Crazy to think this same coin was probably in some merchants pocket or in the kings vault 1000 years ago that you are holding in your hand... the history that these coins have seen is insane.
Back in the day I owned a Stater of Alexander, an aureus of Nero, and a Solidus of the Byzantine emperor Maurice. People were very skeptical that they were real because they had an idea that these coins only exist today in museums or else could only be afforded by millionaires.
Would you like to support the channel and my work? 💰 Help the Channel by "Buying me a Coffee": www.buymeacoffee.com/classicalnumismatics Consider buying some channel Merch! You get a cool T-Shirt or Mug and you help me make more Ancient Numismatic content. Thank you! leob.creator-spring.com/
Regarding 4:04, the gold content in Electrum coins from ancient Lydia varied from 45% to 55%. Eventually the Gold Parting Process was invented which could separate Gold & Silver from Electrum and enabled Silver coins and Gold coins to be minted separately. The Electrum separation process is known as Salt Cementation where Electrum was combined with salt, urine and brick dust (or pulverized pottery shards), sealed in a crucible and heated. Purified Gold would remain in the crucible along with Silver Chloride which would later be purified into Silver. To convert Silver Chloride into pure Silver powder, a refiner would mix into the aqueous solution some Lye and some Sugar. Thereafter melt the recovered pure Silver powder into bullion.
Fabulouz pictures of those amazing coins.I have 1 antique coin from Rome. Depict Titus, the 12 Cesar with the reverse with the yoke of 2 oxen, from 77 to 78 A.D. made in Silver Dinarius. It weights 3.259 G. with 19.3mm. Die axis 180 Degree. Very scarce. I would to know the value of it. Thank you for showing us your collection.
Not gonna lie..all these coins may be expensive and beautiful. BUT so far the prettiest coin I’ve seen on this channel is that egg shaped denarius of Augustus. I would pay good money for a coin like that if I could find one.
Love watching your videos and even rewatch some of them. Just a little correction at 15:33 it’s not father of his nation (pater patriae), but instead Perpetuus (perpetual) so perpetual emperor. Mistakes can happend.
You are right! Apparently this small distinction was established by the time of Anastasius. By that time the concept of "First citizen" of "Father of the Nation" was looong dead, and the monarch was seen as a divine entity. Thanks for that :)
I look at my collection n can't believe some2000 years ago people actually held them in n their hands....I surprisingly had gold, silver alloys in my last batch....usually they.are bronze .....makes it all worth it.....
Being a Polish collector these solidi are pretty funny to me. For several hundred years we had a coin of the same name (in Polish called a szeląg) - but it was a tiny denomination minted in very weak silver or copper ;)
@@ClassicalNumismatics This is the direct translation - the name originates from the times when it was an utilitary measurement not represented by a coin. The denomination of 1 złoty was first minted in 1664 in silver (and equaled 90 szelągów/solidi).
Wonderful coins and great video! Very instructive. I am looking for Michael VII histamenon in Mint state for a long time, but it's really hard to find it in this condition, especially if not from US :)
Sorry about that Ata, this was a very early video so I was still learning how to do video and audio capture. Now I have a new and much better audio equipment, you can expect the audio issues to be fixed from now on :)
No one can resist the charm of gold, its crazy how it draws people to it. I have but one tiny ancient gold piece, and I always find myself staring at it as I go through my coins :)
Oh i totally agree! Wow! Thats so cool! My ultimate goal is to work towards purchashing my very first Ancient gold coin. I do have Bullion grade gold coins though , as you said you do find yourself staring at them haha
The Roman coins have a very irregular border. People cut parts of the metal? This mean the coin had the weight measured to get the real value before a transaction?
Its due to the manual manufacturing process. First, a blank would be cast in a mould, this flan would generally be quite well rounded. It then would be heated up and placed between the two dies, and the quick hammer blow would generate a very quick displacement of material in the heated coin. The resulting forces generally generated tears, splits, and the anomalies you typically see on its edges.
A lot of ancient silver coins actually have cut marks to see if they were good silver to the core. It was much harder back then to emulate the density of gold using other metals, so they seldom used cuts or bites to test it!
Well, that was just a stellar droolfest. Hellenistic and Roman gold in particular always get my ducts pumping--Byzantine or Islamic, not so much. The only gold coins I've ever "spoiled myself" with are a damned near microscopic little thing (allegedly) of Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico dated 1865, which may or may not be genuinely dated or some later restrike, and an otherwise nice little 1854 $1 goldpiece with a small hole in it that I rather luckily "sniped" in a last second lowball bid just a few years ago off of eBay for very little...maybe 20-something bucks? Unlike that Mexican Mini (1 peso?) that I picked up as a kid at a coin shop, I have no doubt the gold dollar's genuine. Without its little hole, probably made for it to be worn as jewelry, I doubt I'd even own one. Otherwise it's in lovely shape.
