Ancients: End of the year statistics

2013 was the first year that I started to seriously collect ancients. I bought 158 coins this year, some of which haven't arrived. Even as I'm beginning to broaden my collecting horizons, I find myself being more discerning in my choices, so I wouldn't be surprised if I buy significantly fewer coins in 2014. That said, I also wouldn't be surprised if at the end of next year I look back at this post and chuckle at my own optimism/naivety.

Here are my favorite 5 of the year :

#5. MAGNUS MAXIMUS AE4 - Campgate
I don't like LRBs and I don't like the linear lines of all those well-built Constantinian campgates. But this ramshackled little one I absolutely love.



#4. POSTUMUS Double sestertius with double Victory reverse
I'm such a fan of the jolly-looking Postumus portraits that I bought 8 of them this year. He looks the least jolly on this coin, but it's turned out to be my favorite despite the gruff mien he has on it. I also like that he practised recycling for these double sestertii. Based on the size and weight, this one was probably a 1st century as.



#3. SEVERUS ALEXANDER AE of TROAS, Alexandria Troas
A coin with a few problems, but for me the appeal is all about the charming and detailed pastoral scene on the reverse. I'm always happy to look at it when I get a little tired of all the gods, goddesses, soldiers, standards, galleys, thrones and temples.



#2. AEMILIAN AE of MYSIA, Parium
The coin that made my bank account go ouch. But scarce ruler + rare issue + great condition + architectural type = worth every penny.



#1. ANTONINUS PIUS As
About half the coins I buy I specifically seek out, the others are those that speak to me when I see them. This one really belongs in both categories, and happily, once I had it in hand it didn't disappoint. A scarce, historic and picturesque issue from my personal favorite Emperor.


This seems to also be an appropriate place to thank everyone on CT for the warm welcome I received when I joined and the selfless sharing of knowledge I continue to benefit from. And keep those excellent coin pictures coming! Have a Happy New Year!!

Z.

 

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2013 was the beginning of my ancient fever. Impossible to pick only 10 favorites, but these are definitely up there This composite shows approximate relative sizes. They are in no particular order.

I also have a squadron of flying pigs and love all of them but only included one in my favorites. Other loves not in this composite include a Phliasian obol (bull/phi; the simple design is elegant) and an as-struck Vadfradad II hemidrachm. So many other favorites but I will stop now rather than listing them all.



Top to bottom, left to right:

1. Kings of Macedon. Antigonos II Gonatas. 277/6-239 BC. AR Tetradrachm. I have a soft spot for Pan.
2. Corinth stater. 345-307 BC. Silenus facing control mark. I love this coin!
3. Lydia. Sardes. Germanicus, with Drusus (Caesar, 15 BC-AD 19). Ae (Restruck circa AD 28/9). Asinius Pollio, proconsul. The selective restriking is unusual. This is the second best example I've seen.
4. BOSPORAN KINGDOM. Sauromates I. AD 93/4-123/4. AE 48 units. An uncommon issue in great condition.
5. Roman Republic, moneyer C. Postumius. 74 BC. This is a wonderful example and was in much better condition than the seller's picture suggested-- bonus!
6. Macedon, Pangeion Region. AR Trihemiobol. Uncertain mint, 5th century BC. At 5 mm, it's my smallest coin. Intriguing, and I love the monkey!
7. Hadrian, AD 134-138. AR denarius. Africa reverse. I plan to buy many more Hadrians
8. Ionia, Samos. 510-500 BC. AR drachm. Winged boar / lion scalp. A pricey pigasus but I was happy to find it and won it for a reasonable hammer price.
9. Carthage, Zeugitana. Early 2nd century BC. 15 shekel, 45 mm. A rare denomination; I've only seen a picture of one other and this one is nicer. Anoob will hate me forever for finding this. I was shocked that there were no other bidders and the price was so low! I think it was because it was offered through an online auction house that deals primarily in US coins, with only a smattering of ancients (all slabbed and graded, usually unremarkable, almost always overpriced). It was graded by NCG. Thankfully it wasn't slabbed; the enclosed card had a checklist of reasons for the lack of slab. Written in was "Reason: too big". LOL!
10. Egypt, Alexandria. Ptolemy II. 48 mm. Not in great condition but I wanted it as an example of one of the largest circulating coins minted. The provenance is excellent too. It was acquired by Professor James Eaton in the 1800s and it remained in his family until I bought it at auction.

 

I just counted how many coins I purchased this year. I have a few more but the ones I have uploaded and cataloged are 51. Some of the highlights this year are the following.





Tacitus AE Antoninianus. 275-276 AD, 3.6g, 23mm

OBV: IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG. Radiate and cuirassed bust right.

REV: MARTI PACIF. Mars advancing left, holding branch, spear and shield. XXIVI in ex.

REF: Unlisted?




