Collecting by Century
Icollecteverything
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Once upon a time............ I was making a list of my ancient coins and I left spaces for time periods that I did not have any. Then it dawned on me to try to get a coin from each century. I never reached my goal, partly because I had so many other areas of collecting but also because certain eras can be tough. Plus, I was looking for coins with a design that somehow symbolized each century.
The early years even up to 300 BC are actually pretty easy to find nice coins at a reasonable price and this goes up to 300 AD at least. Then things get a little tougher. There have been some nice Byzantine coins show here recently and then a nice example from 900 something.
I am wondering what are the toughest eras. It seems maybe from 500 AD to 900 AD it's harder to find nice stuff? It's odd that you can find beautiful works of art on coinage (basically sculptures) from ancient Greece and Egypt and Rome but then 500 years later not only are the coins debased but often crudely designed and poorly struck. It really makes you think about what life was like those middle years.
I bet the people here could put together an incredible set of pictures of coins from the beginning of coins up to say 1200 AD!
The early years even up to 300 BC are actually pretty easy to find nice coins at a reasonable price and this goes up to 300 AD at least. Then things get a little tougher. There have been some nice Byzantine coins show here recently and then a nice example from 900 something.
I am wondering what are the toughest eras. It seems maybe from 500 AD to 900 AD it's harder to find nice stuff? It's odd that you can find beautiful works of art on coinage (basically sculptures) from ancient Greece and Egypt and Rome but then 500 years later not only are the coins debased but often crudely designed and poorly struck. It really makes you think about what life was like those middle years.
I bet the people here could put together an incredible set of pictures of coins from the beginning of coins up to say 1200 AD!
Successful BST deals with mustangt and jesbroken. Now EVERYTHING is for sale.
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For Europe, I suggest looking at the areas of culture that thrived, which was mostly organized religion and cults. There's probably some Church medals or Vatican issues floating around. Other art forms suffered as well during those eras. Literature, for example, is very scarce between 500-900 AD and what we do have is heavily religion-influenced.
EDIT: Mercia !!! Can't believe I didn't think of it earlier. Mercia was a huge trade alliance along the Northern European continent (Baltic sea? or Black Sea? can't recall). Anyway King Offa began ruling in 757 AD and issued the Tower Pound. I know this because I wrote a song about it (I'm a musician). Anyway it was THE MAIN CURRENCY for a long time in Europe.
Also, the silver dirham (Arabic) was a huge deal. Those would make two awesome additions to any collection.
Amat Colligendo Focum
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Yeah I didn't want to by just random "stuff" either, just for the date, but I bet there are some interesting coins out there somewhere.
Lochness,
I bet China and Asia in general would help fill in the gaps but that is my weakest point in world numismatics. It also seems that there is not a whole lot of variation in/of design to many centuries of Chinese coins. I do have a 3rd century AD coin from India made of lead, but it ain't much to look at!
I also have a silver Persian Drachm alledgedly from 531-579 AD. These are somewhat crude but has a menacing bust design and I think were made for different rulers over a pretty long period.
Successful BST deals with mustangt and jesbroken. Now EVERYTHING is for sale.
You gotta look at cities instead of countries.
Amat Colligendo Focum
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Successful BST deals with mustangt and jesbroken. Now EVERYTHING is for sale.
<< <i> I am wondering what are the toughest eras. It seems maybe from 500 AD to 900 AD it's harder to find nice stuff? >>
For the European/Western series, yes, finding coins of any quality from this time period is tough; finding "nice" coins is even tougher. But while Europe was going through the "Dark Ages", the rest of the world carried on much as it always had. China entered a period of numismatic stasis under the Tang Dynasty, with the Kai Yuan Tong Bao cash coins being issued without change for nearly 300 years (AD 621-907) - the longest period of unchanged coinage design in world history. Impressive, but not too helpful for finding coinages distinctive for particular centuries.
The Indian series is likewise not too visually impressive, mainly being coins with designs derived from earlier Sassanian and Indo-Greek prototypes. The "bull and horseman jital" series from Afghanistan/North India is visually impressive but these also ran for quite a long period (AD 800-1000) and narrowing down the date of issue to a particular century can be tricky for some coins.
