Mohawk

There's probably someone who collects expired credit cards now. There are people who collect Starbucks gift cards without balances. I used to work for Starbucks and I sold my Partner Card (which is a card given to employees which is never supposed to come onto the collectible markets.....I wasn't going back, I knew it and I kept the card) after I resigned for a couple of hundred bucks! I'm really not kidding.

Hey Don!! If I do see any nice Soho, I'll definitely let you know!!! As far as submissions....well...with what I actually collect, those don't happen anymore. But I'll definitely be sharing my collection with you guys!! I keep on chasing Faustina, and she keeps being a rewarding numismatic muse, for sure!

Thanks Quintus!! If it has your beautiful golden theropods crowing, then I'm definitely doing something right!!!

I never get to participate in this thread......everything's too new!!!! But nice coins, everyone!

And here is my favorite copper piece (well, orichalcum brass) that I own. I have a thing for green copper ancients. It's one of the centerpieces of my Faustina the Younger collection:

Look out for your horses.....here comes Caligula:

I'm glad things are finally moving along for you, Don!!! I'm excited to see how your submission turns out, too. My submissions are kind of boring now......I really only send off stuff for my little resale venture. I'll live vicariously through you!!!

Hi Don!!! It's me!!! And I'm glad to see you're still here as well, my friend! The dissertation went well and if I could change my name to Dr. Mohawk, everyone would know it!!! But my life went off the rails during the last phase......I lost both my stepmom and mom to cancer within months of each other, so I was kind of messed up for a while, hence my disappearance. However, I'm doing much better now and I'm glad to be back!!!

Another great article!! I love NGC's ancients articles.....they're always a great read with many pictures of some serious eye candy!! Thanks for sharing that Nichole!

Thanks Roger!!! That's good to know and that's exactly what I will do if I ever have to grade another Indian $2.50 or $5. And, if my life up to this point has taught me anything, it's that I never know when I may find myself in just that particular situation!

Here's another great orichalcum (brass) Faustina the Younger coin I have. This one was my first dupondius:

Very nice.....my fiancée would be drooling over that one. She's a big Morgan Dollar fan.

That's a great idea!! If you type "ancient coin replicas" or "ancient coin reproductions" into Google, you'll find several different resources to acquire replica pieces that would work very well for a jewelry project.

That thing was just laughable.....I think that was the most pathetic properly dated fake coin I've ever seen. However, my favorite fake of all time was the time I saw a 2009 dated U.S. Trade Dollar. I about wet myself over that sucker!

The ones I've encountered in my life that I really hate trying to grade are U.S. Indian $2.50 and $5 and Ottoman gold 25, 50 and 100 Kurush. With both of those, it can be extremely difficult to discern a high AU coin from a low to mid MS coin, at least for me. When I worked at the brick and mortar, those Indian gold series were my grading nightmare!!! And the Ottoman gold was entirely self inflicted. I never collected Indian gold, but I did collect those damned 25, 50 and 100 Kurushes! Those are the series I've had to grade that just drive me nuts!!!

I'm with you....I like to be able to hold and feel my ancients, which is why I do not have a single certified ancient. If I bought one certified, I'd probably crack it out, put it in a 2x2 and into my stockbook, with the rest of my collection. And where Annia Faustina is concerned, I'm so with you on the quality reproduction!!! Sometimes, a repro is the only way you can represent something in your collection, and I feel that there is no shame in having a properly marked reproduction in one's collection for that impossibly rare piece.

This exactly. Well said! When I worked at the brick and mortar shop, I liked Photograde for grading U.S. coins. I found it worked well, and the other guys there used it as well.

You know, Woods, I have no idea value-wise on the value on most of these replicas. I think some of Dan Carr's items do have some value. Another member here mentioned today that his 2009 "Proof Silver Eagle" sells for like $120 or something like that. But I should note that I have no idea what that sold for originally. As for what I want, an Annia Faustina replica, it's more of a scholarly/completeness thing. Along with trying to do a comprehensive collection of Faustina the Younger's coins, I've been thinking about having one coin to show each of her relatives and descendants who also appeared on coins. Most of these are very affordable, but Annia Faustina is the exception.......when there are only 5 denarii of someone known in the whole world, you start talking huge price tags and a lifetime can go by without one being offered for sale. And even if one did come up for sale, I could never afford it. Hence the desire for a replica. I'm sure in what I'm looking for, the replica would hold no value, but it's not about that for me, as is the case for all of my ancients.

And I have to compliment you on your pretty lady as well......that's a very nice second to last year of issue you have there.

Thank you for the kind words on my latest addition!!! Oh yeah, the waiting's hard........but I think that's a pain we all know!!

They definitely have some interesting things, for sure. But since I really only actively collect ancients any longer, there's nothing that really works for me But I see the appeal for you guys who collect in other areas. The last modern things I bought for myself were the 2 oz silver Egyptian Gods rounds of Sobek, Khunum and Anubis, and even those are ancient themed. If you haven't seen those, they're really cool. They're worth checking out.

Oh yeah...he did, didn't he.....they're selling for that much though?! WOW!!

That's a good idea!! I think I have some emails to write

That's not a bad idea!!! I think I may just do that......I'm fairly certain I'm not the only one who'd want one. Annia Faustina is one of the hardest parts of a Roman portrait collection. There'd be demand for it.

Speaking of coins you could never afford and reproductions, I've been looking for a decent reproduction of a denarius of Annia Faustina, who was a descendant of Faustina the Younger and Marcus Aurelius. I think there are something like 5 of her denarii known in the whole world, so I definitely cannot afford one. But......I can't even seem to find a decent repro!!! Grove Minting does some nice work......I wish they'd get on a version of an Annia Faustina denarius!!