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Chapter 5

Showing Their True Age: Ancient Coins

IN THIS CHAPTER

Discovering the coins of the ancient world

Figuring out which ancient coins to collect

Recognizing the effect of age on value

Understanding the language of the ancients

Mention the word ancient, and your mind probably conjures images of Roman gladiators, Spartan warriors, Greek gods, emperors, Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, and many more. Similarly, ancient coins remind collectors of history because they’re historical records. Long after papyrus and sheepskin records have rotted away, coins remain to tell the story of people and events from long ago.

In reality, ancient coins are like members of any other coin series. They’re no more mysterious than U.S. half dollars, Spanish doubloons, or Austrian schillings; they’re just older and a little harder to read. As with any modern coin, you can find helpful books and online resources that tell you all about ancient coins.

This chapter introduces you to the world of ancient coins, giving you just enough information to whet your appetite. Get ready to enter the worlds of Julius Caesar and the goddess Athena, and come face to face with other famous names from the past.

Ancient Coins — of Gods and Men

Ancient coins are all about history. Without newspapers, mail, telephones, faxes, overnight delivery services, email, and the Internet, the best way to spread information throughout a kingdom 2,000 years ago was with coins. Each Roman ruler, for example, issued his own coins upon assuming the role of emperor. Thus, you find Roman coins with portraits of Julius Caesar, Brutus (the brute who killed Caesar), Nero (who is said to have fiddled while Rome burned), Marc Antony (Cleopatra’s lover), and other Roman rulers. Greek coins, on the other hand, favored the images of gods and goddesses such as Apollo, Athena, Zeus, and Hercules, not to mention lesser figures such as Pegasus the flying horse and various nymphs and mythological figures. Even the goddess Nike (named after the shoes you’re wearing, or was it the other way around?) appears on Greek coins, often driving a chariot pulled by four horses.

Coins are like time machines that bring the ancient world to us and transport us back to a world much different from the one we live in today. Although historians provide stories of the ancient world, coins provide additional insights. Coins are permanent records of military victories, marriages, deaths, new rulers, births, places, and events. In some cases, coins are the only historical records we have.

Deciding Which Ancient Coins to Collect

The field of ancient coins is so broad that it would be impossible and frustrating, if not mentally unhealthy, to try to collect them all. Therefore, collectors gravitate to certain areas that have become very popular. In this section, I highlight areas in which you may also want to develop an interest.

Ancient Greek coins

The Greeks learned about coinage from the Lydians (their neighbors and inventors of the first coins). Between 500 and 400 B.c., Greece’s various city-states produced some of the most beautiful coins the world has ever known. Early Greek coins are crude little bean-shaped pieces with punched designs of animals or other objects. But over time, the designs became more sophisticated, and the beans flattened out into the thin, round pieces that are the hallmark of coins today.

During this period, the Greeks at Athens issued large silver coins called tetradrachms with a bug-eyed owl on one side (see Figure 5-1). The owl was the symbol of the goddess Athena, who considered the bird to be sacred. In turn, Athena was revered by the people, who considered her to be sacred and named their city after her. The ultimate Greek coin was the impressive decadrachm, a large silver coin from Syracuse (Greece, not New York).

FIGURE 5-1: Athena’s sacred owl on a coin.

A drachm or drachma is the basic unit of Greek money, even in modern times. Tetra means four, so a tetradrachm equals four drachma. Also, because values of coins were based on their weight, a tetradrachm weighs exactly four times as much as a drachma. A decadrachm equaled ten drachma.

The Greeks employed interesting and unusual designs for their coins, including grapes, roses, wheat, eagles, crabs, dolphins, and rabbits, not to mention images of many of the Greek gods and goddesses. Yet while they made liberal use of images of gods and animals on their coins, they shunned portraits of real people. Even Alexander the Great’s image never appeared on his own coins until after his death, and by then, he had been converted to a god by many of his successors and fans. Some Greek coins show Alexander wearing a lion’s head as a helmet; another shows him with the tusked head of an elephant atop his own head!

As Greek civilization declined, so did its coins. At one point, the Greeks became so desperate for metal for their coins that they made them out of bronze and then silver-plated them to make them look like their more valuable counterparts. They even melted down statues of the goddess Nike to make gold coins.