I am sorry, i have that 'coin' too and it's a modern fantasy token because there aren't mexican coins with that combination of reverse and obverse. Also it was made many years later than 1865 (i don't know when exactly, maybe in the seventies) and it's only gold plated :(
@Niccolò Colonnelli As I've already made clear, I'd long suspected my "1865" Maximilian gold peso was a fake or some kind of latter day restrike, but then doubt I paid more than a couple-few dollars for it when I was a kid. I've since learned that such coins are commonly used as part of a Mexican wedding custom whereby the groom must present 13 "gold pieces" to the bride or her family. Some examples are just gold plated, others merely copper, while some are indeed gold. But at least we have some romance, huh?
Can you please do a video on the worlds smallest gold coin from India. It’s 1 fanam but I would love to learn what 1 gold fanam would buy during its time and who might have carried these tiny coins.
A complete collection of gold coins definitely requires deep pockets. But its feasible for a collector of modest means to have one or two smaller gold pieces!
first thanks for this wondrful video . can you test the purity of gold in these coins and make another video please especialy islamic and bizantine coins thanks again
Waw , so beautiful , i have a coin that looks like the islamic one with the sqaure inside , my mother passed it to me and she says its comes from her great great grandparents , i wonder how much its worth , i have a picture of it , i want to sell it
Your best bet would be to get in touch with an auction house specialized on selling coins, show them the coin, and have them estimate a value. A quick search online should give you plenty of options.
First rule of collecting ancient coins - go find a rock. That rock was formed millions of years ago. Process that information. Look at your ancient coin, then look at a brand new modern coin. Those coins are smashed together so much that they could create a coin between them on the timeline of things. Do not buy an ancient coin because you think it's old, even the very first coin ever made isn't old. There are truly ancient things everywhere around you. If you like old things, study geology. If you like early modern human creations, art, history, etc. then find coins with meaning to you. For perspective, at a life expectancy of 50 years, your ancestral line going back one thousand years equals 40 people / generations with equal overlap at midlife. So ~80 generations ago our bloodline was at the historical year 1 AD. Now did you ever think about the following: the early lines of people who were wealthy, educated, and lived long lives might have half as many generations over periods of time. They could have children at 30-60 years of age cutting the steps in the line in half, while poor folks with a short life expectancy would have almost double the generations. Which reminds me of the time my stepdad beat me with jumper cables in the foyer when I was watching the Rock perform a body slam on WWE in 1997.
Crazy to think this same coin was probably in some merchants pocket or in the kings vault 1000 years ago that you are holding in your hand... the history that these coins have seen is insane.
I discovered your channel on Reddit and I gotta say this is all incredibly fascinating.
Im glad you like it! There's a whooole lot more from where this came from. Stay tuned! :)
675s+8 iub😍😍☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️😔😔😔😔😍😘😘😘😊☺️😊😊😃😏😟🐜🐓🐜🐓🐝🐋🐫🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐂🐂🐂🐂🐂🐇🐄🐄🐄🐓🐓🐓🐓🐂🐇🐇⚡⚡
An absolute pleasure to be subscribed to this channel. Thanks for the quality my friend
I'm glad I found your videos. They are fascinating. Your Latin and Spanish pronunciation is superb.
Great video! Very well- researched & informative
Maravilloso video, trabajo documental, y maravillosas piezas. Un autentico placer para la vista
Last coin is straight up beautiful
Back in the day I owned a Stater of Alexander, an aureus of Nero, and a Solidus of the Byzantine emperor Maurice. People were very skeptical that they were real because they had an idea that these coins only exist today in museums or else could only be afforded by millionaires.
Your videos are some of the best on the internet. Great work
You have such a beautiful collection mate I really enjoy watching your content
Would you like to support the channel and my work?
💰 Help the Channel by "Buying me a Coffee": www.buymeacoffee.com/classicalnumismatics
Consider buying some channel Merch! You get a cool T-Shirt or Mug and you help me make more Ancient Numismatic content. Thank you!
leob.creator-spring.com/
Thankyou for the knowledge. I have just started my journey into the ancients realm of numismatics , medieval too.
Thanks for the kind words! Hopefully my videos keep being useful for you when building your new collection.