It is in the Islamic coinage where you'll find the best chances to obtain "nice" coins for each century. Most Islamic coins carry a date, making them easy to slot into your collection.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD.
At one time I considered collecting Byzantine and Arabic coins. Tough to find good Byzantine coins; I have several very nice Arabic coins in my collection.
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4th century AD: A gold aureus or silver miliarense of a Roman emperor. While the copper coinage was fast degenerating into tiny bronze pieces, these tended to remain well-struck and fairly attractive. Unfortunately, they tend to cost quite a bit! Some of the earlier Sassanid coins from this period tend to be a bit more nicely struck than the later pieces, so perhaps one of these?
5th century AD: At this point I think the silver miliarense had ended, so your best bet is a gold aureus from the Eastern Roman Empire (the coins of the Western Empire start declining even worse in quality about this time except for some of the gold).
6th century AD: Really, Byzantium stands out in this period. The largest size Justinian I copper units would be ideal.
7th century AD: This is a tough period in western Europe, and the earliest Islamic coins tend to be modified copies of Byzantine pieces. Byzantium, however, continues to issue some attractive gold solidi during this period - considering its continuing wealth, it is probably the best choice for this era. You could also choose a nicer Tang dynasty piece if you are able to date it to this century.
8th century AD: A Hisham, Al Walid, or Harun Al-Rashid silver dirham. The Ummayad and Abbasid silver dirhams traded widely and were fairly well struck. The later Abbasid ones are also attractive for the connections to Baghdad as it approached its cultural and scientific zenith. If you want to go for something European you could pick a piece by Charlemagne towards the end of the century.
9th century AD: I don't have much for this - perhaps you could get the Ummayad dirham for the early 8th and an Abbasid for this one, as Baghdad was still in its heydey?
10th century AD: Some of the better Anglo-Saxon pieces from this period feature good portraits for the era, and are well-struck. Unfortunately, they tend to also cost quite a bit! Also, Byzantium once again enters another golden age, so perhaps a Byzantine solidi?
11th and 12th centuries AD: Tough centuries... I can't come up with a whole lot
--Severian the Lame
The kid in me is really curious as to how someone from those centuries would respond to our [generally negative] commentary regarding their coinage.
Amat Colligendo Focum
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<< <i>11th and 12th centuries AD: Tough centuries... I can't come up with a whole lot >>
Yeah, there really isn't a Kimon or Saint Gaudens to grace the coinage from those centuries. This isn't a problem for my collection, because I want my coins from those centuries to look different from my Classical Sicilian bronze from the 5th BC, and whatever Roman Sestertius I get for the 2nd AD. Anyone looking at these coins will see that the 2nd century and the 12th century were very different times. In the 2nd century AD, the Romans were concerned about having an accurate portrait, so even a citizen in some far flung corner of the Empire would know who was in charge. A variety of denominations was important for commerce in the period, and the inscriptions on the coins conveyed imperial propaganda to a relatively literate population. In the 12th century, on the other hand, coinage was less important to the economy and the culture generally. The design didn't have to be pretty; just distinctive enough to be told apart from the multitude of issues of other feudal states. Multiple denominations weren't yet a necessity, and inscriptions didn't have to be literate because most of the population wasn't either.
So (keeping in mind that I don't know if more interesting/significant/appropriate issues might exist from the Middle East, India, or China) for the 11th century an English penny of Cnute might be a good choice. Even though his portraits aren't the quality of 2nd century Rome, he has a variety of types and the coins are relatively available. The English penny was also important to regional trade around that time due to it's stable metallic quality, compared to the frequent debasement of the continental coinages.
For the 12th century, a coin from one of the crusader states would be appropriate, and affordable. They may be on the crude side, but that's what the crusaders had to work with. Some deniers from Antioch have a simple, but charming portrait of a knight complete with helmet and chainmail.
That's what I like about this collecting theme. It encourages the hopeless generalist to explore new areas, while at the same time encouraging them to carefully consider which coins to actually purchase for the collection.