Ancient Coin, new acquisition at ANA World's Fair of Money

The point: There are a million variations on ancient coins and no one is going for a complete set. Very few people are even trying to complete a short set within a specialty. I admit there are people trying for a one coin per ruler set but most of us are collectors of opportunity. I saw it, I liked it, I bought it.

 

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Great point actually. If anyone really like small details, and collecting varieties, ancients are a field day to them versus most other areas of numismatics. I completed a set of anonymous bronzes once, and had numerous different types of Class I coins. I started researching and found even more types. Class I, (which for some reason I personally like), have loads of different reverse types that someone could pursue. This pursuit could last decades I am imagining, all on a "common" coin that you would be lucky if the dealer even listed it as a Class I, versus Anonmyous Byzantine. I am not the best at pursuing such areas, so I lost interest, (I lost intereset in US set collecting when I was 12, thinking, "why do I want 80 different wheat cents just because someone says I have to have them?"), but others who love such variations can cheaply become one of the world's experts very easily.

Chris

 

I have "holes" to fill with certain emperors and types but for the most part thats how I like to go about collecting. I tend to get more interesting coin when I do.

 

My mistake was only looking at the obv.

 

Definitely

 

awesome buy!

 

Here's another Balbus AR Denarius

This is another example of the Q. Antonio Balbus serrate denarius.
It is slightly different since it has a different countermark, the B below the horses.
It arrived yesterday from CNG.






.

 

The obverse is exquisite on the CNG one! (not that the OP one wasn't great).

stainless

 

Both are nice, the second is outstanding.
Although I prefer coins whit a good centering, IMHO grade and centering are different things. VF off center is different than aVF.
That leads to say "VF with reverse off center" for the first one and "EF with reverse off center" for the last one.
Just my two pence
Q

 

Has anybody owned or even seen an example of this issue that was not struck off-center?
Perhaps they were all serrated and all struck off-center, perhaps intentionally.
Perhaps the only ones that were struck in the center of the reverse were premium coins for collectors or dignitaries.

As far as Romans collecting coins...
Do you really think there could ever have been lots of coins and that there would not be collectors. LOL
I don't need any book to tell me that. I am sure of it. That is common sense -- and logic.

But many of those collectors may have kept all of their accumulation in a bag or bags, possibly even boxes, or an urn.

But I'm betting they did not have any AR TPG's, though there may have been grading of sorts by some.
Coins were floating all around the known world, and had been for centuries, back when the earth was still flat.

 

I can't answer that since I don't have the coin but I'll toss out there my low grade (F, with obverse off center) example of 'another Balbus' C. Naevius Balbus (no relation?) from a couple years later. I suspect the same team was striking then. My coin has the obverse quite o/c but I selected it because it shows the triga with the third horse turned gracefully to fit better on the round flan. My obverse is Venus (a little hard looking but at least no beard) with the control mark (o) now above the horses. I find it interesting that the examples I have seen tend to have edge serrations much more severe on the reverse than on the obverse. The question is whether the centering was intentional or just sloppy workmanship. Looking in my few books on the subject I found well centered examples of both coins in the Royal Ontario Museum booklet but they also had a poorly centered example of each (they collected the varieties with and without control marks) so perhaps finding a nice one is not particularly easy but possible.

Just for the record, I'll throw in 'yet another' Balbus (L. Thorius with Juno and no chariot - again I assume no relation - Balbus was a common cognomen) just to point out that the name that counts is the one in the middle and we should specify our wants by Antonius or Naevius lest we get an old bull. This coin is common enough that even a low end collector like me can find one relatively well centered but these are available much better than this one.

 

Now I've seen one with a well-centered reverse.
That settles that.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lucernae-Be...lbus-AR-denarius-/280689673220#ht_1865wt_1165

 

Offcenter is not uncommon at all, but I have never heard of an ancient where perfectly struck coins do not exist for the issue. Having said that, regarding Cucumbor's remark, I agree aVF is not quite the same as VF offcenter, but I was between aVF and VF on the first coin, and the existence of the offcenter strike made me grade aVF.

Both are acceptable, but unfortunately what happens all too often is VF offcenter becomes VF, without a thorough description of the coin, or new collectors value a VF off center, (many times by a dealer saying its "normal", higher than a aVF. I grade for market value, so any defect to me lowers the value. If everyone was as knowledgable as us concerning grading then I agree VF offcenter would be preferable to aVF, but many collectors aren't. Since they aren't, I prefer to market grade and add a touch of fuzziness to the technical grade.

Chris

 

Regardless of grade, the particular off-center strike is interesting to me,
and the coins show different strike possibilities form normal, almost perfect coins.

In fact, some off-center strikes command premiums, in U.S. coins for example,
where they are known as error coins.

If off-centeredness was a big problem for me, I would not own the coin.
Had it been perfectly centered, perhaps it would have cost more.
I received a $100 discount and perhaps being struck eccentrically is a reason.
I'm not sure.

But it is possible to enjoy a bit of eccentricity. It's not so bad.

 

Its not bad at all sir. I like your coin a lot. I was discussing how I arrived at my grade.

Yes, errors are collected and worth premiums when they are rare. In ancients, with all of them being hand struck, errors are many times more common than perfectly struck examples. When they aren't a great rarity, errors are, to me, simply a deficiency to a coin, like worn dies, wear, flan defect, etc. Nothing wrong with it, almost all coins have some defects, its just one of them.

If I tossed out all offcenter strikes from my ancient collection I think I may have 20 coins left, lol.

Chris