Regarding 4:04, the gold content in Electrum coins from ancient Lydia varied from 45% to 55%. Eventually the Gold Parting Process was invented which could separate Gold & Silver from Electrum and enabled Silver coins and Gold coins to be minted separately. The Electrum separation process is known as Salt Cementation where Electrum was combined with salt, urine and brick dust (or pulverized pottery shards), sealed in a crucible and heated. Purified Gold would remain in the crucible along with Silver Chloride which would later be purified into Silver. To convert Silver Chloride into pure Silver powder, a refiner would mix into the aqueous solution some Lye and some Sugar. Thereafter melt the recovered pure Silver powder into bullion.
Sweet, great video Savixe
Fabulouz pictures of those amazing coins.I have 1 antique coin from Rome.
Depict Titus, the 12 Cesar with the reverse with the yoke of 2 oxen, from 77
to 78 A.D. made in Silver Dinarius. It weights 3.259 G. with 19.3mm. Die axis
180 Degree. Very scarce. I would to know the value of it.
Thank you for showing us your collection.
I'm honestly impressed by how cleanly made the Islamic gold coins are
And the ones shown from antiquity as well. Absolutely impressive work! Amazing what people can accomplish when they’re not playing on their phones 😅
Wonderful coins!!! wonderful video and amazing channel!!
Thank you ! Most excellent show and info! I want to go over there and dig in the dirt now. Many great coins.
Not gonna lie..all these coins may be expensive and beautiful.
BUT so far the prettiest coin I’ve seen on this channel is that egg shaped denarius of Augustus.
I would pay good money for a coin like that if I could find one.
The quality of these coins is amazing
Beautiful coins and excellent video!
Love watching your videos and even rewatch some of them. Just a little correction at 15:33 it’s not father of his nation (pater patriae), but instead Perpetuus (perpetual) so perpetual emperor. Mistakes can happend.
You are right! Apparently this small distinction was established by the time of Anastasius. By that time the concept of "First citizen" of "Father of the Nation" was looong dead, and the monarch was seen as a divine entity.
Thanks for that :)
Great information on truly beautiful coins!
It's not that simple. There are winners and losers and the winners think everything is hunky dory.
Really informative and enjoyable video. You did a great job!
Thanks! Really kind words. I'm getting footage of more gold coins to get a second video up, so stay tuned :)
@@ClassicalNumismatics Will do, looking forward to seeing it
I look at my collection n can't believe some2000 years ago people actually held them in n their hands....I surprisingly had gold, silver alloys in my last batch....usually they.are bronze .....makes it all worth it.....
Being a Polish collector these solidi are pretty funny to me. For several hundred years we had a coin of the same name (in Polish called a szeląg) - but it was a tiny denomination minted in very weak silver or copper ;)
Isnt the word "Zloty" meant to be "golden" or something of the kind?
@@ClassicalNumismatics This is the direct translation - the name originates from the times when it was an utilitary measurement not represented by a coin. The denomination of 1 złoty was first minted in 1664 in silver (and equaled 90 szelągów/solidi).
beautiful collection man! I dream of owning something this cool someday
Wonderful coins and great video! Very instructive. I am looking for Michael VII histamenon in Mint state for a long time, but it's really hard to find it in this condition, especially if not from US :)
I have one of those electrum "Lumps" from Lydia .... How to display it to enjoy it.
Love ur videos new to coins but your volume on the mic is very low even when I wear headphones thanks for the content
Sorry about that Ata, this was a very early video so I was still learning how to do video and audio capture.
Now I have a new and much better audio equipment, you can expect the audio issues to be fixed from now on :)
Fantastic video.
Thank u so so much sir for taking timeout of your day to go about maken crazy a awsome/beauitful video God Bless
Very kind words, thank you! Im glad you like the coins :)
Fascinating pictures and history. Thanks
hmm, I have one of those square dirhams at 2:30 , very nice gold pieces
The dirhams are beautiful pieces
Brilliant video Leo👍😀
Thanks
I only have bullion gold but man do I love the old stuff. Thx.
Take a look at Byzantine gold coins, even if you´re a stacker, you can find some pieces reasonably close to spot price!
@@ClassicalNumismatics MA coin shop also has some solidus. Thx.
@@ClassicalNumismatics Do you have any recommendations for ancient east asian gold coins close to spot? thanks again - this is a great video!
great. thanks
@Chaim Brecken scam
Thank you for the helpful video. It's very help me for my job
Absolutely Amazing!
So cool!
No one can resist the charm of gold, its crazy how it draws people to it.
