Advice wanted for 2nd individual ancient purchase

So I am in the market to buy my 2nd individual ancient, following the Ptolemy I posted a while ago.

I am pretty sure that I want to collect coins that have the following attributes : large (or at least largish), bronze (mostly due to price constraints), female on the obverse (not necessarily empresses), good detail/legends/etc. I am confident I should be able to buy one a month of these for around $30 give or take, at least until I have exhausted the more common ones. At which point I will have to make allowances on the size / detail, or up my price. Does this sound reasonable?

With that end in mind, I have ~$100 (possibly a bit more if needsbe) to spend on a coin now from birthday/savings. Knowing my goal above, I guess what I am asking is if there are any coins with females (large, good detail) that I can get for $100 but CANNOT get for $30. I do not care about varieties, I am more thinking let's get one of the tougher ones to get out of the way now, while I have more than usual to spend on an individual coin.

Does this make sense? Any suggestions?

I am also open, with this purchase, to silver. For example, if there is a nice empress or something which is only on silver and is a little pricier, this might be the right time to buy one. Although I do not really want smaller coins, in general.

 

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I would suggest a sestertius of Faustina II. You should be able to find a very handsome example for $100.

 

Headed to vcoins now to browse...any other suggestions are welcome as well.

 

+1

 

Additional question - what should be my go to sites to browse besides vcoins (and bargainbinancients)?

I wasn't pleased with Vcoins Faustina II selection. I am willing to be patient, but just would like to know what other reputable dealers with a decent selection are out there / that you guys use.

 

Well, there's always eBay, but if you limit yourself to empresses, you've got far fewer choices. If bigger is better, Roman sestertii are what you want, and you can get some good pieces in the common emperors. Here's a nice big rock that I recently won for $65. I imagine a dealer on vcoins asking $200 for it.

Gordian III, 238-244
AE Sestertius, 25.46g, 32mm; Rome mint: 238-9
Obv.: IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG; Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right.
Rev.: VICTORIA AVG; Victory advancing left, carrying wreath and palm; S-C.
Reference: RIC 528a


Does it have to be an empress?

 

Ehh well females are preferable. There are dozens to collect right? Were there few of them that were minted as sestertii (sp?)? In looking at Faustina II I noticed there are also Faustina JR sests.

 

Julia Mamaea, Herennia Etruscilla, Otacilia Severa, and Lucilla come to mind. I'll add more if I think of them.

 

Faustina II is jr.

 

Right I realized afterwards that there are also coins of Faustina I or SR., of which I think are some sest's.

It seems that the sestertius are generally of lower quality in detail/condition? Is this correct or have I just had poor luck searching?

It seems that also dupondius are the same diameter but much less thick? Is this correct? This seems like it would be acceptable. I just want to be able to see what is on the coin without putting it 6 inches from my eyes.

 

I know you said "larger" coins, but all the ladies of Rome are available in Denarii as well. Smaller, but silver rather than base metal.

 

Here's a decent Lucilla:

http://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/civ...sestertius_rome_mint_fine/472065/Default.aspx

 

Sestertii was the coinage of everyday Rome, so fewer survive in pristine condition. And those that do command higher prices.

 

Fair enough I am feeling more and more educated by the second.

I take it denarii were small silver, antoniani were very thin larger coins, dupondii were sort of thick larger coins, and sestertii were the big thick ones?

 

Sestertii were the largest, then comes the dupondius, but the weights varied over time. You've probably noticed that the sestertii you've looked at come in different sizes. Still, they're always going to be the largest circulating bronze denomination of any era.

As Bing mentioned, these coins were heavily used in everyday commerce, and the highest grades, as in all coins, will command top dollar. In my price range, I'm perfectly happy if I can get most of the details and legends, without any corrosion or other types of damage. Sometimes these coins have absolutely lovely patinas despite the wear, and they feel great in the hand because of their size, so you weigh one factor against another.

Denarii are smaller than antoniniani, but the antoninianus only has 1 1/2 times the amount of silver as a denarius. The "ants", as they are colloquially called, are hammered thinner than denarii. Eventually though, the ants became debased, and with some emporers they are mostly bronze, with very little silver.

 

Indeed. A lovely coin.

 

Here is a fact of choosing coins:
What you want
When you want it
How much you'll pay
In general you can have any two of these three but will need to compromise on the third. Larger coins with women come up cheaply on occasion but if you want a selection now, you will have to pay full prices. Nice coins come up cheaply all the time but they might be lacking in your female or size requirements.

IMHO, the factor you will find hard is the size requirement. Big coins are more popular and the competition for them will be stiffer. Bronzes tend to be more worn than silvers so the amount of detail remaining dollar for dollar is similar. Women of the Emperors tended to be older or less than 'trophy wives' so you might find more what you want in Greek coins showing goddesses but sizeable coins will cost more than $30. I'd search for coins showing Athena or just 'woman' or 'female head'.

 

Great everyoneI appreciate all of the help. I think I am going to browse quite a bit before I figure out what type of coins are going to best fit what I want and can afford.

 

Denari were the dime sized silver coins used day to day. When they got debased as to silver content, the antinonianii were introduced as the "double denarius", (though they never contained twice as much silver). They started out a little larger than the denari, then shrank. So, for both it depends on WHEN they were minted as to size and silver content.

For copper, both dupondus and As are "medium sized" bronzes. I find what you are looking for on these coins pretty regularly, especially Faustina. They are the size of a quarter, (kind of), and thinker. Many times a really nice empress can be had on one of these two for $30 if you shop well. Sestertii are pricey if you want good details, plus are awfully susceptible to being "messed with" nowadays.

 

So dupondius and As in the 25-30 mm range sounds like my best bet.

By messed with, you mean counterfeited? Does that happen even at the $100 and lower range?