AncientNumis

14 hours ago, DonnaML said:

A great collecting idea -- there's so much to choose from!

Here are a few earlier threads of mine on that very topic that you might enjoy, from before I had 30 Roman Republican coins and started posting the threads I listed above:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/roman-republic-denarii-with-reverses-showing-animals-other-than-horses.354471/

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/snakes-of-the-roman-republic.361571/

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/boars-sows-and-pigs-of-the-roman-republic-and-empire.361885/

Thanks Donna! Yeah the variety really astonishes me - sooooo many animals 🙂, really would be fun to try to collect as many different animals as possible. 

Here's an Indian punch marked coin. 

Next: more Indian PMC

2 hours ago, Libby007 said:

Hi - I'm moving over from the "other" to this site. How can I receive email notices when there are new postings? - Thanks, Fred

Welcome! So great to see lots of new members 🙂 

WOW - Such amazing coins, you've all put my measly RR Denarius to shame! 

7 hours ago, jdmKY said:

Easy choice for me. My 90-coin collection is solely Imperatorial and from Day 1 there was one coin that I wanted above all others:

It’s not as nice as @AncientJoe’s, but it’s pedigreed back to 1917. It’s been in several well-known collections - Johann Horsky, Spencer-Churchill, and John Balderston. I was very fortunate because when I bought the coin in 1984, I had no pedigree information about the coin.

Woahhhhhhh - an EID MAR... I'm completely mind blown!!!

Yay! I look forward to seeing future posts here, and I'm going to spend a lot of today reading through that list of CT threads where you did other write-ups - because they're all so interesting and I want to start collecting RR denarii featuring animals 🙂. I looove the coin you posted, mainly because the reverse scene is just so detailed and there's so much going on 😄 . Also really cool the horseman has been identified as M. Servilius Pulex Geminus - so there's a story there too. I have no RR battle scenes (as, for now, I only have that Vibius Varus coin) but hopefully my collection grows and I can get something similar to yours...

Love how it looks now (especially the logo 🙂)! It really is incredible how far the forum has gone in just a week - now it's thriving and already full of an awesome community with wonderful members. @RestitutorThanks so much and congrats for making this possible 😄 !

1 hour ago, ambr0zie said:

It is very difficult to pick one.

My collection is not large (currently consisting in 312 ancient coins) and without spectacular conditions or rarities.

I know many coin collectors (not only ancient coins collectors) have an issue - they love a coin until they get it and then they forget about it. I don't have this problem - I often browse my album and it is very relaxing to remember the adrenaline boost I had when winning the coin, or the days were i impatiently expected the auction, hoping to get a certain coin. They didn't have to be extremely rare or excellent condition - just I had to like them.

Again, very difficult and I already had about 10 coins in mind but here is one who was very popular among fellow collectors.

For this coin I even broke my promise last year - I didn't want to buy any coins in the last 2 months of the year, but this one appeared and I was determined to get it.

Of course the reverse type has been the subject of many jokes (many made by me =)) ) but speaking seriously, the artistry of the engraving makes me think about ancient statues. This type was issued by many rulers, but I have rarely seen an example with this kind of details. I have 2 other examples (both from Julia Domna) and I like them, but the artistry level doesn't compare.

Well, that's nearly double as many ancients as me! Great coin - due to that extra level of detail you don't normally see for the type (as you say). The die engraver of that coin must have been pretty skilled 🙂 , also nice you have 2 other with same reverse. You must really like it... 🤣

Ok, this question probably seems impossible to answer. How could we choose just one coin over all of those in our collections we love so much? And what does 'favourite' truly mean? How do we define it? Well, here you can interpret that question in whatever way you want. It'll probably be a tough choice for most of you, but hopefully it's a chance to see some wonderful coins that really represent us collectors. I'll start off with mine:

What is it?

It's a denarius of C.VIBIVS VARVUS, from 42 BC. On the obverse is the portrait of Bacchus, his hair wreathed with Ivy and grapes. On the reverse, we see the name of the issuer as the legend, and the image is that of a panther (leopard as it's spotted), leaping towards a garlanded altar, on which a mask of pan lies - a thrysus is on it as well. 

Why I love it!

It really suggests a lot about why I collect coins.  

1

There is a lot of mystery surrounding it, who is the mask of (Pan or Silenus?), and even the obverse figure is disputed (although Liber and Bacchus are very similar). I love a good mystery where I can make up my own theories and reach my own conclusions based on available evidence 😄 

2

Panther!? I loooooove animals on ancient coins, and as non-mythical animals go, panthers (or leopards) are definitely up there. 

3

Lots of detail on the coin! So much is going on, especially on the reverse, but it's still beautiful. An altar, a mask, a thrysus, a panther, a legend, this all adds to the coin for me. 

