New to the hobby, rate my collection so far!

[Gumrum]

Hello all,

Firstly, I hope you're all well!

I'm new to the numismatics hobby and I wanted to share my collection so far with your goodselves, mainly to hear your thoughts but also to share my prized pieces with other numismatists!

So far, I have the denarii for the following:

• Titus
• Domitian
• Nerva
• Caracalla
• Geta (probably my favourite thus far, I haven't seen many examples of poor Geta as an adult, especially with such a clear portrait!)

I'm looking to acquire the best examples I can afford (minimum VF) and I hope to hear your thoughts on my examples!

All the best,

- Gumrum

[AETHER]

Nice coins, and welcome to the forum. 

Edited August 28, 2024 by AETHER

[CPK]

@Gumrum you have a good eye for quality! Those are great coins. I like the Titus in particular: it's a great portrait and the strike is even and perfectly centered.

Welcome to the forum and the hobby! 

[Amarmur]

Very nice quality coins. High grade and attractive. Try branching out to other denominations to get some variety. Sestertii are always popular in high grade and have great portraits. You made great decisions and went for the best quality and style you can. 

[ominus1]

...very nice and great start!!..welcome....;0

[ambr0zie]

Geta is my favorite also. 

My example with him as an adult (the reverse is another plus)

[Gumrum]

2 hours ago, CPK said:

@Gumrum you have a good eye for quality! Those are great coins. I like the Titus in particular: it's a great portrait and the strike is even and perfectly centered.

Welcome to the forum and the hobby! 

Thank you very much! Yes, Titus’ is a lovely example… I suppose that explains why he’s my most expensive coin to date… Mr criteria for coins are essentially that they have complete obverse legends, as complete a portrait as possible and ideally come on a circular flan… sounds straightforward enough, but I’ve realised that criteria often means $$$!

[Gumrum]

46 minutes ago, ambr0zie said:

Geta is my favorite also. 

My example with him as an adult (the reverse is another plus)

A lovely example, with an equally lovely reverse too! Thanks for sharing!

[El Cazador]

5 hours ago, Gumrum said:

Hello all,

Firstly, I hope you're all well!

I'm new to the numismatics hobby and I wanted to share my collection so far with your goodselves, mainly to hear your thoughts but also to share my prized pieces with other numismatists!

So far, I have the denarii for the following:

• Titus
• Domitian
• Nerva
• Caracalla
• Geta (probably my favourite thus far, I haven't seen many examples of poor Geta as an adult, especially with such a clear portrait!)

I'm looking to acquire the best examples I can afford (minimum VF) and I hope to hear your thoughts on my examples!

All the best,

- Gumrum

Great start, well done!

[AncientCoinnoisseur]

Great collection! I still need to get a Domitian to complete my Flavian dynasty 🙂  

I also have a Vespasian Capricorn that I digitally colorised:

Speaking of Capricorns, just today I made a post comparing my ring bezel with the Augustus coinage with the Capricorn, which Vespasian and Titus later revived!

[John Conduitt]

Great coins. The portraits are good and you didn't neglect the reverses. I guess the theme is one denarius per emperor? There are some good, affordable ones still to come before you 'run out' of denarii.

[Sulla80]

welcome to ancient coin collecting @Gumrum a great set of coins for your first coins. There is no shortage of time periods and regions to pick from.   Here's a link to more info on your Domitian (RIC 761 issued 93-94 CE)

http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).dom.761

You can see my favorites here https://www.sullacoins.com/gallery.  You will also find my "library" of online resources, and notes with references on a wide range of ancient types.

I'll add a photo of an earlier Domitian type - from the time when he was Caesar 79 CE under Vespasian (before June 24th 79).  It was an eventful year in Rome, with Vespasian dying on June 23rd and Vesuvius erupting and destroying Pompeii later that year on October 24th, 79 CE. (RIC 1081 : http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).ves.1081)

Notes here: https://www.sullacoins.com/post/nerva-succession-reign

Edited August 29, 2024 by Sulla80

[Ryro]

Welcome, welcome! And what a great start to your collection of ancient Roman denarii.

That Geta steals the show. But big brother, with the great Zeus reverse, and Nerva's spectacular portrait and toning jump out to me. 

Here's my favorite Caracalla:

Caracalla-198-217. Denarius (Silver, 19 mm, 3.00 g, 12 h), Rome, 217. ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM Laureate head of Caracalla to right. Rev. P M TR P XX COS IIII P P Jupiter standing front, head to left, holding thunderbolt in his right hand and long scepter in his left. BMC 180. Cohen 373. RIC 285a. Light deposits and with a minor edge crack, otherwise, good extremely fine. Purchased from Leu Feb 2022

And here's the only known example of a Geta Macedonian shield coin that Iwas lucky enough to pick up. I prefer the provincial coins of Rome:

Geta. As Caesar,

AD 198-209.

AE (5.91g 20mm) MACEDON, Koinon of Macedon. Beroea mint.

Bareheaded, draped, and cuirassed bust right

Rev: Macedonian shield. Unpublished in the standard references. Singular example known. ★ Extremely rare ★

Ex Gorny & Mosch 191 (11 October 2010), lot 1769. Ex CNG auction 415 lot 312, Ex Demos 11 (1 July 2022) Lot 459, From the A. Czarnocka . Collection Warsaw

What an exciting journey you are on! If you're into denarii I highly recommend checking out coins of the Roman republic.