Macrinus AE Denarius. 217-218 AD, 2.6g, 18mm

OBV: IMP C M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG. Laureate and cuirassed bust right.

REV: FELICITAS TEMPORVM, Felicitas standing left holding short caduceus and scepter.

REF: RIC 62, RSC 19a, BMC 9





Augustus & Agrippa AE Dupondius. Nemausus Mint, 20-10 BC. 11.2g, 26mm

OBV: IMP DIVI F, Back-to-back heads of Agrippa, wearing rostral crown, & Augustus, laureate.

REV: COL-NEM, crocodile chained to palm, wreath with long ties trailing above.

REF: RIC 155, Cohen 7, RPC 523, Sear (RCV 2000) 1730, aorta 580





Magnentius AE2 Lugdunum, 4.7g, 23mm

OBV: D N MAGNEN-TIVS P F AVG, bare-headed, draped & cuirassed bust right. "A" behind head.

REV: VICTORIAE DD NN AVG ET CAE, Two Victories supporting wreath inscribed VOT/V/MVLT/X. SV in lower centre, RPLG in exergue.

REF: RIC VII 128, LRBC 223




Claudius II Gothicus AE Antoninianus, 268-270 AD, Antioch, 3.8g, 20mm

OBV: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, Radiate head left.

REV: AEQVITAS AVG, Aequitas standing left holding scales and cornucopia.

REF: RIC V-1 197

 

Well, the obverse portrait on this coin is so cool that it would have been my #1 from your list of five, although the Sikyon Chimera stater is pretty close to the top too. Very much liked the Augustus/Agrippa dupondius crocodile reverse, and if it weren't for the scratches, this would have been tops.

 

2013 was a sparse year for my collection. I was on the hunt for eight coins needed to complete my 12 Caesars (one each of as/dupondius, sestertius, denarius, aureus) but found only two. Didn't win any auctions, but the two coins that I did acquire were former auction coins brokered by my dealer from the purchasers.

VITELLIUS 69 A.D.
AE Sestertius (29.78 g.) Rome Apr. - Dec. 69 A.D. RIC 115
A VITELLIVS GERMANICVS IMP AVG P M TR P Laureate and draped bust r. Rev. MARS VICTOR S – C Mars, helmeted and in military dress, striding l., holding Victory in r. hand, parazonium at side and trophy over l. shoulder.



TIBERIUS
AE Dupondius (16.87 g.) Rome 16 - 22 A.D.
TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVST IMP VIII Laureate head left. Rev. CLEMENTIAE S C Small facing bust, laureate, draped (Tiberius?) within laurel wreath on round shield w/circle of petals, outer circle of palmettos.


I like the Tiberius since it's different from the usual assortment of uninspired styles for this emperor, but the Vitellius is my favorite despite its weak reverse strike in the 9 - 12 o'clock area. Vitellius' portrait is outstanding in both style and execution.

2014 January and February auctions look promising for one upgrade to an existing coin plus a new addition to one of the remaining needs in my 12 Caesars.

 

Wow, awesome coins!!

 

This is very much what I thought when I bought the coin but I was able to talk myself into liking the scratches because they are a real part of the issue rather than faults. This type was issued for several years but in the middle of the span when this example was struck, many (most?) coins were struck on flans that were filed before they were struck. I am not sure whether these scratches were done to adjust weight as is usually thought or to remove a design from earlier coins being recycled. It is relatively unusual to find very early crocodile coins (bare headed Augustus and skinny croc) or the last type (with PP added to the design) with these scratches but the middle period coins of this style usually have them to some degree. Certainly a coin struck hard enough to erase the scratches would be worth more in the market but the marks are just as much a part of the coins as are the centration dimples on Ptolemaic and Moesian provincial bronzes. I posted a lot on this subject about one year ago when I was trying to get a complete set (I'm still missing a couple I'd like). This photo was shown here before. None of the coins are perfect. Few croc coins are. The reverse gouge in the second coin from the left is a post striking fault and would have kept me from buying the coin were it not for the low price. The one on the right has the best surfaces of any croc I have seen but is very worn. Combining the best points of each of these coins on one would have cost five times the price of the bunch altogether.

 

My last purchase of the year was one of these croc coins. I just bought it this past weekend, so I expect it will be another week or two before it arrives.

I had been wanting one all year and when I saw this particular one, I thought it was a pretty great example and decided to give myself an end of the year treat. Despite having read your 'Impossible to Grade' page earlier in the year when I was researching the type, at the point I pushed the button on my coin it seems I had forgotten all the various problems you had so clearly highlighted on your croc coins. As a result, I'm now re-reading that page and checking off all the faults on mine *small sigh*. I'll still try to love it when I have it in hand.

Mostly though, I just wanted to say thanks for writing that page. One of my favorites on your site. I'll post my coin once I get the chance to photograph it.