Do I love this coin substantially more than all my others? No. In fact I might even pick a different coin depending on how I feel! But, at least, this shows some elements about ancient coins I really like. 

Post 1 coin that you really love  (and perhaps represents your collection or why you collect ancients)!

Looking forward to lots of great responses 🙂 

51 minutes ago, Dwarf said:

Well, I was. The site is only partly excavated. The modern town still built on top.
You can still see interiors extant, 2nd stories, and "feel" the streets. Different from Pompeii and usually not as crowded.

Boat houses, where the inhabitants sought shelter in vain. The actual beach i a few hundred meters away nowadays.

Second floor

A view of a street

 

 

 

Old and new

Regards

Klaus

Wow - that looks nice! Really great that you can see old and new at the same time - and from the photos seems like it's not too busy as you say.  Would you recommend visiting it, did you enjoy it?

12 hours ago, Etcherdude said:

Another less visited (than Pompeii) and better preserved site is Herculaneum.

Oh interesting, thanks for sharing! Have you been there?

Nice, thanks for that 😄

I posted the London Coin Fair for those people in the UK, which is coming very soon. Sadly I won't be able to join this time, but it's always very busy and a great show! 

Welcome @Herodotus! Hope you have a great time here 🙂 , and I look forward to seeing more of your coins. 

Here's my Syracuse Hippocamp bronze: 

I only have a few Seleucid coins, and they are all bronze, but here's my favourite due to the bottle cap edge. It's common and not worth too much, but I still adore it. I've shown it before on this forum, and I got it from a give-away on CT a while ago...

11 hours ago, Helvius Pertinax said:

Nice thread, just like the other one! Again, since i recognize almost all the coins from your YT im not gonna spoil anything haha. For animals on my ancients, ill have to go with the eagle, since its my only non - mythological animal on an ancient coin:

And heres Gallienus, he sure was an animal against all these usurpers 😅 Will always stay in my top 10 of ancient chads!

Really like your eagle! I have quite a lot of eagles on Greek, Roman and Ptolemaic coins but I think yours is definitely better looking than most of mine. And, yeah, I love Gallienus too - he ruled during a crazy tough time and deserves more credit. Plus, he issued that animal series of coins which I really like so thanks Gallienus 🙂 

11 hours ago, Curtisimo said:

eagle 

lion

wolf

elephant

eagle

You basically got it! Just one wrong, 

Boar

Lion

Wolf 

Elephant

Eagle

Is the correct order, the first one is from a Kyzikos Hemiobol. As you got the most, you are crowned the victor. Congrats 🎉👑

So, I did a 'guess the emperor from the close up' thread and some of you enjoyed that! So, I thought, why not try it with animals on ancient coins... Some are pretty tough, but have a go 🙂, it's just a bit of fun. Whoever gets them all right first will receive eternal honour and glory! (Or, maybe not... Can't guarantee anything 😂). If this is too easy or you all love it, there may be a round 2 as well later on. And you're also welcome to post your favourite (non mythical for this thread please) animals on ancient coins in this thread as well. Good luck to all. May the best win...

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5 hours ago, maridvnvm said:

The first one looks a bit like an Antioch mint Hadrian.

It's actually Cappadocia, Caesera I think but you were right with Hadrian! That was a tough one.

So it was:

-Hadrian

-Trajan

And really glad some of you found this fun, I think I'll make another little game... 🙂 

3 hours ago, Gavin Richardson said:

Ostia Antica is underrated. I liked it better than Pompeii. 

I agree! I loooooooved it - had my eyes out on the ground for any LRBs too but sadly didn't see any 😞 

6 minutes ago, TheTrachyEnjoyer said:

Thanks! I am also working on having my collection hosted on the same site as well as a general catalogue. There are so many unpublished types that the collectors need a new system!

Would love to see your collection on there! I would definitely spend a while looking through them - your coins are so fascinating in many ways. 🙂

Lovely! And some nice pics from the Capitoline museum, my favourite statue there was probably the Marcus Aurelius one - the sheer size and beauty really impressed me! What about you?

I remember reading somewhere that, later on in the empire, Romans would collect fourrees and pay greater prices for them than the genuine issued coin of that type? Anyone know if this is true? If so, that's pretty interesting in my opinion...

Wow, thanks for sharing. I'm sure this will be useful to lots of collectors here, and it looks like you've done an awesome job so far!

Wow! These are all amazing, but I don't have any electrum coins to post 😞. Maybe I'll get a hemihekte or other Greek EL Fraction in the future - those seem cool and affordable 🙂 

Welcome to this forum @Egry! Great to see you here and really really nice coin 😄 

Here's my favourite helmet of my coins - Attic helmet decorated with a mythical sea monster - SKYLLA!