Ryro Posted March 14 · Supporter Share Posted March 14 (edited) I purchased this coin in December of 2017 to celebrate the soon to be birth of my twins. It was my first "big auction house" experience. The day I came home, after the boys were born, it was waiting for me in the mail. And just like my two bouncing babies, it was even smaller than I'd expected. THRACIAN ISLANDS. Thasos. Ca. 463-411 BC. AR 1/16 stater or obol (0.49 gm). VF. Two dolphins swimming in opposite directions; pellets around / Quadripartite incuse square. Le Rider, Thasiennes 9. SNG Copenhagen 1020-1. Purchased from Heritage Dec 2017 Here they are with their big brother six years later on Christmas: Please share any coins that you bought/ were given that marks a special event to you. Edited March 14 by Ryro 21 1 1 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expat Posted March 14 · Supporter Share Posted March 14 I inherited the collection of my Father in Law in 2018, my first experience of being the caretaker of coinage. My Father, in 2019 bought me two coins, the first and only two he bought for me, for my Birthday. Sadly he passed suddenly a month before my Birthday so my Mum gave them to me in Canada after the funeral. Here is one of them, a Canadian silver dollar. These have a special place in my heart 10 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roman Collector Posted March 14 · Patron Share Posted March 14 This as of Faustina II was a gift from Henry Clay Lindgren back in the 90s when I attended a show in San Francisco. 16 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambr0zie Posted March 14 · Member Share Posted March 14 Great coins and great thread. I do not have many coins with personal stories (my personal connection with them is more abstract, such as coins celebrating an event or from a region that is important to me etc.). After losing my parents, in a very shot timespan, I don't like Divus and Diva coins that much because a connection is automatically made in my head. Another coin - I hope it will NOT be remembered with sadness. This was given to me by a friend from a different country, a numismatic expert (but on modern coins). Unfortunately in the last months he has severe health issues (very severe). And I did not manage to reach him in the last 7 days, which is very worrying, as in the last 10 years we were discussing daily. 11 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Anthos Posted March 14 · Member Share Posted March 14 (edited) Great stories. I have a few coins which fit this category. This one was given to me by my late wife at a time when money was short for us. She wanted to buy me a coin that would be the centerpiece of my modest collection, and it will remain so however many more beautiful coins I might add. I've never been able to get a good picture of it unfortunately, but it is amazingly well centered and I love the full grain ear as so many of these are 'scalloped. I think she chose well. Metapontum, Lucania 330-300 BC AR Didrachm (21mm, 7.76g) O: Head of Demeter right, wreathed in grain and wearing triple earring and necklace; ΔAI under chin. R: Ear of barley with seven grains, leaf to right; plow above leaf, MAX below, META upward to left. Johnston C-1; SNG ANS 470; SNG Cop 1227; HN Italy 1581; Sear 416 ex Windsor Antiquities Edited March 14 by Phil Anthos 14 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nerosmyfavorite68 Posted March 15 · Member Share Posted March 15 This is a great idea for a thread! I had rather a busy and trying day, so I'll consider which coin/s would fit the bill. Possibly the c. 1999 HJB Johannes tremissis buy. Any of the other, similar Chicago buys would be honorable mentions, as they were the result of my Chicago trips with my grandfather. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akeady Posted March 15 · Supporter Share Posted March 15 This is a coin that means a lot to me - one of my late aunt's best coins, which she gave me more than 40 years ago. Monarch: Victoria Coin: Bronze Penny VICTORIA 😧 G: BRITT: REG: F: 😧 - Bust left ONE PENNY 1875 - Britannia seated right, holding trident; lighthouse to left, ship to right Mint Date: 1875 Wt./Size/Axis: 9.40g / 31mm / 0h References: Spink 3954 ATB, Aidan. 12 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qcumbor Posted March 16 · Supporter Share Posted March 16 (edited) Yeah, great idea. I have some coins that are very significant to me Out of many collecting fields, I've always been interested in british coins. When Pete, my bristish best friend (almost brother since I don't have a brother) passed away 11 years ago, his partner found a box full of british coins, mainly from the 20th century. Here is one of them : As a tribute to his memory, everytime I buy a british coin, I have a fond remembrance of how nice this man was, and all the good times we've had together, having fun, either in the UK or in France, or traveling the world ... sigh ! Here is the collection : https://www.colleconline.com/fr/collection-items/2455/monnaie-monde-royaume-uni?page=1 Q Edited March 16 by Qcumbor 12 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewomack Posted March 