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Author Topic: Which coins would you stop?  (Read 6739 times)

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basemetal

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Re: Which coins would you stop?
« Reply #25 on: September 06, 2007, 09:11:31 pm »
Which brings up another question.   Did the roman "man in the street" really know that Nero's denarii were of less silver content? After all, they weren't THAT much less silver.  I don't mean money changers and the like, and I know weights differed and that professional money handlers had scales and surely knew. 
I'm thinking perhaps that at the street level there might have been reasons that moneychangers and the like "neglected" to mention that the new denarii were debased.  Or, on the other hand:
"What?  You want me to give you how many sestertii for that denarius?  Well, my friend, you know the great emperor just reduced the silver content of the denarius to finance that new palace of his and to give away good coin just so those unemployed bums can have a place to live after the fire.   So I'm afraid I'll have to give you a combination of dupondii, as, and a sestertius.  Yes, you are right, the rich get richer and the common man suffers".
Bruce 

Offline Reid Goldsborough

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Re: Which coins would you stop?
« Reply #26 on: September 09, 2007, 09:57:55 pm »
I also think this is a good thread, but a better way to pose the question might have been "What coins don't you like?" Along with the impossibly of stopping coins, there's also the impossibility of stopping fakes of them.

I can see people not liking fourrees or fakes of any kind because of the possibility of getting fooled by one. But despite draconian laws including being deep fried to death in hot oil, authorities throughout the ages have never been able to stop the production of counterfeits. I personally like them, like studying them, like collecting them, like the challenge they pose -- contemporaneous counterfeits meant to fool merchants as well as later forgeries meant to fool us foolish collectors.

Somebody here mentioned wanting to stop Alexander the Great from posing as Herakles for 300 years, bringing up again an old debate. There's no evidence Alexander posed as such for 3 minutes let alone 300 years and plenty of evidence he didn't, most notably the same Herakles image featured on coins before he was born. I like Alexanders myself, both lifetime and posthumous, and wouldn't have wanted to see them stopped, but just as with Owls I can see some people tiring of seeing so many of them.

Interestingly, CNG seems to be trying to buck the tradition of classifying posthumous Alexanders as Alexanders, giving them instead to the ruler responsible for minting them. I believe the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris does this as well (those French!), but as far as I know everybody else except CNG has followed the tradition starting since at least Mueller in 1855 of basing their attribution of posthumous Alexanders to Alexander on the reverse legend that translates into "[Coin] of Alexander."

I can see the logic of both approaches. The traditional approach is safer since we know it's a coin "of Alexander." The French approach in some cases may be more historically accurate, though in many cases I don't believe the dating is secure enough to give a coin to a specific issuer.
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Offline slokind

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Re: Which coins would you stop?
« Reply #27 on: September 10, 2007, 12:03:19 am »
Well, we classify pre-Imperial cistophori by mint, because their subjects are nearly invariable, and the same is true of the Herakles / Zeus enthroned tetradrachms and drachms.  There are so many of them, and though it may be more profitable to sell them as ATG, it is more helpful to catalogue them (and study, and learn them) by mints.  In principle, it's the same.  Unlike many people, I like these all, cistophoroi and Herakles, so I'd only like to keep the Alexander legend at bay.  Pat L.

Offline wandigeaux (1940 - 2010)

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Re: Which coins would you stop?
« Reply #28 on: September 10, 2007, 05:08:02 pm »
Why deny history?  Instead of "stopping" a coin (an odd sentiment in one of antiquarian bent), why not refer to it as "coins I wouldn't give a plugged nickel for?"  Yr obt svt, George Spradling
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Offline mwilson603

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Re: Which coins would you stop?
« Reply #29 on: September 10, 2007, 05:16:18 pm »
Why deny history?  Instead of "stopping" a coin (an odd sentiment in one of antiquarian bent), why not refer to it as "coins I wouldn't give a plugged nickel for?"  Yr obt svt, George Spradling

Mr Spradling sir, mainly because that question would be no where near as controversial, and I couldn't have a distinct lack of controversy in one of my posts  :evil:

Offline ROMA

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Re: Which coins would you stop?
« Reply #30 on: September 11, 2007, 04:10:36 am »
Many coins were produced lacking great craftmanship. Others were produced in such large numbers that they become dull to the collector. But these are purely athsetic viewpoints. I, and probably most other collectors, look at coins as a door to history, to understand it better. I bet there are few coin collectors who buy coins only for their artistic value and pay no attention to the history around it. Coins produced by the western roman empire would be of higher quality then the fragmented tribes that took over the areas in the fifth century. That doesnt mean I'd rather have western roman coins in place of their own. Coins are a gateway to the past first and foremost. Some i think are better looking then others, but i appreciate them all equally.
Adversus solem ne loquitor

Offline Rupert

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Re: Which coins would you stop?
« Reply #31 on: March 12, 2023, 04:13:06 pm »
Just ran across this thread; sorry for reviving a FIFTEEN-year-old topic!

But I have a very clear opinion about which numismatic development I'd want to stop, which is: The Delian League, in which Athens forced all their allies / subjects to stop their own minting and only use Athenian money. Nice as it is to have a few Athenian owls, think of all the variety we could have had from all these poleis in the years 450 to 400 BC, when Greek classical art was at its highest... :(

Rupert
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Offline SC

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Re: Which coins would you stop?
« Reply #32 on: March 17, 2023, 08:10:40 pm »
The only thing I would stop is - people from using flans (blanks) that were way smaller than the die, thus depriving us of some or all of the design.....

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Offline lawrence c

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Re: Which coins would you stop?
« Reply #33 on: March 17, 2023, 08:40:31 pm »
I would be happy to provide some 5th Century AE4s with bust and walking Vic that are too small for legends. They really peg my frustration meter.
Best,
Larry

Offline Blindado

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Re: Which coins would you stop?
« Reply #34 on: March 20, 2023, 08:41:29 pm »
Oh, I would stop this Silbannacus coin exactly because its uniqueness ruins my series of rulers in Rome: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=ERIC%20-%20SILBANNACUS.

Offline Virgil H

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Re: Which coins would you stop?
« Reply #35 on: March 26, 2023, 09:42:22 pm »
I read this a couple days ago and had to come back. I, like many, have coins I find are boring. An example is VOT reverses. But, how about this (actually two) as a broad example. The Islamic prohibition on living things in art, so we get lots of text. To a lesser degree was the advent of Christianity that limited designs (lots of crosses). I appreciate all coins, but my only interest in Islamic for the most part is specific mints, otherwise, I find them boring. I also can't read them, so I am sure the text can be very interesting.

Virgil

 

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