Ancient Coin
 |
ancient gold/silver coins US $35,000.00 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: End Date: Tuesday Aug-26-2008 9:38:23 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 |
Phoenician Warship Silver Ancient Coin US $1,990.00 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: End Date: Tuesday Aug-26-2008 20:24:00 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 |
UNOPENED LOT 1000 UNCLEANED ANCIENT RELIC ROMAN COINS US $1,495.00 Auction Ends: End Date: Friday Aug-22-2008 23:45:08 PDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 |
AUGUSTUS Ancient ROMAN Coin Silver Denarius BULL 11 BC US $859.00 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: End Date: Thursday Aug-28-2008 13:11:21 PDT Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 |
Ancient Byzantine GOLD Coin JESUS Christ CONSTANTINE X US $679.00 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: End Date: Tuesday Aug-26-2008 11:29:21 PDT Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 |
850 Uncleaned Ancient Coins (Roman, Greek, Byzantine?) US $600.00 (1 Bid) Auction Ends: End Date: Friday Aug-22-2008 20:09:13 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 |
Ancient Byzantine Gold Coin 14K Diamond Necklace $5,100 US $500.00 (3 Bids) Auction Ends: End Date: Friday Aug-22-2008 10:38:11 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 |
ancient biblical coin US $500.00 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: End Date: Sunday Aug-24-2008 16:01:10 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 |
Rare Ancient GREEK Silver Coin - Antiochus VII US $455.00 Auction Ends: End Date: Monday Aug-25-2008 7:39:22 PDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 |
MACEDON Ancient GREEK Coin Tetradrachm ARTEMIS Shield US $399.00 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: End Date: Thursday Aug-28-2008 13:07:47 PDT Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 |
Ancient Roman Coin Silver Denarius of Nero US $350.00 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: End Date: Monday Aug-25-2008 15:06:33 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 |
18KT GOLD ANCIENT COIN REPLICA CLIP ON SCREW EARRINGS US $300.00 Auction Ends: End Date: Friday Aug-22-2008 10:32:57 PDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 |
Ancient Coin US $300.00 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: End Date: Friday Aug-22-2008 12:11:55 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 |
500 UNCLEANED BYZANTINE SCYPHATES ANCIENT COIN OLD LOT! US $299.00 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: End Date: Friday Aug-22-2008 23:45:08 PDT Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 |
Ancient Coin BIG Æ 33mm ZEUS AMMON Eagle PTOLEMY IV US $299.00 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: End Date: Wednesday Aug-27-2008 14:03:20 PDT Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list |
Ancient coin collecting
The most obvious attraction of ancient coin collecting is that coins are beautiful-they are miniature works of art designed by outstanding artists. It is therefore easy to understand that one of the deepest pleasures of coin collecting comes from merely examining the items of a collection, one by one, and savouring the loving artistry that has gone into their painstaking production.
Linked with art is the intense historical interest that surrounds coins as souvenirs of the past. In some cases this past is so remote that we would need to visit a museum to find any other remnant of it. Coins are perhaps the only reminders of past civilizations that we can acquire at little trouble and expense. That is why there is a special thrill in possessing coins of ancient Greece and Rome.
There are hundreds of types of Greek and Roman coins that are 2,000 years old and more. Some of the Greek coins are so breathtakingly beautiful that they are often selected as the choicest art masterpieces of ancient Greece. The Roman coins are re- markable for the honest frankness of the portraits of the Emperors. The same can be said of the Byzantine coin and Celtic coin collections.
Greek coins are comparatively rare and therefore apt to be expensive. Of Roman coins the opposite is true. Remember that the Roman Empire was widespread; it issued a great deal of coinage over a period of centuries in large areas of Europe, Africa and Asia Minor. Hoards of Roman coins are still being dug up. There are three main era's of collectable Roamn coins; the Roman Imperial coin, the Roman Republic coin and the the Roman Provincial coin.
Such old coins can widen our intellectual horizons and lead us into other fascinating hobbies. The collector who prizes his ancient coin of Alexander the Great or the Emperor Nero will be led sooner or later to explore the eras in which these men lived; he will want to know more about the background of his rare coins.
As he pursues his quest he will see how historical traditions can live on for thousands of years. To take one outstanding example: the Greek figure of the goddess Athene was copied by the Romans in some of the female divinities pictured on their coins. The same figure appeared as Britannia on English coins many centuries later, and still later as Liberty on United States coins.
Coin collecting spans the globe from the China coin from Asia to the Medieval coin from all parts of Europe. Once we become aware of this historical appeal of coins, there is literally no limit to the fascinating by-ways through which this absorbing hobby of ancient coin collecting will lead us.