16 · Supporter Share Posted March 16 I know no other coin collectors personally, so most of my "meaningful" coins relate to selfish purchases that I've made for myself. I've never given or received a coin as a gift, and only my wife has witnessed my coins in hand. She finds them interesting for about a minute, then hands them back. Not to sound pitiable, but I know no one else who cares about the subject. As such, my "meaningful" coins won't have nearly the deep sentimental value of the other coins posted here already. My interest, at least in the non-digital world, often feels solipsistic. I bought this Marcus Aurelius as a birthday present for myself a few years ago. When posted on another forum, members identified it as a rare bust variety, which I know doesn't mean too much, but I enjoyed watching it create even a minor stir in the community. It also directly relates to my interest in Ancient Cynic and Stoic philosophy, and I had recently read The Meditations not long before the coin arrived. It remains one of my favorite coins in my small pile. Marcus Aurelius. AR Denarius. Struck 161/2 AD. M ANTONINVS AVG, bare head right / CONCORD AVG TR P XVII, COS III in exergue, Concordia seated left, holding patera, resting left elbow on statuette of Spes set on base. 18mm 3.4gm This far from perfect, but still "decent enough for the type," Byzantine of Constantine IV Pogonatus came from a personal visit to the Harlan Berk offices in Chicago. The entire trip comes back whenever I see it. I remember going to the Temple building, which makes for an awesome site itself, entering the revolving doors, and seeing coins everywhere. I asked a person inside about Byzantines and she directed me to an upper floor in the building. After an elevator ride, a nondescript door opened onto an amazing space crammed with antiquities, books, and piles of ancient coins. They found someone to help me and he seemed relieved that I had an actual catalogue number. Still, it took about 20 minutes to locate the coin in that massive space. In the meantime, my wife and I dug through the "bargain bin" at a table in the office. It contained some pretty decent stuff. When they returned with the coin, they gave me a nice price break on it. I didn't argue. The weather that day was fabulous, we had walked from our hotel to the store through the city and over the river, and the stunning lobby of the Temple Building alone would have justified the trip. I worried my wife would find the trip to "the coin store" a bore, but she said she loved the entire experience. This all happened on the first morning of the first day of what turned out to be an amazing Chicago stay. This coin has forevermore remained indelibly associated with that day and with that trip. Constantine IV Pogonatus (668 - 685), with Heraclius and Tiberius, Æ Follis (20mm, 4.38 g). Syracuse mint; Obv: No legend, Crowned and cuirassed facing bust, holding globus cruciger; Rev: Large M, flanked by Heraclius and Tiberius standing facing; TKW monogram above, [SC]L in exergue; MIB 104; SB 1207 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Anthos Posted March 23 · Member Share Posted March 23 I started collecting ancients in 1988, driven away from hole-filling US coins by boredom and the Hunt brothers. At that time I got paid weekly and my bank was right next to Jack Beymer's coin shop, so I'd walk in and buy my weekly Mercury or Walker, rarely going as high as $15. One week I saw a tray of ancients I hadn't noticed before, and like many the idea of holding something that old intrigued me so I splurged and spent $20 on a bronze from Alaisa in Sicily. It was everything I figured an ancient coin should be, lumpy and odd-shaped with vague details. So I had one and that was cool. The next week I looked at a worn silver coin of Alexander the Great, again for $20. Alexander the frickin' Great! But $20? Awe hell, you only live once. So now I had two. The following week I put a $365 didrachm of Velia on layaway, and my wife knew I had completely lost it. A year or so later we went to the SF Bourse at the Holiday Inn on Van Ness and while she wandered the artifact bargain bins I bought this coin. It was my first coin from Taras, one of the three most common didrachms from there, but it's clear and well centered, although the flan is a bit tight. I had no intention of getting another Tarentine coin, but yanno, things change. 😉 I now have 106. I have many coins from Taras that are far prettier or more interesting, but this one has a special meaning for me. Taras, Calabria 272-240/35 BC (Period VIII - The Roman Alliance I) AR Didrachm (18mm, 6.50g) Lykinos magistrate. O: Naked boy on horse pacing left, placing wreath on horse's head; ΣY above, ΛYKI - NOΣ (magistrate) in two lines below. R: Taras astride dolphin left, hurling trident with right hand, chlamys wrapped around left arm; owl behind, TA-PA[Σ] below. D'Andrea XLIV, 1356; Vlasto 836; Evans VIII, A8; Cote 473; cf McGill II, 92; SNG ANS 1165-70; SNG Cop 916; SNG France 1999; HN Italy 1025; Sear 374v ex Olympvs Coins 10 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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