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My Eclectic (Incomplete) Seventeen Caesars
SmEagle1795
Posts: 2,135 ✭✭✭✭✭
As promised in an earlier thread, here's the current state of my Twelve+Five Caesars set. I have very specific types which I'm hunting for the remaining coins so progress may be slow. Personally, I'm not as attached to "The Twelve", significantly preferring the personalities and accomplishments of the Five Good Emperors that follow, so I'm collecting them as a group.
I've selected some of my favorite types from each emperor, looking to achieve a good balance of aesthetics and history, rather than just completing them all in gold/silver/bronze. Perhaps some day I'll have specific metal sets but in the meantime, I'm satisfied with this approach.
So far, only 10/17 complete, but slowly making progress. Having acquired my Eid Mar, Colosseum sestertius, and Port of Ostia sestertius, the "big three" Roman coins, I'm a bit more relaxed about growing my Roman collection and have been focusing on Greek coins as of late.
I hope you enjoy them, and let me know if you have any questions!
Julius Caesar denarius
Octavian aureus
Augustus, in the interest of being complete in case it's not considered "official" to fill the spot with a coin of Octavian (Complete writeup on this coin is coming soon)
Tiberius: No coin (but hopefully one coming soon)
Caligula: No coin
Claudius: No coin
Nero "Port of Ostia" sestertius
Galba: No coin
Otho denarius
Vitellius: No coin
Vespasian "Boscoreale" aureus
Titus "Colosseum" sestertius
Domitian "Sphinx" obol
Nerva tetradrachm
Trajan: No coin
Hadrian aureus
Antoninus Pius aureus
Marcus Aurelius: No coin
I've selected some of my favorite types from each emperor, looking to achieve a good balance of aesthetics and history, rather than just completing them all in gold/silver/bronze. Perhaps some day I'll have specific metal sets but in the meantime, I'm satisfied with this approach.
So far, only 10/17 complete, but slowly making progress. Having acquired my Eid Mar, Colosseum sestertius, and Port of Ostia sestertius, the "big three" Roman coins, I'm a bit more relaxed about growing my Roman collection and have been focusing on Greek coins as of late.
I hope you enjoy them, and let me know if you have any questions!
Julius Caesar denarius
Octavian aureus
Augustus, in the interest of being complete in case it's not considered "official" to fill the spot with a coin of Octavian (Complete writeup on this coin is coming soon)
Tiberius: No coin (but hopefully one coming soon)
Caligula: No coin
Claudius: No coin
Nero "Port of Ostia" sestertius
Galba: No coin
Otho denarius
Vitellius: No coin
Vespasian "Boscoreale" aureus
Titus "Colosseum" sestertius
Domitian "Sphinx" obol
Nerva tetradrachm
Trajan: No coin
Hadrian aureus
Antoninus Pius aureus
Marcus Aurelius: No coin
Learn about our world's shared history told through the first millennium of coinage: Colosseo Collection
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Comments
All these ancients are downright intriguing!
All are fabulous. I look forward to seeing your choices and rationales for the remaining seven!
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So it doesnt bother you to have a Nerva tet. instead of denarius?
--Severian the Lame
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thanks for sharing
<< <i>Drop dead stunning stuff. Beats my poor mans 12 caesars, lol. I have the 5 good also but to lazy to share.
So it doesnt bother you to have a Nerva tet. instead of denarius? >>
No, I quite like the Nerva tetradrachm instead of a denarius. I've never been too enthralled by his denarii, although there are some historically significant types. I do, however, love the reverse eagle on provincial tetradrachms and often find their portraits more artistic than some Rome-mint issues. It also helps that I bought this coin at half of the estimate, something which I rarely complain about!
Tom
Bronzemat and I are working on the other end of the spectrum, as he mentioned. But one thing I share with you is that I do also appreciate my provincials as well. Sometimes, with my budgetary constraints, I can purchase a much nicer and more interesting piece if it is a provincial versus a regular Roman issue. I have a great Nero piece from Alexandria that was a gift for my last birthday from my gf. It is a prize of my collection.
I think that is what is nice about doing a set like the 12 Caesars (or the expanded one in your case). You can pick coins that you like, change the rules to include provincials or not, all three metals or not, certain reverse types, et cetera. It really allows for collections as high end as yours and for collections on the more affordable end of the spectrum like mine. I enjoy the hunt for coins within my price range and it gives me great satisfaction to purchase coins within budget but also within the parameters that I set for collecting.
Thanks for sharing your set, and please, make with the write ups that you owe us.
seeing your "Eids" piece. As I commented before it is the best centered
coin for the type that I have seen in over 40+ plus years in the hobby.
By comparison 1893-S Morgan dollars in UNC. are as common as
grains of sand in the Sahara.
WNC Coins, LLC
1987-C Hendersonville Road
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WNC Coins, LLC
1987-C Hendersonville Road
Asheville, NC 28803
wnccoins.com
Merveilleux! Etonnant! Magnifique!
