The "Eclectic Box" as of May 20, 2019
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,803 ✭✭✭✭✭
Since 2013, I've abandoned the notion of structured "sets" and have gone completely "freestyle", collecting whatever catches my fancy, be it Ancient, Medieval, World, US, or Exonumia.
Aesthetic eye appeal is my first goal and historical, artistic, or cultural appeal a very close second. In keeping with the "eclectic" attribute, I'm also trying to add as wide a variety as possible of time periods, cultures, and geographic regions.
Until mid-2016, I stuck to the "Box of 20" principle, where the collection was always 20 coins (in other words, if I wanted to add one, I had to sell one). I have since abandoned the 20-coin limit and let the collection grow. It is at 54 pieces as of this post.
In March of 2019, I sold off most of my more expensive material, so nearly everything left is stuff that cost me <$500, and most of it much less than that. I suppose that makes this a "working class" collection, perhaps "intermediate" at best.
One can still acquire some pretty fun stuff with a $500 ceiling, though.
Here's the main gallery, with the current lineup:
https://collectivecoin.com/lordmarcovan/7my2PhjhXCrR9PLbqB5k
Here are some of the "bygones" that I've sold or swapped away:
https://collectivecoin.com/lordmarcovan/SL50Qie7LLIUhnykKUjI
Comments
WOW! As always, it's great to see what you have in your collection. Great coins, all of them. No a bad one in the bunch.
I saw 4 bad ones that I could dispose of.
Actually, that's a cool group and the essence of collecting in my book.
The US portion here is pretty small (maybe I should > @topstuf said:
Now you have me dying of curiosity! LOL
Very interesting collection! Thanks for sharing.
That was time well spent going through your collection! Nice array of goodies.
Not too long ago you sold some of your private collection- only up to the point of a pre-determined dollar amount. Have you regretted any of those coins you let go?
peacockcoins
Yes, I miss plenty of them, but selling was the right thing to do. Paid off both my credit cards.
(Depressingly, those card balances have since crept back up some, but such is life.)
I'm certainly not immune to seller's remorse, but years of financial fluctuations in my personal life have given me some measure of material detachment.
And hey, there are always more coins to buy, right?
Great stuff as always! I like the looks of that Pantakapaion piece.
Gobrecht's Engraved Mature Head Large Cent Model
https://www.instagram.com/rexrarities/?hl=en
From you, I consider that high praise. Thanks.
Nice stuff!
I've considered "branching out" at several points in my collecting life....but the fact that I have no idea what "Pantakapaion" even refers to tells me I'm not ready.
What a terrific presentation of some very collectible coins.
That sestertius of Antoninus Pius is a really wholesome ancient bronze and your half escudo of Ferdinand VI is just a great looking 18th century gold poece.
I also particularly like the off center Georgie IV shilling.
Pretty nice stuff LM.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
Very nice "Box of 54" !!! I see that the Ancient and Medieval "bug"
has really bitten. 1/4 of your "Box" is before 1500 AD. If you were
to get it to a "Box of 5" which ones would you choose? I believe one
of them would be the off-center British shilling.
Very nice collection! Especially interesting that the coins are of different time periods and cultures. I like the Greek electrum.
That is an awesome set
The idea of freestyle with no restriction whatsoever is also my thing ....... Beautiful collection and shows a lot of your passion
Thanks for sharing your great collection. That's quite a variety of interesting coins.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
The very essence of collecting what you like. Superb!
Very nice LordM.... by the way.. the second link is not working... comes up with a blank page....Some beautiful coins in your 'eclectic' collection.... and I agree with your current style...I have been pursuing that random method for quite a while. Cheers, RickO
The second link does work for me but both links take a few seconds for the pictures to appear, probably because the Collective Coin website runs a long JavaScript script.
Second link:
https://collectivecoin.com/lordmarcovan/SL50Qie7LLIUhnykKUjI
I'm glad you kept the Byzantine gold tremissis.
I liked that coin when it was first displayed and especially the "dancing angel" on the reverse.
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television
Harrumph... NO STICKERS !!
Dreck.
Awesome group Rob!
My YouTube Channel
@lordmarcovan you have made at least two giant contributions to numismatics. Coined the saying "circulation cameo" and inspired probably 100 new ancients collectors
I like your thinking with the exception of limiting the total amount of coins. I buy and buy
and buy 
and buy! 
But I love your collection.
In fact I almost never sell. Must be why I have 2 safes and boxes and boxes of unopened Mint coins stuffed in the walk in closet next to my Cases of Freeze Dried food. In fact I still have the 2 Love ❤️ Tokens you sold me back some 3 years ago.
Very nice examples, thank you for sharing !!!
Ancient Greek placenames can indeed be intimidating, with hundreds of little city-states. But also quite fascinating. Too many people are intimidated by ancient coins, and the scholarly stuff can indeed be daunting. But remember- as with many other things, Wikipedia is your friend. I lean on it quite heavily for the historical and geographical stuff.
