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 Replies: 25 / Views: 3,021 |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
9376 Posts |
I was just wondering who might have the oldest coin in this forum.
If you think you have, let's have a show and tell.
I know mine is not the oldest, my oldest coin is my avatar, which you can see beside this post, it is 1806 English penny.
In this year they invented the first printing press to automatically number banknotes. The New Orleans police force was created. Cultivated strawberries were exhibited for the first time, and England captures Beunos Aires and Cape Town.
O.k lets see what you've got!!
Regards
Steve Edited by triggersmob
03/18/2006 09:36 am
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Rest in Peace
United States
3730 Posts |
1797 English Cartwheel
Two "ancient" coins -- unidentified.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1079 Posts |
I have a roman coin dated 270 AD. Mind you there are roman and greek coin well into BC, that are somewhat easy to come by.
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Moderator
 Australia
16809 Posts |
Reckon the ancients collectors have got this one in the bag.  Here's my oldest:  City-state of Miletus, Ionia region (now in eastern Turkey), small silver 1/24th stater. Listed in Sear (#3532) as "late 6th century BC" - around 500 BC or so. Or perhaps it's this one (the one on the left!):  Greek City-state of Selinus, on Sicily, small silver hemiobol, attributed to the period 490-466 BC (Sear# 733). When the ancient Greeks talked about "small change", they meant it literally! All these pictures are to the same scale, unless the forum program is resizing them on-screen. It's made difficult, of course, by the fact that the majority of ancient and mediaeval coins don't actually have a date on them - archaeologists have to guess the date of issue from hoard evidence. So what's my oldest coin with an actual date on it? That's a tougher question. After a bit of searching, I think it's this one:  Roman-occupied Judaea, bronze lepton or "widow's mite", from the time of Jesus and Pontius Pilate. It's badly off-centre, but I'm glad the date is still there: the symbols that look like "LI5" at the end of the legend is Greek shorthand for "year 16" - in this case, the 16th year of Emperor Tiberius, or 29-30 AD. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
756 Posts |
I have some ancient coins as well.
However, I have some coins from the 1700s and 1800s that have been passed down via my dads side of the family tree. I will have to double check my paperwork when I get home to verify.
Edited by wrk4lvg
03/18/2006 05:04 am
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
A 1516 Hungarian Denar  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1079 Posts |
Sap: Being in OZ where is a good place to get a nice inexpensive genuine Greek coin from anywhere in BC?
Where do you get them from?
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Valued Member
Australia
281 Posts |
KLD I believe that chinese traders are selling a great deal of them of ebay :p |
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Valued Member
United States
218 Posts |
Although I don't have pic's my oldest is of course an ancient dated about 450 BC. but in US coins I have a 1796 1 cent I am very happy with. |
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Moderator
Australia
16809 Posts |
KLD: I got most of mine from Mike Keating, who's not in the business anymore, unfortunately. Most dealers have one or two for sale on occasion. In Brisbane, Colonial probably has the best range of ancients; in Sydney, I'd try MR Roberts or Jaggard's. (Don't know about anywhere else; never been there!) Grendel: The Chinese generally stay away from copying Western ancients; they're more than happy to stick with copying old Chinese and modern Western stuff. Most fake ancients on the market are likely to be 'tourist copies', made locally in the Middle and Near East. The better ones, of course, can crop up anywhere. Personally, I wouldn't buy high-value (over AU$50) ancients on ebay unless I already knew and had dealt with the seller. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Valued Member
United States
123 Posts |
Here are my oldest coins. Sap has me beat (I don't have anything from the archaic period yet), but only by about 50-100 years or so. This is a silver syglos of Lydia under the control of the persians, dated c. 450-330BCE.   The next one is a silver diobol of Mesembria, Thrace (northern Greece), dated c. 450-350BCE.   Finally, this one is a silver 1/6 stater of Thourioi, Lucania (Italy), dated c. 425-400BCE.   As you can see, the dating of ancient coins is very approximate. These dates are according to my particular sources, and someone else who has a different reference may well find a different date. They can be roughly dated stylistically, however. Mine obviously post-date the crude, archaic-style coins (although the Lydia coin is a bit of a late survival of archaic techniques). Sap's coin of Miletus is very typical of the archaic style - crude design but still attractive. Coins don't seem to get older than c. 600-700BCE. To find items older than that, one must branch out beyond coins and into the vast array of ancient artifacts that are available, often for surprisingly low prices. Dating and attribution of these is, of course, subject to some uncertainty. Here is my oldest artifact. It is a pottery bowl of Mesopotamia, dated c. 5500-5000BCE. Pottery from the middle east is very common because the desert conditions preserve it well, and much of it has been sold on the international market; some of the countries there will allow artifacts to be sold out of the country. Items which were sold prior to laws preventing their export are also widely available. Nice pieces of pottery can be had for under $200. This one is well-made and in excellent shape, although there has been some repair work. This is a crummy scan; I need to get a good picture of it.  I also have some stone arrowheads that are similarly old. Extremely old stone tools can be found, but I don't have any yet; mine are just a few thousand years old. When collecting ancient coins, it is only natural to start looking at other artifacts. I strongly recommend it; a lot of interesting items are out there. Heather |
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Forum Kid
Kuwait
1523 Posts |
Got an old tiny celtic gold, Maybe 1/10 and it is in the 6 th century BC.
I'll get a pic up later.
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Valued Member
Canada
170 Posts |
Do Celtic Ring coins count? I have one from around 800 B.C.E
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Pillar of the Community
United States
867 Posts |
I have one unidentified ancient coin that one of these days I'll get around to "decrusting" it and see what it actually is...  Rachel [:p] |
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
438 Posts |
My oldest is a denarius from the Emperor Domitian struck some time around 96 C.E, so it's not as old as the B.C.E stuff some members have, but hey it's old enough for me (for now). ;)
My oldest English coin though dates from about 920 C.E.
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New Member
Ireland
34 Posts |
I've got a coin from 1691 commemorating the first siege of Limerick(I think it was the first..there were three) Sap kindly identified and evaluated it for me over here. https://goccf.com/t/4253 |
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Replies: 25 / Views: 3,021 |
Posted 03/18/2006 01:25 am