<< <i>Some great pieces there....I think the Otho may be my favorite. Almost all of my portraiture pieces are denarii, for uniformity purposes, but I like your approach which appears to focus on the depiction, design and subject matter regardless of denomination. >>
Thanks! The Otho denarius was an unexpected encounter and one which I was very pleased to add. I find Otho's portraits generally rather unattractive (which may have just been how he looked) but this portrait was of a fairly refined and atypical style so I jumped on it.
<< <i>SmEagle, what a great collection. Gold is far off for me, but you give me something to aspire to with the Octavian and Hadrian aureii. Both are stunning and simple. I have already professed my love for the Port of Ostia piece and your coliseum piece is right up there as well.
Bronzemat and I are working on the other end of the spectrum, as he mentioned. But one thing I share with you is that I do also appreciate my provincials as well. Sometimes, with my budgetary constraints, I can purchase a much nicer and more interesting piece if it is a provincial versus a regular Roman issue. I have a great Nero piece from Alexandria that was a gift for my last birthday from my gf. It is a prize of my collection.
I think that is what is nice about doing a set like the 12 Caesars (or the expanded one in your case). You can pick coins that you like, change the rules to include provincials or not, all three metals or not, certain reverse types, et cetera. It really allows for collections as high end as yours and for collections on the more affordable end of the spectrum like mine. I enjoy the hunt for coins within my price range and it gives me great satisfaction to purchase coins within budget but also within the parameters that I set for collecting.
Thanks for sharing your set, and please, make with the write ups that you owe us. >>
Thanks! I agree - as a former US collector, the level of customization offered by ancients is very appealing, slicing and dicing "sets" as one chooses.
<< <i>I really enjoyed your sharing these wonderful treasures. I did miss
seeing your "Eids" piece. As I commented before it is the best centered
coin for the type that I have seen in over 40+ plus years in the hobby.
By comparison 1893-S Morgan dollars in UNC. are as common as
grains of sand in the Sahara. >>
It is quite interesting to see what "Eid Mar money" will buy in US coins... not much at all. Heritage alone has sold hundreds and hundreds of coins for more than my Eid Mar and while some are definitely fantastic coins, I'd be hard pressed to pick many of them over an Eid Mar when it comes to history and global appeal.
I've recently also acquired a contemporary denarius of Cassius which could make for a good reason to re-post my Eid Mar. Perhaps I'll work on weaving the stories of the Ides of March, Cassius, and Julius Caesar together into one long writeup to give a reason to post it again
<< <i>A truly wonderful set! I can't decide which I like the best, but the Nero and Titus are top contenders in my book. >>
Thank you! Of my Seventeen Caesars set, my Colosseum sestertius is definitely my favorite, followed by the Port of Ostia. I love the history of the Boscoreale aurei and the aesthetics of my avatar coin of Antoninus Pius, so it becomes difficult to rank them further.
<< <i>SmEagle, you have an EID MAR Denarius now along with some other amazing ancient coins, what does the future hold? Do you have a "White Whale" coin left out there that you hope to purchase some day? >>
My "big three" Roman coins were the Eid Mar, Colosseum sestertius, and Port of Ostia and I'm quite pleased with my examples for now. That said, I'm looking to build a collection which tells a reasonably complete story of history through coins starting with the earliest types through to the millennial anniversary of Rome, choosing types which represent an intersection of history and aesthetics.
I have several dozen types which I intend to acquire to flesh out that story and about 20 coins already purchased and backlogged which I haven't posted here yet.
As for another white whale, at today's prices, there aren't that many Eid Mar level coins that I'm hunting. There are definitely some incredible coins out there but certain famous types just aren't as appealing to me (Naxos tetradrachms, Athens dekadrachms, aurei medallions, Delphic tridrachms, Kimon facing head tetradrachms, to name a handful)
Many Greek silver coins sell for strong prices and I do want to acquire a nice signed Euainetos dekadrachm at some point (I sold my unsigned example but definitely do "need" one). However, despite their cost, they aren't horribly rare, so I feel more comfortable waiting for one. I'd love to acquire an Agrigentum dekadrachm but I don't expect to have the $3M+ to spend on a single coin any time soon.
There are a number of other types which are high up on my wantlist that have eluded me but I've historically been somewhat reserved in my bidding in the hopes that one of my "big" coins would come up for sale, a plan which has so far played out advantageously. Having bought my three most expensive coins and top-desired types in the last twelve months, I'm glad I waited to acquire some of the lesser coins on my wantlist to ensure I had sufficient funds to allocate toward large purchases.
In what will hopefully prove to be a worthwhile effort, I've mapped out a large portion of my wantlist with estimated prices. If I were to acquire every coin on the list, I would triple the number of coins in my collection and double the cost. There are a handful which are several times more expensive than the average and I'm hoping to prioritize them over the others as well.
So, while I may not have a single obvious "white whale" in my sights, I do have a wide range of interesting types on my list which should keep me busy for many years
You rule, Smeagle.