 

[rasiel]

Way to start off a collection. Top stuff. Most collectors (including me) started off getting the cheapest possible coins and "stair stepping" up as chance and budget allowed. I wish I had had the foresight of understanding the simple wisdom of quality over quantity. That you seem to have mastered that critical part from the get go leads me to think you're going to have a lot of fun ahead :- )

Rasiel

[Gumrum]

10 hours ago, AncientCoinnoisseur said:

Great collection! I still need to get a Domitian to complete my Flavian dynasty 🙂  

I also have a Vespasian Capricorn that I digitally colorised:

Speaking of Capricorns, just today I made a post comparing my ring bezel with the Augustus coinage with the Capricorn, which Vespasian and Titus later revived!

Thanks for sharing! I'm hoping to aquire a nice Vespasian like yours of my own to finish my Flavian dynasty! Thanks for sharing the digitally coloured examples, it's certainly an interesting perspective to have on what are otherwise monotone pieces of metal!

[Gumrum]

6 hours ago, Ryro said:

Welcome, welcome! And what a great start to your collection of ancient Roman denarii.

That Geta steals the show. But big brother, with the great Zeus reverse, and Nerva's spectacular portrait and toning jump out to me. 

Here's my favorite Caracalla:

Caracalla-198-217. Denarius (Silver, 19 mm, 3.00 g, 12 h), Rome, 217. ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM Laureate head of Caracalla to right. Rev. P M TR P XX COS IIII P P Jupiter standing front, head to left, holding thunderbolt in his right hand and long scepter in his left. BMC 180. Cohen 373. RIC 285a. Light deposits and with a minor edge crack, otherwise, good extremely fine. Purchased from Leu Feb 2022

And here's the only known example of a Geta Macedonian shield coin that Iwas lucky enough to pick up. I prefer the provincial coins of Rome:

Geta. As Caesar,

AD 198-209.

AE (5.91g 20mm) MACEDON, Koinon of Macedon. Beroea mint.

Bareheaded, draped, and cuirassed bust right

Rev: Macedonian shield. Unpublished in the standard references. Singular example known. ★ Extremely rare ★

Ex Gorny & Mosch 191 (11 October 2010), lot 1769. Ex CNG auction 415 lot 312, Ex Demos 11 (1 July 2022) Lot 459, From the A. Czarnocka . Collection Warsaw

What an exciting journey you are on! If you're into denarii I highly recommend checking out coins of the Roman republic.

 

Thanks for the kind words and thanks for the opportunity to see some of your fine pieces too! The provincial coins are definitely interesting and are, from what I understand, usually a more economical way of building up your collection!

That Geta piece is fascinating... How strange it is to consider that there were once likely to have been hundreds, if not thousands of examples of that coin, but now there's only one known and you own that piece! I think that's one of the standout attributes of this hobby, the ability to possess something so old and so rare... It's the opportunity to be the custodian of history that makes collecting so fun!

Thanks again for sharing!

[Gumrum]

7 hours ago, Sulla80 said:

welcome to ancient coin collecting @Gumrum a great set of coins for your first coins. There is no shortage of time periods and regions to pick from.   Here's a link to more info on your Domitian (RIC 761 issued 93-94 CE)

http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).dom.761

You can see my favorites here https://www.sullacoins.com/gallery as well as find my "library" or online resources, and notes with references on a wide range of ancient types.

I'll add a photo of an earlier Domitian type - from the time when he was Caesar 79 CE under Vespasian (before June 24th 79).  It was an eventful year in Rome, with Vespasian dying on June 23rd and Vesuvius erupting and destroying Pompeii later that year on October 24th, 79 CE. (RIC 1081 : http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).ves.1081)

Notes here: https://www.sullacoins.com/post/nerva-succession-reign

Thank you very much for sharing! I was actually looking for the OCRE website, having found it a while ago and been unable to find it again since!

Yes, Domitian is perhaps one of my favourite emperors and so, I made sure a denarius of his was the first coin I purchased.

Thanks for the resources as well, that's very much appreciated!

[Gumrum]

10 hours ago, John Conduitt said:

Great coins. The portraits are good and you didn't neglect the reverses. I guess the theme is one denarius per emperor? There are some good, affordable ones still to come before you 'run out' of denarii.

Thank you very much, I try and ensure everything I buy is as good an example as possible... However, I may need to relax my standards somewhat when it comes to the 3rd century antoniniani of Gallienus, Claudius Gothicus, Quintillus, etc...!

Yes, that's the plan! I aim to complete a collection of denarii/antoniniani for every 'Emperor' from Julius Caesar - Diocletian (ending at Diocletian to A. avoid the less visually interesting [to me] later Roman coins and B. avoid trying to find examples of the latter Western Roman Emperors who have very few existant coins to buy)

I'm fully aware of how big of a task the full set will be, I'm already thinking of ways to justify to my wife why coins of Caligula, Claudius, Gordian I & II, Didius Julianus, etc cost so much! Still, there's plenty of time and like you say, there are a lot of coins to be had for my collection before we start talking silly money... I'm actually eyeing up nice examples of Nero and Vespasian, which I'll share should I make them mine!

Thanks again for your comment!

[Gumrum]

5 hours ago, rasiel said:

Way to start off a collection. Top stuff. Most collectors (including me) started off getting the cheapest possible coins and "stair stepping" up as chance and budget allowed. I wish I had had the foresight of understanding the simple wisdom of quality over quantity. That you seem to have mastered that critical part from the get go leads me to think you're going to have a lot of fun ahead :- )

Rasiel

Thanks! Yes, I am a little obsessive when it comes to perfection! I've also always followed the addage that it's better to buy the best you can afford, rather than settle for something beneath your standards that you'll only want to replace later... Although, I fully appreciate that most start out like yourself and I dare say I'd have done the same a few years ago when my budget would have been significantly less forgiving...!

Still, I appreciate your comment and I hope to have some more nice examples to share with everyone soon!

[LONGINUS]

Nice denarii @Gumrum and welcome to the forum.

[Dafydd]

Welcome to the forum @Gumrum, great coins and thank you for sharing,