Thinking of buying an ancient coin for my type set, gimme a recommendation!

comma · November 16, 2011 10:42AM

I really love the history of coins, and the history behind ancients fascinates me. However, I feel completely lost when looking at them.
I really want a nice coin for my type set. I know narrowing ancients down to one could be hard, but what would be your recommendation for a nice composition, historically significant, somewhat affordable, and fairly easily obtainable coin? Id like to be able to find it slabbed too.
Open to any suggestions you might have. Thanks!

ajaan · November 16, 2011 10:44AM

Roman Republic

RedTiger · November 16, 2011 12:43PM

I suggest a silver denarius. Affordable is a relative term, but many of the relatively common silver coins are under $100. Famous emperors will drive the cost higher, as will nicer grades. Slabbed means having to search a bit more, but the coins are out there.

bronzemat · November 16, 2011 12:46PM

Buying ancients in a slab, especially on ebay is pretty expensive. Part of the fun of owning a ancient is the rules of coins dont really fall into the realm of U.S. and such. All ancients have been cleaned due to being buried for thousands of years, many have scratches, off centering or at times cracks cause they were stuck by a hammer/die in primitive conditions.

Try and get raw, otherwise depending on the type, a run of the mill Gordian III or Philip I thats $30-$50 can be well over a $100 cause of some plastic covering it.

comma · November 16, 2011 12:56PM

The only reason I want plastic is because I know nothing about ancients, and it seems like there could be a lot of fakes...

lordmarcovan · November 16, 2011 1:03PM

<< <i>I really want a nice coin for my type set. I know narrowing ancients down to one could be hard, but what would be your recommendation for a nice composition, historically significant, somewhat affordable, and fairly easily obtainable coin? Id like to be able to find it slabbed too. >>

<< <i>Roman Republic >>

<< <i>I suggest a silver denarius. >>

I think I have just the thing for you.

Roman Republic, silver denarius
C. Vibius C. f. Pansa
Circa 90 BC
AR Denarius
NGC Ch. VF

Well, this one wouldn't be as inexpensive as a lot of denarii, but still relatively affordable.

It's a beauty, and slabbed, if that means anything to you (but most traditionalists in the ancient coin community scoff at slabs).

I'm thinking of naming it "The Boomerang". You see, I just agreed to buy this coin for the THIRD time.

And am happy to do so, even though it doesn't exactly fit into my Roman Imperial collection, being a Republican piece.

But it's always welcome back here.

I have now bought it three times and sold it twice, and will probably sell it a third time (and who knows, buy it again when it comes on the market again). I don't really need it but I love it nonetheless. So I don't really care whether I end up selling it or keeping it. I have enjoyed the past two ownerships of it, and look forward to being reunited with it, if only briefly.

Here is the recent history of this coin on these forums:

I won it on VAuctions.
Sold it to Don ("ajaan").
He slabbed it, sold it back to me.
I sold it to Frank ("Hyperion").
Frank just offered to sell it back to me again, and I said yes.

What's the future hold? Will I sell it a third time, or keep it?

I'd consider selling it to you if you liked it and we could agree on a price. (PM me if you like.)

Edit- to prove I ain't just spamming, I'll mention that I haven't actually paid Frank yet, as of this post. So if you read this fairly soon after it was posted, PM him, if you like, and if y'all reach an agreement, I'll bow out and let YOU buy the coin, which is at the moment still in his possession. I love the coin, and will cheerfully buy it back from him (and have agreed to do so- I'm just waiting for funds to come in from a recent sale of mine). But if you want it, have at it. I don't really need it. I just like it, that's all.

(I've PM-ed Frank a link to this thread, so if you want to buy the coin it won't be surprising to him to get a PM from you about it after I've already agreed to buy it. Of course if you do not buy it, it still goes to me.)

Ever browsed my BST sale thread? If so, you'll have noticed some little category banners. (Most of which Spacemonkey made for me.)

Look closely at the Ancient & Medieval banner. See that coin on either side, in the background? That's THIS coin.

Yep, the good ol' "Boomerang" Pansa denarius. And if you buy it and change your mind later, I'll let it boomerang again and buy it ... for a FOURTH time (assuming the price remains reasonable, of course). How many times do you hear somebody offer that?

OR, you could try a search or two on VCoins.com sometime. It's the online mega mall for ancients.

astrorat · November 16, 2011 8:15PM

Here is another vote for a Roman Republican piece.

WheatieFan · November 16, 2011 10:05PM

I am a newbie with ancients, too.

IMHO: Stop looking for coins and go to your library. Price = FREE

My library had 'Ancient Coin Collecting' by Wayne Sayles which I'd recommend. It covers the biggies of the time--Greece and Rome--and also covers other cultures.

There's no way I could only have one ancient coin in a type set. That's like saying a circulated indian cent would be your type coin for Earth from 1600-2200.

If I were to own only one ancient coin, it wouldn't be a republican roman, and probably wouldn't be roman at all. If you read the book, you'll note that the Greeks had been making artistic coins for hundreds of years while the Romans were still using primitive hunks of bronze. Even after Rome eclipsed Greece, they never eclipsed the artistry. So I'd concentrate on the ancient Greek, or possibly Roman Provincial (Imperial Greek).

As a numismatist looking for a type for a collection, I might concentrate on the earliest coinage of all--those electrum, gold, or silver from 600-400BC.

-wheatiefan

STLNATS · November 16, 2011 10:25PM

Stop looking for coins and go to your library.

Once you learn a little about ancients, you might find some areas are most interesting than others which would focus your search. And you might be able to avoid many of the most obvious fakes. Slabbing is no guarantee of authenticity. A very very rare Athenian dekadrachm was offered at auction with an estimate near $1 million earlier this year. It was slabbed for the grade only apparently, and was withdrawn from sale almost immediately when serious questions arose about its authenticity.

WillieBoyd2 · November 17, 2011 12:12AM

My advice:

Buy a Late Roman Bronze coin on Ebay, many can be found for under US $20.
These are small US cent-sized coins of the Emperor Constantine or
one of his relatives, made AD 300-400.

Ancient coins are usually not slabbed; collectors want to handle them
and wonder whose hands they passed through thousands of years ago.

After getting started and inspired, look at online data bases like Wildwinds.

Then the fun begins, libraries, history books, and more collecting.

The most "fun" I had with an ancient coin was with a Roman Sestertius
of Antoninus Pius which I bought on Ebay for $17.
Identifying it proved to be a challenge as it wasn't listed in the major catalogs.

Obverse: Laureate head right, ANTONINVS AVG PIUS
Reverse: Figure standing, D in lower left, S C in field
Diameter: 31mm
Weight: 23.58gm

comma · November 17, 2011 2:14AM

Ya, I think I would also like a loose piece to handle it, especially if it's an under 50 coin.
Thanks for all the input! I'm going to some more research

Aethelred · November 17, 2011 10:22PM

I find Roman Imperial coinage from the First Century the most interesting, but that is just me.

lordmarcovan · November 18, 2011 7:56PM

I just saw Ye Dead King post. Wow.

Thinking of buying an ancient coin for my type set, gimme a recommendation!

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