Thanks, Gil. Good to see you. That Antoninus Pius is a recent newp, and I was quite pleased with the appearance and surfaces. Sestertii are such big, impressive coins. Seeing one with nice surfaces is always pleasant. That purchase is a "consolation coin" for the awesome Hadrian sestertius in my bygones. In the mid-$100s, the Antoninus Pius was only 20-25% as costly as the Hadrian, which had a Boston Museum of Fine Arts pedigree, and came from @SmEagle1795's mindblowing Colosseo Collection, which is just as impressive a pedigree, as far as I'm concerned.
The George IV shilling has some sentimental backstory. I was given it by a dealer in Hendersonville, NC in the early 1990s. He was a kind soul and I'm ashamed to have forgotten his name (Jones or Jordan). He knew I liked British coins and just gave the off-center shilling to me. This was in my really dirt-poor days. Later, in 1994, when my first marriage crumbled and my house was foreclosed on and all that depressing stuff, I had to sell all my coins, and I sold that piece to @Aethelred for a hundred bucks. He sold it and it went out into the world. Fast forward to 2016, twenty-two years after I had sold it, and I stumbled across it on the Atlas Numismatics website, in a PCGS holder. So I had to buy it. I knew immediately it was the same coin I had sold so long ago. Sure, in 2016 I had to pay 5x what I'd sold it for in 1994 to get it back, but the prodigal coin came home, and is very likely to stay with me a while, unless it goes to one of my "inner circle" of friends and "stays in the family".
Thanks, @tibor. Ancients and medievals have been a playground of mine for some time, though I wouldn't profess to being an expert in any of it.
That's an excellent question about my favorite five. A tough question, too.
But out of the current lineup, I think I would pick:
The Ionia, Phokaia electrum hekte (it is tiny, but a masterpiece) ...
https://collectivecoin.com/lordmarcovan/7my2PhjhXCrR9PLbqB5k/cK93QmPrNsio6Rwk2JIF
The Taras, Calabria "owl" drachm (probably my top remaining favorite) ...
https://collectivecoin.com/lordmarcovan/7my2PhjhXCrR9PLbqB5k/xyq6E5yBf8LJQlt2IgYX
The Vespasian "capricorn" denarius (hey, I'm a Capricorn, so there ya go) ...
https://collectivecoin.com/lordmarcovan/7my2PhjhXCrR9PLbqB5k/7MwEQAsNurQ38hMIkqRR
The Zurich "cityview" half-thaler (always a crowd-pleaser) ...
https://collectivecoin.com/lordmarcovan/7my2PhjhXCrR9PLbqB5k/wR9A5JuiabFwVBjKs4FS
and the Persian gold toman (which has some historical significance to my religion).
https://collectivecoin.com/lordmarcovan/7my2PhjhXCrR9PLbqB5k/JGx51458U5oTEGbSUlbT
That's just out of the current lineup. If you included favorite "bygones", it would be impossible to pick a top five, I think, but there are some standouts, notably:
The Macedonian "Mercenaries" drachm (choice Mint State with perfect strike and surface ratings from NGC, but shockingly, no star)
https://collectivecoin.com/lordmarcovan/SL50Qie7LLIUhnykKUjI/ASdP6aZWyFw4EpojiDeP
... and the PR65 DCAM gilt proof 1806 British halfpenny, which was briefly top pop before it got smoked by somebody's PR68 DCAM monster. (A member here ended up with that one.)
https://collectivecoin.com/lordmarcovan/SL50Qie7LLIUhnykKUjI/4uq6NLhYnGnIWvZBV5Kh
In fact, a lot of y'all own my "bygones", and in that way, they're still kind of "in the family", albeit a large and extended family. (group hug)
Yep, the Justinian tremissis remains. I was very proud when @CIVITAS praised it way back when. (That was high praise.)
The slow loading on the CollectiveCoin site can be annoying, and I wish the site were hyperlink-enabled, but otherwise I have no complaints about it- it's a great free site. And precisely because it is a free site, I have no room for complaint at all.
Ahh, you just didn't look closely enough.
Thanks. I'm relatively small potatoes, though. Check out @SmEagle1795's incredible Colosseo Collection I linked to, above. This one of his is my favorite. Check out the backstory on that one, and the reason it got that killer purple toning!
You're preaching to the choir. I abandoned the "Box of 20" concept three years ago. I am now limited only by my budget. But my budget is modest, so the collection remains small. The Box of 20 is now a "Box of 54" and growing, gradually. Even after the big March purge, I bought back enough coins to keep the number the same, albeit the cumulative dollar values are about $4K less than before.
Of course there's always some turnover, though not usually as drastic as my big March selloff. My collection is a revolving door. It's had to be, sometimes. Sometimes I can only afford to buy nice new coins by selling nice coins I already have. I've been a "flipper" for a very long time. But most stick around for a few years at least.
Thank y'all for the detailed feedback and commentary. I live for that stuff, numismatically speaking. Locally I reside in a numismatic backwater with no coin shops or clubs and such, so the forums (here and CoinTalk) have been all the social media I need.