 

duplicate post

 

Somehow when trying to eliminate two of the three copies of this post I saw on my screen, I lost all three. I took my usual too many works to say that I'll be anxious to see your new croc coin.

 

Did you get the one from Roma? Oh man! Jealous! I meant to bid on that. Same with several other recent auction coins. Haven't done a good job with keeping up lately, but in my strata there will always be more. I'm particularly disgusted that I forgot to bid on that particularly nice Pontos Perseus with decapitated Medusa in the recent Pecunem auction. Someone got a great deal on it...

 

I still had your original post open on another screen. I hope you don't mind me reproducing it, as I think the other words are worth reading too.

Doug said : "When I started my web page in 1997 I was of the belief that there were too many people who believed that ancient coins were a hobby only available to the rich. I hope my pages have shown that there can be fun for the rest of us. When I was young literally millions of my peers got great enjoyment out of filling penny boards with coins from circulation. None of those coins were MS69 but we did not know then that a coin had to be to be interesting. The minimum cost of admission to the hobby has risen but it would be possible to enjoy an assemblage of nothing over $10 per coin. $10,000 coins are prettier.

My Impossible to Grade page like my earlier Grading pages were intended to point out and attach terms to situations a 'less than perfect' collector might encounter and to suggest that there might be some interest in imperfect coins. I still have not warmed up to coins butchered in the last decade by amateur cleaning efforts but I can be pretty forgiving of most 'natural' things that happened in a couple thousand years that a coin waited before entering my collection.

I will be anxious to see your crocodile and hope the two of you will be happy together."

 

Nice save, Zumbly!

 

Guilty. There were two in that auction and I went for the nicer one. But I won't feel bad since I'm sure there's another crocodile out there with a tag that says "I BELONG TO TIF" on it. Not to mention the fact that if you had bid, I probably wouldn't have won it.

I saw that Pontos Perseus and remember noting that it had a great obverse, but not enough of the gory details on the reverse. I'm afraid you may have a wee bit of competition for this one. Blame Steve and Doug.

 

Steve has several already-- including some nice ones, so I bet he didn't bid on it. You're right, the reverse could have been better but it did show the head, the blood, and most of the body. The obverse was unusually good.

Like you said, there will be others Since I'm not in the top-tier collecting price range, there will always be more of (most) of the coins I like.

 

No, you're right - all the details were there. What I really meant to say was "not enough detail on the goriness" rather than "not enough of the gory details". A coin like that deserves a reverse with the clarity of a crime scene photograph.

 

Z => I am also looking forward to seeing your new coin (man, I love those croc-coins!!)

Oh, and "nope, it wasn't me that scored the sweet Medusa coin that you're both raving about" ... but it sounds like it was nice, eh?

Sadly, it is New Year's Eve and I don't have any coins in my crosshairs ... geesh, I hope that doesn't continue in 2014!!

Cheers, comrades (it has been an absolute pleasure coinin' with you guys!!)

 

Thanks zumbly! This is one of the little miracles of the information age.... very little.

I was online watching the Pecunium sale close because there were a couple of lots I wanted for a price but both closed over twice what they stood at a day before. I will be interested in seeing which of you bought 'my' coins. I did not see the croc or the Perseus as worth the realization. On the latter, I only recognize two grades: Better than Steve's and Not Better than Steve's. More spectacular this week was a coin of Constantine I that closed on eBay at something like $136. I thought I was being wild and crazy thinking it worth half that. I do wonder who bought it. As I recall management does not want us discussing specific sales but, in general, European auctions bring more than I am willing to pay for mediocre coins. I understand and even occasionally find myself paying a high price for something very special but the fact that one Constantine is worth $136 does not mean that another in equal condition is worth even $13.

Regarding crocs: the last one I bought was returned as artificially repatinated. If this sort of thing bothers you be careful buying pretty light green croc coins from European dealers. Currently the fakes Yahoo discussion list is all in a tizzy over some of the back of the catalog groups of sestertii in the upcoming Triton sale. To some of these guys a coin fully stripped and retoned to an even black is just as bad as a cast fake. If you see a pot of many bronzes all the same color and all perfectly smooth, you should suspect full cleaning and chemical retoning. I can't say I call it wrong. I would prefer all sellers marked such lots as 'processed' but the fact remains that millions of ancients come out of the ground looking bad and the professional processors can turn them into something not hard to look at. I continue to believe the old saying: "All ancients have been cleaned; those with an inch of dirt on them used to have two inches." The hoards processed by the British Museum have a certain look; I suspect professionals in this field are able to tell you at a glance what was done and perhaps who did it to many coins. I am much more accepting of professionally cleaned and retoned coins than the purists but I am not as forgiving of harshly abused coins. While I do not have a place in my collection for ten identical (or 100!) coins, I suspect we all will be seeing these coins offered singly by their buyers so I do have interest in the hammer prices of some of these lots.

I did not see the Roma croc but am now really curious. Let us all root for superb postal service.