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Collecting by Century

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!

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Comments

  • SmEagle1795SmEagle1795 Posts: 2,135 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I wanted to complete this set as well, but ended up not pursuing it because I wasn't enamored with the coins in the periods you mentioned as well. There are some, but I felt like I was buying "stuff" just to complete a century. It was hard for me to get myself to buy the later years once I worked on the 700BC-200AD set as I fell too deeply in love with ancients, and I haven't looked back since image
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  • LochNESSLochNESS Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭
    I have a few suggestions... China, Japan, India, Tamarlane ... Think about what was going on around the world during that time.

    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. image

    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.
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  • IcollecteverythingIcollecteverything Posts: 1,026 ✭✭✭
    SmEagle,

    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.

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  • LochNESSLochNESS Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭
    Well, if you browse some of the "Jesus on coins" or "coins of the bible" collections floating around, I'm sure you will find something.

    You gotta look at cities instead of countries.
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  • IcollecteverythingIcollecteverything Posts: 1,026 ✭✭✭
    Here is my silver Drachm from Persia. It is supposed to depict the ruler Xusro I and is from 531 to 579 AD. The two figures on the back appear to be wearing deer antlers of some sort. This is almost the size of an American 50 cent piece but quite thin.


    image


    image

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  • SapyxSapyx Posts: 1,976 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <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.
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  • santeliasantelia Posts: 138 ✭✭
    Two issues with Chinese and Arabic coins; you need to learn how to translate the dates, and neither relies on Western European iconography. But in China, the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) was one of the high points of Chinese calligraphy. Many emperors minted coins in up to four calligraphic styles. A lot of Asian collectors will look to build matched sets; the same reign title in different calligraphy styles and in similar conditions.
    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.
    Chinese cash enthusiast
  • TitusFlaviusTitusFlavius Posts: 317 ✭✭✭
    I'm working on a one-coin-per-century set, too. As a hopeless generalist it was the only way to bring some focus to my collecting tastes. Some centuries were easy to decide: a Lydian trite for the 7th BC, a Solidus of Constantine I for the 4th AD, etc. Other centuries are tougher having either too many historically/numismatically interesting things going on (13th AD, the return of both "large" silver, and gold coins in several parts of Europe), or too few (2nd AD, Trajan discontinuing Domitian's heavy weight standard for the Denarius? I don't know). My list has a bit of a Western civilization bias due to not being as familiar with the pre-modern issues outside of the Mediterranean world, and because the non-Western coinage systems tended to adopt Western practices over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. I'm interested in learning more about non-Western coinage to help fill out my list. Then again, that could lead to some more tough choices for some centuries (3rd BC: Qin dynasty China, or an early Roman Denarius?). Anyway, here's the start of my 1CPC set. Happy hunting for the coins on your list.

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  • BjornBjorn Posts: 529 ✭✭✭
    Finding a coin for each century is actually fairly easy - the problem, as you mentioned, is finding a well-struck and/or attractive type for some centuries. The problem centuries seem to be roughly 300 - 1200, even outside of Europe for the most part. Up to 250 or so, all Roman coins, and many Greek Provincial and Parthian pieces tend to be found with fairly high relief and well-struck, while from the 1200s onward you start to find the occasional European pieces with better and higher relief portraits and larger size, such as Frederick IIs gold coins or the French Gros, as well as interesting Middle Eastern figural pieces. By the 1400s there are almost too many interesting, larger, and well-struck pieces too choose from! Here are some ideas for some of the tougher centuries:

    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

  • SmEagle1795SmEagle1795 Posts: 2,135 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Nice trite!
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  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,934 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Nice trite! image
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  • LochNESSLochNESS Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭
    This is a great thread.

    The kid in me is really curious as to how someone from those centuries would respond to our [generally negative] commentary regarding their coinage.
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  • TitusFlaviusTitusFlavius Posts: 317 ✭✭✭



    << <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.
    "Render therfore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." Matthew 22: 21
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