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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,505 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
616 Posts |
Just realized I'm coming up on my 5th anniversary in the hobby and checked to see what my first purchase was.  Marcus Aurelius AR Denarius Laureate head rt, Aequitas standing left with balance and cornacopia. Purchased from Civitas Galleries. $48 shipped. We were all once newbies which is why I'm happy to hang out here. Nothing but kindness shown to those new to the hobby unlike other forums.
So what is your first coin and what is your story behind it? Here's mine. In May 2014 my wife had come back from a trip with friends to Rome and Tuscany, and she was excited about all the things she saw, telling me about the Colosseum and the Forum. She also pushed us to watch the HBO Series "Rome." Until that point I had never given ancient anything much thought. I had become bored with baseball card collecting, and what a comic had said about the hobby stuck: "You are a man. They are pictures of men." As a kid I collected American coins but got burned like many in the Silver/Gold bubble of the early 1980s. When I started looking back into the hobby it was all about graded/slabbed coins and cleaned coins were shunned - a good chunk of my collection. Collecting US coins had become commoditized, and the fun bled out of it over the decades I had been away. So I decided to buy my first ancient, and something just clicked when I held it. I remember being excited as a kid holding a 100 year old coin. Now as a man I was holding a 2000 year old coin. This May I will be making my 4th trip to Rome. I have shelves of books on ancient Rome and have read and reread Livy so much he's like an old friend. For me that denarius became the entrance fee to an entire world that I can't believe I lived most of my life completely ignoring. There's something sublime about holding a coin that was minted by hands long dead. I find the honest wear of these coins more appealing than the sterile beauty of their high end cousins. This wear is the result of being touched and carried by countless people, and each coin sets one's imagination alight. Was this a day's wage for a Roman on a Parthian campaign? Or was it an offering to the numerous gods the Romans worshiped? Then there are the hands of those who kept it over the millennia, first as a store of wealth after the collapse of the empire, then as a curiosity and finally, a reminder of a time long before. I sometimes reflect on Life and see the threads of generations that tie us to our distant past. The strands are clear for the most recent generations, but it doesn't take long for them to trail into darkness after only a handful. Yet what amazes me is although the strands are in the darkness and we don't know to whom they tie us, we still feel their pull on us in our daily lives. Best $48 spent ever.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Just remember that when you 'own' an ancient coin, you don't really own it.
You are really a temporary custodian, much like a curator in a museum.
My first coin wasn't ancient, it was a 1954 Australian commemorative Royal Visit Florin, which was taken out circulation in the year of issue. I was an 8 year old kid. I was fascinated by it.
However, that coin is not the subject of this thread.
Fascination with ancient coins came when I was 16 years old, and barely educated enough to appreciate them.
That level of fascination came in junior high school, when a friend of brought a VF sestertius of Antoninus Pius to school. We had just learned about the ancient Romans in a history lesson, a few days after a Christian Scripture class.
Scripture is still taught (optionally) in the public school system in Australia in all years, up to junior high school level, mostly by visiting pastors and ministers into the school.
The sestertius of Anmtoninus Pius led me to my first opportunity to acquire a Roman coin for myself.
The first ancient coin? - a silver denarius of Antoninus Pius in VF, with modius and corn ears reverse. The price? - $4.50, when I was 17 years old. I had some money to spend. I had already had a job since I was 12 years old, despite the fact that I was also a full time school student
I don't have that denarius now.
It was sold in 1976 when I was 30 years old, as part of a collection of about 80 ancient coins which included an Aureus of Claudius, and a solidus of Constantius 11.
I needed cash to pay the mortgage deposit for our house, when I married.
Mortgages were difficult to obtain in those days. 1/3 of the value of the house was needed for the mortgage deposit. You can't put a roof over your head with a small pile of ancient coins
The next four decades has been spent in building another collection of ancient coins. These days, most of my ancient coins come from public auction.
