Top five ancient coins to own?

darktone

New to ancient coins. I just got an owl tetradrachm. What other ones are would you reccomend.

Sapyx

Hmm. I'm not really a "top X list" person myself, but I'll give it a go.

• Athens "Owl" tetradrachm, like the one you've got.
• Alexander the Great "lifetime" tetradrachm. Widely copied by the successor states after he died, so make sure it's "lifetime".
• Corinth "colt" stater, depicting Pegasus, or Aegina "turtle" stater. Depends if you prefer horses or reptiles.
• Roman Empire, denarius of Tiberius - the Biblical "Tribute Penny". Or the Julius Caesar "elephant" denarius, if "biblical coins": don't appeal to you.
• Lydia electrum stater - "the world's first coins". They're not cheap so a Persian silver siglos might make do, if the budget's tight.

I've deliberately left off the list the super-rarities, like the Syracuse decadrachms, the "two daggers" denarius of Brutus after he murdered Julius Caesar, and the Egyptian "nefer nub" staters (the only coins ever made depicting genuine Egyptian heiroglyphics). The coins on my list are pricey, but "obtainable".

darktone

Thank you, I will look at all of those. Yes, super rarities are not in my budget. I prefer silver coins. Any gold coins that are affordable ?

Sapyx

"Ancient Gold" and "affordable" generally don't go together; you will pay far above the bullion value (like, 5x to 10x) for anything Greek or Roman, and even the Byzantine and Early Islamic coins which used to be close to BV, no longer are.

All of which means that it's now commercially viable for the fake-makers to make fake ancient gold coins out of genuine gold, and still make a profit. Fake Byzantine coins, in particular, seem to be way too common these days.

TheGoonies1985

@darktone said:
Thank you, I will look at all of those. Yes, super rarities are not in my budget. I prefer silver coins. Any gold coins that are affordable ?

Best to stick with silver as they say gold coins are the hobby of ''kings''. And I am no king so silver for me as well.

Zohar

I dont focus on ancients but here are a few of my collection favorites

tcollects

Zeugitana 15 shekels are cool

darktone

Nice coins!

lordmarcovan

@Sapyx said:
Hmm. I'm not really a "top X list" person myself, but I'll give it a go.

• Athens "Owl" tetradrachm, like the one you've got.
• Alexander the Great "lifetime" tetradrachm. Widely copied by the successor states after he died, so make sure it's "lifetime".
• Corinth "colt" stater, depicting Pegasus, or Aegina "turtle" stater. Depends if you prefer horses or reptiles.
• Roman Empire, denarius of Tiberius - the Biblical "Tribute Penny". Or the Julius Caesar "elephant" denarius, if "biblical coins": don't appeal to you.
• Lydia electrum stater - "the world's first coins". They're not cheap so a Persian silver siglos might make do, if the budget's tight.

I've deliberately left off the list the super-rarities, like the Syracuse decadrachms, the "two daggers" denarius of Brutus after he murdered Julius Caesar, and the Egyptian "nefer nub" staters (the only coins ever made depicting genuine Egyptian heiroglyphics). The coins on my list are pricey, but "obtainable".

Totally agree with this list. It ticks off all the boxes I'd have suggested.

I don't mind posthumous Alexander the Great tetradrachms, though, particularly when they come on massive flans.

lordmarcovan

@Zohar said:
I dont focus on ancients but here are a few of my collection favorites

Boy, howdy, that Ptolemaic coin seared my retinas! Wow. And then to be followed up by that Syracusan beauty! You're right to be proud of those.

messydesk

Not being a collector of ancients, I appreciate the "top 5" list above. I have such a list I tell people for US coins. Lists like this serve to break down one of the barriers to entry for any given segment of numismatics.

darktone

Great choices LordMarcovan! It’s a hole new world to me. Just cool to handle coins that have this much history.

Cucumbor

Wow @Zohar, those are beautiful. Thanks for sharing

rainbowroosie

This is a good add.