Question about collecting ancients....

Bochiman

Might be a different definition on "ancients", but I will try to describe what I am asking....

I went to a local show this weekend. I collect lightside coins primarily (95% probably).
I didn't see anything cool or new at this small lil po'dunk show so I went over too look at a dealer's table that was on the darkside.

Saw some nice silvers.....greek. Prices were ~$150-$500 I think. Some incredibly small and some that are roughly quarter-size but 2x as think and weigh about 3x as much as a quarter.
I actually thought of picking one, or two up.

Now, here comes the question.....
How do people do ancient collections? By the obverse depicted? By type?
The mintages must be pretty small on these coins and the traverses of time and melting likely took a great toll on survivorship of the mintages, so, I don't think it would be anything like collecting lightside coins.

So, how do you people who collect them do it?

Curious.....

Thanks,

Ron

coachleonard

There's a number of ways to collect ancients, the two primary ancient categories being greek and roman. F'rinstance with greek coins, a lot of folks simply go after nice Greek silver coins from all over the Greek world. Then some break that down to only collecting , say, Greek silver from Athens, or silver and bronze from Athens, etc. As for Romans, a lot of folks specialize in getting a silver denarii of each emperor, while others specialize in just the Twelve Caesars (Julius Caesar thru Domitan), while others may specialize in just one emperor only. If you're like me, I grab any Greek, Roman, Celtic, Judean or Byzantine coin that is affordable and more unusual than oridinary. I also happen to prefer the roman coins of the Twelve Caesars.

harasha

You also might want to consider the less "popular" ancients, such as Parthia and Sasanid Persia. There is also Celtic.

JZrarities

Listen to the Coach (above) - he knows.

Althought I have been collecting some Roman coins by emperor (in silver), I am ABSOLUTELY HOOKED on The Greek coins.
The Greek city states are a varied group, and I'm collecting them by 'Type'
A subset of Greek (not really Greek, but a long story) are the coins of Alexander the Great. You gotta get a nice Tetradrachm of him first...
Should be in the $150-$300 range for a Really Nice one.

Here's mine:



The Greek state of Larissa:



Stunning (to me) Greek Art.

PuddlePirate

Ancients - I love Greek Silver and GOOD bronze. The coins cover several very artistic era's and the good ones get pricey, but Turtles and Owls - I'd take an Athenian Owl over a Alexander the Great any day of the week if they were both anywhere near the same grade.
Roman Imperials - mintages were in the MILLIONS of coins, hammered out by slave labor and a varity of minters, state mints and army mints. Your collection choices could be anything from size, mint, emperor, ceasar, metal type, reverses. There are literally something like 10,000 reverses in the Imperial Era alone. My collection is predominately self cleaned. I only keep the EF's and I give away or sell everything else. Personally I like the Roman Republic period more than the Imperial, they are just very hard to come by uncleaned.
Byzantines can be alot of fun, I have a fondness for good "cup" coins and King of Kings bronzes.
For me, Ancients have to be "eye catching" whether that is a fantastic strike or just something intriguing about a certain peice. Have fun with them, you can build a collection to whatever size your pockets can stand.

Have fun!

Bochiman

Thanks for the input guys.
I agree they can look nice and are intriguing.....I have to ponder this as I like to collect but didn't want to go off without giving it some good thought.

hyperizer

There were some good tips in this thread.

BigAlan

There are literally something like 10,000 reverses in the Imperial Era alone.


If you consider that a die for bronze is estimated to have lasted for only 10,000 strikes the possible number of die varieties is enough to set a lightsider all atwitter.