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Valued Member
Netherlands
145 Posts |
Great coin jskirwin! My first coin (and I just started collecting last month) is this Stater - Raja Raja Chola I (985-1014 AD). It was a cheap fella and an easy target.  My grandfather was a coin and stamp collector for more than 30 years. Sadly, his entire coin collection and most of his stamps were sold at an auction. I decided to continue his legacy. So here I am, having no clue what I'm doing. But it feels great. And I agree with sel. I feel more like curator than an owner. Fascination for old precious things began at early age, which eventually pushed me into the world of museum studies and exhibition design.  Edited by MetzKaj
01/15/2019 5:56 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
Quote:
I just started collecting last month Ah, the good old days. Neat thread idea. My first serious ancient coin purchase (after picking up a few well-worn LRB's from a hobby shop's junk box) was this modest little Vologases III drachm (a Sellwood 78.6 - these days reassigned by G.R.F. Assar as Pakoros I) purchased a quarter century ago, in 1994. I remember seeing an ad for Parthian drachms in the Biblical Archaeology Review. I was intrigued and followed through, and haven't looked back. The coin is now being cared for by our fearless leader.  Edited by Kamnaskires
01/15/2019 6:25 pm
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
I wish I still had my first coin, it was an antonininus of Aurelian.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
MetzKaj:- Ancient coins acquired for a reasonable price, and with a non mainstream culture have always held a fascination for me.
Well done!
One of the toughest eras for numismatics is European coins of the Dark Ages. Coins from this era are always very difficult to find, because a European trading economy virtually ceased to exist during this period.
May be slightly easier to obtain, if you are based in the Netherlands.
Edited by sel_69l
01/15/2019 6:32 pm
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Valued Member
Netherlands
145 Posts |
Dark ages coins are high priority stuff for me. The Netherlands is a very expansive (coin) country and doesn't threat beginners like me very well imho. Most of those coins aren't even sold here from what I've seen.. I noticed that Eastern Europe (especially Ukraine) and Portugal are very good areas to start with. Everything is so much cheaper there.
Edited by MetzKaj
01/15/2019 6:44 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5174 Posts |
Don't have a photo of my first medieval coin (which is in a 2x2, and being from mid-16th century might not count as medieval anyway), but I do have a photo of my first ancient coin - a pretty darn terrible photo, admittedly...   Valens (364-378 CE) Obverse: DN VALEN-S PF AVG, bust facing right Reverse: SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE, Victory? advancing left, SMK[A?] in exergue Cyzicus mint; copper, uncertain denomination (17mm) Bought, and very hastily photographed, for Smackdown XXX. The above description is copied directly from my smackdown post. Technically, I still have the coin, as in I hadn't sold it or given it away or anything. I have completely no idea where it is, however. |
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Pillar of the Community
 Spain
2752 Posts |
I'd been collecting British colonial coins and a few odds and ends for many years but had always had an interest and fascination with the Roman Empire. A seller I`d been purchasing BI coins from acquired a small group of Roman coins so I picked one at 30 bucks and bought it! I didn't really have any idea what I was buying so I posted it here on the Forum and the rest is history.... And as luck would have it... Licinius I (RIC VII#155 Arles)-Unlisted- Licinius I AE Follis 20mm/3.43gr (Emperors name Misspelled) Obverse-IMP LICINVS PF AVG- laureate, cuirassed bust right Reverse-REV SOLI INVICTO COMITI- Sol standing right, looking left, chlamys across chest and over his left arm, holding globe and raising right hand. C-S across fields Exergue-PARL- minted 313-318AD Arles  |
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Moderator
United States
34413 Posts |
@sel, when you said... Quote:
My first coin wasn't ancient I thought that you were going to comment that this coin wasn't ancient, but rather was actually new when you got it because you were alive a couple thousand years ago.  "If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Moderator
United States
34413 Posts |
I've previously posted this one http://goccf.com/t/258871&whichpage...2253719)--it is a Drachm of Persia from the Province of Mad that dates to 551 AD. My highschool girlfriend bought it for me for a birthday or something. It would be another 15 years before I picked up a second coin minted in the 6th Century.   "If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1269 Posts |
Nice first ancients everyone. My first ancient was purchased in April 2015. Here it is Otho AR Denarius. Rome Mint. ( 17.89 mm, 3.08 g) Obv: IMP M OTHO CAESAR AVG TR P, bewigged head right Rev: SECVRITAS P R, Securitas standing left, holding wreath & scepter. RIC I, 8 (R2), RSC 17. SRCV I (2000) 2162  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Spence:- "Ole Man River......." Sorry, I couldn't help myself
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,505 |
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Posted 01/15/2019 5:50 pm