I have but one tiny ancient gold piece, and I always find myself staring at it as I go through my coins :)
Oh i totally agree!
Wow! Thats so cool!
My ultimate goal is to work towards purchashing my very first Ancient gold coin.
I do have Bullion grade gold coins though , as you said you do find yourself staring at them haha
Beautiful coins
Gold is still money, thats why central banks hoard it.
Fascinating episode
The Roman coins have a very irregular border. People cut parts of the metal? This mean the coin had the weight measured to get the real value before a transaction?
Its due to the manual manufacturing process.
First, a blank would be cast in a mould, this flan would generally be quite well rounded.
It then would be heated up and placed between the two dies, and the quick hammer blow would generate a very quick displacement of material in the heated coin. The resulting forces generally generated tears, splits, and the anomalies you typically see on its edges.
So beautiful I didn’t know they existed
Great video!
Great Video... thank you
Thanks, glad you like it! :)
For some reason, I expected a lot of bitemarks on these gold coins XD
A lot of ancient silver coins actually have cut marks to see if they were good silver to the core.
It was much harder back then to emulate the density of gold using other metals, so they seldom used cuts or bites to test it!
Well, that was just a stellar droolfest. Hellenistic and Roman gold in particular always get my ducts pumping--Byzantine or Islamic, not so much. The only gold coins I've ever "spoiled myself" with are a damned near microscopic little thing (allegedly) of Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico dated 1865, which may or may not be genuinely dated or some later restrike, and an otherwise nice little 1854 $1 goldpiece with a small hole in it that I rather luckily "sniped" in a last second lowball bid just a few years ago off of eBay for very little...maybe 20-something bucks? Unlike that Mexican Mini (1 peso?) that I picked up as a kid at a coin shop, I have no doubt the gold dollar's genuine. Without its little hole, probably made for it to be worn as jewelry, I doubt I'd even own one. Otherwise it's in lovely shape.
I am sorry, i have that 'coin' too and it's a modern fantasy token because there aren't mexican coins with that combination of reverse and obverse. Also it was made many years later than 1865 (i don't know when exactly, maybe in the seventies) and it's only gold plated :(
@Niccolò Colonnelli As I've already made clear, I'd long suspected my "1865" Maximilian gold peso was a fake or some kind of latter day restrike, but then doubt I paid more than a couple-few dollars for it when I was a kid. I've since learned that such coins are commonly used as part of a Mexican wedding custom whereby the groom must present 13 "gold pieces" to the bride or her family. Some examples are just gold plated, others merely copper, while some are indeed gold. But at least we have some romance, huh?
@@BilgemasterBill I didn't know about this mexican use, thanks.
Can you please do a video on the worlds smallest gold coin from India. It’s 1 fanam but I would love to learn what 1 gold fanam would buy during its time and who might have carried these tiny coins.
Dei..valo
😊
gold never gets old , the ancient people knowed that
How were the BCE’s made? Were they standardized?
How rich do you need to be to have this collection?
A complete collection of gold coins definitely requires deep pockets.
But its feasible for a collector of modest means to have one or two smaller gold pieces!
Hi good
first thanks for this wondrful video .
can you test the purity of gold in these coins and make another video please
especialy islamic and bizantine coins
thanks again
Waw , so beautiful , i have a coin that looks like the islamic one with the sqaure inside , my mother passed it to me and she says its comes from her great great grandparents , i wonder how much its worth , i have a picture of it , i want to sell it
Your best bet would be to get in touch with an auction house specialized on selling coins, show them the coin, and have them estimate a value. A quick search online should give you plenty of options.
First rule of collecting ancient coins - go find a rock. That rock was formed millions of years ago. Process that information. Look at your ancient coin, then look at a brand new modern coin. Those coins are smashed together so much that they could create a coin between them on the timeline of things. Do not buy an ancient coin because you think it's old, even the very first coin ever made isn't old. There are truly ancient things everywhere around you. If you like old things, study geology. If you like early modern human creations, art, history, etc. then find coins with meaning to you. For perspective, at a life expectancy of 50 years, your ancestral line going back one thousand years equals 40 people / generations with equal overlap at midlife. So ~80 generations ago our bloodline was at the historical year 1 AD. Now did you ever think about the following: the early lines of people who were wealthy, educated, and lived long lives might have half as many generations over periods of time. They could have children at 30-60 years of age cutting the steps in the line in half, while poor folks with a short life expectancy would have almost double the generations. Which reminds me of the time my stepdad beat me with jumper cables in the foyer when I was watching the Rock perform a body slam on WWE in 1997.
Wild ride
Fantastic video.