gone, but some coins remain here: http://augustusmath.hypermart.net/Crosses.htmlThe Roman stuff with crosses and chi-rhos is far down the page. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
949 Posts |
Long time no see, Warren. (the illustrious math prof from Arizona, as I recall) Your site reminds me of the old days on Moneta, and the rush of buying on ebay before Vcoins during the Balkan explosion. Edited by lrbguy
04/06/2015 11:14 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1006 Posts |
It certainly depends on what area of ancients you are collecting but in terms of general sites you pretty much have them all. Although you already have Numisbids I would make it a habit to check Sixbid as well as one may have one auction and the other will not.
Otherwise rolling through different pages/searches on google to find Dealers who are most suited to your collecting are can be very productive as I have found many a good dealer who isn't on VCoins.
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New Member
 United States
36 Posts |
Thanks for al the great replies...please feel free to continue to add insight and advice!
@lrbguy
I currently don't have a theological "specialty." I will be moving to Uganda to teach and train pastors in a school over there, so I will be teaching a little of everything.
As far as my personal interests, I love systematics and then early Church history. I am eyeing a number of coins and will probably be making my first few purchases soon. Currently, I am going to try and acquire some assortment of these, based on prices and how a few auctions turn out:
-Augustus
-Tiberius
-Tyrian Shekel
-Nero
-Domitian
-Decius
-Diocletian
-Constantine the Great
-A few of the coins that have Christian symbols
The 1st two obviously are worthy because they lived during the time of Christ. The 4 middle were persecutors of the early Church, and then Constantine made Christianity the official religion, or at least propped it up.
I am going to keep it pretty open as I wade into these ancient coin waters, and will continue to read, learn and enjoy the process.
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Replies: 21 / Views: 2,761 |
Posted 04/03/2015 3:38 pm
