Coin Collector

COLLECTING GUIDE Coin Collector | 36 | www.allaboutcoins.co.uk addition to any collection. Roman Provincial coins can be collected cheaply especially Tetradrachms from the time of Nero up to the time of Diocletian. Also worth considering are the barbarous imitations of official issues from across Europe. These were issued from the late 3rd to the 5th century. They form an interesting field of study and are not particularly expensive. Roman Coins and How to Collect Them is a straightforward and very informative book by John Fox and published by Longmans in 1983. Richard Reece’s Identifying Roman Coins, published by Spink, is also worth considering as it helps to give the collector a useful starting point. Finally the Sears series of Roman Coin catalogues are extremely useful and should be considered a must for serious collectors of Roman coins. These examples are both bronze and silver Roman coins of reasonable quality. They are by no means the cheapest as poorer specimens can be purchased for much less, but from experience, it is better to save for more collectable items. This is a common copper coin of the house of Constantine – often referred to as the camp gate variety. There are many different types of this particular coin, for example rarer varieties with four turrets. Therefore it is always worth looking carefully at each coin. They are cheap but interesting to collect. Many come from hoards; this came from the Grassmoor hoard and cost £12. On the reverse is the inscription ‘Providentiae Avgg’ which translates to ‘the providence of the Emperors’. Beneath the camp gate with two towers is the mint number and name ‘STR’, the second mint of Trier in Germany. The obverse features a portrait of Constantine and his name is round the edge. This coin was struck between 320-324 AD. COST c. £12 This is a silver denarius of the Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211 AD) and cost £24 from a dealer. The reverse shows Victory with a palm, the inscription around the edge refers to Severus’s victories in Arabia. On the reverse is the portrait of the Emperor Septimius Severus, an important emperor to collect as he more or less reconstructed Hadrian’s Wall. This coin was struck in 126 AD. COST c. £24 MEDIEVAL COINS M y interest in medieval coins started with the acquisition of a group of pennies and a couple of groats from a publican in Lancashire, writes Ed Archer. That was back in the late 1960s when metal detecting had not taken off and there was less interest in coin collecting. The situation has changed, especially since the advent of ebay, and prices of hammered silver coins have increased despite the fact that more coins have now been found. Those thinking of starting a collection shouldn’t be put off; it’s possible to start a collection of coins from Medieval England without paying a fortune by visiting coin fairs and antique and collectors fairs as well as looking at dealers’ lists on the internet. The coins that I would suggest starting with are silver pennies from the beginning of the reign of King John to the end of the reign of Richard II. It is possible to find coins from between £30 and £40 covering this period of the Middle Ages. It must be noted that some monarchs’ coins are scarcer than others, but the collector can always opt for a coin in fine condition that is legible and have the option of replacing it with a better specimen if and when funds allow. The best coins available for the English Middle Ages are those of the reigns of Henry III and the Edwards, in particular Edward I. Henry III coins are relatively common, both short cross and long cross coins, as Henry III was on the throne from 1216 to 1272. The best coins to go for to begin with are those from Canterbury and London and one can form a nice collection of moneyers from these mints for little outlay. Edward I coins are even more common and thousands have been discovered all over Britain in recent years by metal detectorists. It is not difficult to pick up coins of this reign from Canterbury, London, York and Durham. Edward II coins fall into this category too. The wars that both Edward I and Edward II fought resulted in literally millions of silver pennies being struck. Silver pennies and farthings, in particular those of Edward I and Edward II, can also be picked up relatively easily since the discovery of these in recent years has made them more affordable. Groats and half groats are less easy to find at reasonable prices but those of Edward II and Henry VI are perhaps the best to go for. Later hammered coins can be picked up and the most commonly available are those of King Alexander III of Scotland on the left with Llywelyn, Prince of Wales on the right as guests to King Edward I of England at the sitting of an English parliament STARTER PRICES