Ancient Roman coins

Rome started as a monarchy (ruled by kings), became a republic (ruled by representatives of the people), and then veered toward a dictatorship (ruled by Caesars) as the Romans created a worldwide empire. Unlike the Greeks, the Romans loved to place images of their rulers on their coins, and they used their coins as propaganda pieces to tout military victories and record important events. Like the Greeks, the Romans revered their gods and sprinkled their likenesses liberally throughout their coinage.

One of the most famous Roman coins is the denarius, or penny (see Figure 5-2). This silver coin was roughly the diameter of a modern U.S. dime. Because the denarius was issued over hundreds of years, collectors have an opportunity to collect a wide range of rulers and design types. Rome also issued many unusual coins, such as the big bronze coin known as an Aes Grave, the golden aureus, and the silver didrachm.

FIGURE 5-2: The denarius, the backbone of Roman economics.

Some of the most popular Roman coins include Brutus’s Ides of March denarius, the coins of the 12 Caesars, and the series of JVDEA CAPTA coins that commemorated Emperor Vespasian’s victory over the Jews in 70 A.d.

The nice thing about many ancient Roman coins is their low cost. Small copper coins can be purchased in quantity for less than $25 each. A nice silver denarius costs more. Even some Roman gold coins are surprisingly affordable, considering their popularity.

Biblical coins

The Bible mentions several coins, including the Roman denarius, the Jewish shekel, and the widow’s mite. Something about these coins evokes a special feeling in coin collectors today.

When you get down to it, coins are the only tangible reminders we have of the people, places, and events of biblical times. When you hold a tiny widow’s mite in your hand, you realize why such a worthless coin can mean so much. And you wonder whether you might be holding the very coin that the old woman gave as an offering.

Byzantine coins

The Roman Empire fell gradually but surely, to be replaced in the West by the Byzantine Empire, centered in Constantinople. In 498 A.d., Anastasius introduced a new copper coin called a follis, worth 40 nummi. The Byzantines also issued beautiful gold and silver coins. Byzantine coins are known for their religious symbols; common themes include crosses, images of Christ, and other reminders of the Christian religion (see Figure 5-3). Like the earlier Roman coins, many Byzantine coins bear the images of the rulers of the time.

FIGURE 5-3: Byzantine coins like this one were promoters of Christianity.

Byzantine coins, like many other ancient coins, are quite affordable. Many of the gold coins can be had for less $1000, and Byzantine bronzes often sell for less than $100.

Understanding How Age Affects Value

One of the reasons why ancient coins are so common is that the coiners made so many of them; survivors have been found among the many coin hoards that have been discovered over the years. In ancient times, people carried their wealth with them, because there were no banks, ATMs, checking accounts, or credit cards. The wealth of the ancients was measured in coins and jewelry. Money was accumulated in small clay pots or jars. At the first sign of trouble, people buried their money, planning to return to claim it when the crisis passed. As you can imagine, many people forgot where they buried their coins or died before they could retrieve them, and the location of the coins died with them.

Modern construction projects have uncovered many hoards of coins that eventually get dispersed into the coin market. Handheld metal detectors have uncovered millions of ancient coins. Think of it this way: If New York City were covered by a volcano tomorrow, how many Lincoln cents would archaeologists find in 100 years while digging up the city?

It’s All Greek to Me!

Many collectors are intimidated by the unusual letters, words, and symbols on ancient coins. “How,” they ask, “can you identify your coin if you can’t read and understand the lettering and designs?” Actually, ancient coins are no more difficult to collect than some of the modern coins that contain non-English inscriptions and symbols. People who can’t read or understand either Japanese or Chinese, for example, have no problems collecting coins from those countries, yet the same collectors may fear venturing into ancient coins.

Most Roman coins bear Latin inscriptions that are fairly easy to translate. When you understand the abbreviations used on Roman coins, the rest is easy. The only stumbling blocks with Greek coins are the Greek alphabet and the unfamiliar shapes of some of the letters. Again, after you learn the abbreviations used on the coins, translations are readily available.

Knowing Where You Can Get ’Em

You may have never seen or heard of one in your life, but ancient coins are everywhere. Your local coin dealer probably has a few in stock, and you can find a big variety of ancient coins at any coin show. At the biggest shows, especially international coin shows attended by dealers from all over Europe, you may even see a collection of coins from a hoard that was dug up recently. Imagine having a chance to buy inexpensive ancient coins fresh out of the ground! If you want a real conversation piece, pick up an ancient coin or two, and share them with your friends.

Don’t forget eBay (https://www.ebay.com) if you know real from fake. I just performed a search for ancient coin and came up with 106,620 possibilities; the true number is probably more!