ANCIENT: Caligula

Recent addition to my 12 caesars. Ive wanted a caligula that wasnt the usual Vesta reverse. Had another example of this exact type that only Randy saw but it got bronze disease like there was no tomorrow. Ended up getting this one which had better surfaces and legends.


Caligula (37 - 41 A.D.)
AE30 AS
SEGOBRIGA, SPAIN
O: C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS IMP, laureate head left.
R: SEGO BRIGA in wreath.
Segobriga Mint
30.5mm
10.1g
Burgos 1724

 

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Mat, great look'in coin, big coin with good details, i'm collecting these 12, i'm wondering what Julius Caesar coin are you looking for in the 12..

 

Already have one, its the elephant. Can be found if my sig link.

 

It's good enough to shoot.

 

This seems a better portrait than most provincial Caligulas but I still might wonder what makes this more appealing than the standard Vesta. I suppose we all would rather have a three sisters sestertius which explains why I can't afford one.

Julio-Claudians suffer from a poor selection of types compared to later emperors. However, I do like the very different Caligula sestertius which generally is cheaper than a portrait coin but still more than the Vesta asses whether worn or corroded.

 

I got this coin fairly cheap & the reason I wanted this over the Vesta is because everyone goes after the vesta types as their filler. I didnt wanna follow that same route. I liked this type alot also.

 

Nice provincial AE30!

 

I agree with your thoughts Mat. Any reverse other than Vespa is by definition a better ype for Gaius. I only have a cruddy Vespa, good thing I don't collect roman coins.

 

Vespa?


I only know of Vesta for ancient coins

 

Cool "Littler Boots" Mat. The only Caligula I have is the Agrippa commemorative he put out.

 

Haven't you seen the famous "Gaius on a scooter" reverse?

Yeah, yeah, you got me.

 

Nice Mat, I like this a lot more than the other.

 

Nice one Mat! I always enjoy a sandy patina. I've been searching for a nice Caligula as well.

Here's one I've been eyeballing on eBay. Although it has the Vesta reverse that you wanted to avoid. The BIN price is more than I'd like to pay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281148183800?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

 

One of the tradeoffs that arises for any collector of ancients is illustrated in this thread: Do you buy a coin with a good quality obverse portrait but a common reverse, or look for one with a more interesting/less common reverse while sacrificing some quality in the obverse portrait?

It's true that the most common as of Caligula is the VESTA reverse:



In return for this common reverse, you get the portrait quality of a die engraved in Rome vs. one engraved in a province or non-Rome mint. Your choice depends on your particular preferences, which may even vary from coin to coin.

While I don't know how this price compares to other similar coins of equal quality, this auction coin has the advantage of appearing to be only moderately smoothed with little or no tooling. It might be a good value if you're looking for a Caligula bronze.

 

Mine......take that Ides...

In the case of super expensive rulers...get the best condition one you can afford. You will always be happy!

Roman Empire
Gaius Germanicus (37-41 AD)
AE As 29mm x 11.42 g (s.37/8 AD)
Obverse: Latin Script-C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PON M TR POT, bare head of Gaius left.
Reverse: Latin Script-VESTA, Vesta seated left holding sceptre and Patera, S-C
ref: RIC 38; C. 27; CBN. 65; BMC 46

 

As IoM said, it depends on your reasoning behind collecting any particular coin. Over the years, my reasons for collecting have changed and changed again and again. As of the latest change, I seem to be more interested in reverses that are seen less frequent. This doesn't mean rare reverses, although that can be the case. I find I am looking for coins not seen on a regular basis. Much like Mat's coin that is not commonly seen.

 

Like Bing said, my collecting reasoning has changed as well. It depends on what I am looking at, generally I collect coins from all of antiquity and all empires. If I am getting Romans then I try and get the best one I can afford of a ruler I want. If its Greek I will sacrifice some condition to get a ruler or local that I want. If its Indian I go for the true rarity and since the coins are often crude my Eurocentric standards I am able to get rare and high grade. Persian coins I try to get in at least VF, if its Hunnic I will take what I can get, as long as most of the devices are there.

 

When I sold most of my coins in 1974, one that I hated to let go was a Caligula sestertius with the wreath reverse. Mine was worn but smoother than many we see and had the style portrait I prefer for Caligula. Many of his portrait cons have a skinny, pinch-faced style portrait but some have a heavier, more pleasant look that I prefer. An example points out a real problem with Julio-Claudian bronzes:
http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=630478
This coin has been tooled to restore the first few letters of the obverse legend. The sales description suggests that this was to correct the name of the emperor being removed (we call that a damnatio memoriae). To me a real damnatio is better than a perfect coin but I'm not willing to accept this as one. Caligula damnatios should be missing the first C and could even have a gash on the throat but these things are easily added to 'upgrade' a coin to a special interest item. This one has a rather large tooled/smoothed region extending up from the recut CCA making me suspect that the tooling was to fix corrosion rather than intentional defacement by a political hater.

This is the problem: Many, many early sestertii have been tooled. I don't like tooled coins at least most of the time. I can accept a certain amount of "smoothing" of roughness defined as glossing over texture in the patina. "Tooling" goes deeper into the metal below the patina. In the case of our example, the tooling just replaces what was originally there so it is not as evil as an attempt to make a Manlia Scantilla out of a Julia Domna (I've seen one of these but don't have a photo). Tooling is so common on Julio-Claudian bronzes that it is one of the areas that I would only feel comfortable buying from a dealer I both trusted and believed knew significantly more about the subject than I. I suggest keeping this in mind as you go shopping for your Caligula portraits. I believe my Vesta as has been smoothed but not tooled. The market now is such that it is even profitable to tool these coins beneath the notice of some members of this group. It, truthfully, is time to consider buying any sestertius with a bit of care. Skilled toolists can make money on those of us who do not. High on my want list is the coin in this photo sent to me 40 years ago. A tooled as reading Pescennius Niger (who had no Roman bronzes) falls into the "bad enough to be good" category. I wonder what ever happened to it.

 

Thats why I liked my current caligula alot. It didnt have the look of any tooling or smoothing. Those are my biggest fears when buying bronzes, especially types I dont know very well.

Vesta types seem to have that problem so its another reason why I didnt want the type.

I also didnt wanna spend $200 or more for a vesta that was OK. My buy was in the high double digits, which I felt was a good deal for him.

 

I agree. Some collectors are "headhunters", wishing to collect spectacular specimens. That trul is wonderful for them. I love they can pursue that, and have the means. I love looking at their coins.

Many of the rest of us don't have access to that kind of scratch. However, if we wished to only own "the best" of something we would be relegated to buying MS70 modern slabs. So, we have to make a choice, a couple really nice examples a year, or more coins at lower condition levels.

I use coins to force myself to learn the history and culture of the world, and have too much ADD to try to only buy a couple of coins a year. So, I buy what I like, what attracts me, at an acceptable condition, (to me). Its probably not the best investment versus buying very high grade, but I am ok with that. I consider this my hobby money, my entertainment, so any residual value left to my sons is simply a bonus for them. The old man already got $XXX dollars of pleasure from owning it, so it truly is "found money" for them.