Cool Commodus

I dont normally patronize Heritage these days but today I stopped there out of curiosity for the first time in a number of years. I spotted this gem which seems to have escaped most notice. I could find no other record of an example being sold, and all the RPC specimens reside in museum collections. RPC notes four examples (one is incorrectly described and is a separate type). One is not photographed, so correct attribution of that example is not yet possible. My research so far makes this one today the 3rd of 4th specimen.

Commodus
AE35, Lydia, Hypaepa
Magistrate: Hermolaos II Theophilou (strategos)
Date: 182-184
Obverse: ΑV ΚΑΙ Μ ΑVΡΗ ΚΟΜΟΔΟС, Laureate-headed bust of Commodus wearing cuirass and paludamentum, r.
Reverse: ƐΠΙ ƐΡΜΟΛΑΟΥ Β ΘƐΟΦΙΛΟV СΤΡΑ VΠΑΙΠΗΝΩΝ, Emperor (Commodus) on horseback, r., brandishing spear; before, lion.
Countermark on obverse: cult statue of Artemis Anaïtis within oval (Howgego 233).
RPC IV Online 3417

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Nice catch!

 

Very cool counter-mark ... oh, and the lion is also pretty slick (I love the coin)

 

Nice winner, and indeed a very nice Mark, of Artemis

 

I love it. Wonderful.

 

Wow, very nice

Some auctioneers' websites are so awkward to navigate that I don't do it regularly (HJB and HA top the list). Looks like the effort is sometimes worthwhile!

 

Certainly a most interesting type, congrats on a nice grab Ken !

Q

 

Excellent!

 

That's the first I've seen of the type...Love the toning, counter-mark and that wonderful reverse!!!

Just curious---Was that one of the only unslabbed examples offered at Heritage???

 

I didnt look through the entire auction as I get bored very quickly with slabbed late Antoninianii in Fine with $150 bids, but this seemed to be one of just maybe a dozen that were not slabbed. Obviously the worn state of the coin alone with no slab scared off most bidders. Their loss and my gain!

 

You deserve this rare coin, brother KD. Congrats..

 

Good catch. Leave the slabbed $50 antoninianii for those willing to pay $150 for them for the fancy NGC label. This is further proof that raw is where is at. The more that they overpay for those fancy pieces of plastic, the less they'll be bidding against us for those sweet raws at reasonable prices.

 

Yes, I do! I spotted what nobody else did. But, there is also the spectre of perceived value. What would members here think it worth? Just one of 3 or 4 known, the only outside a museum (as far as I can tell at the moment).

 

I'll admit to not knowing much about Commodus coinage, but if I was interested in bronze coinage instead of silver, I might have bid for it. You don't have to know much about it's rarity to realize that is one very desirable coin with a sweet countermark, and the style of the portrait is very attractive.

That was a great find @Ken Dorney . If you put it for sale in your shop I may have to think about giving my "silver only" policy a loophole. I would definitely welcome such a sweet looking coin to my collection any day.

 

This is very true, at least to those of us who think alike. Make no mistake, slabs will not go away and we will have to deal with it at some point. Right now I think since sabbed ancients are in their infancy things will be in flux for some time. Prices all over the board, but I do think things will stabilize eventually. I currently own three slabbed ancients. I bought them that way and as I have a policy not to touch or modify a coin in any way I have left then alone. It will be up to the next owner to decide what to do with them. BUT, I also popped onto Ebay yesterday out of curiosity and saw the same thing as at Heritage. Common coins, sometimes crappy, sometimes nice quality, selling for many times what they really were worth. As a dealer with profit in mind I wonder if I should sell my few slabs that way. I mean, I could realize a better price. After all, those few slabs I have remain unsold after several years despite being priced appropriately. But, my conscience will not allow it. I'll keep them in my inventory as is. Maybe some day I will break them out. I assume their being slabbed is preventing them from being sold?

 

I have a policy of not overpaying when I can help it, and so far that has worked to keep me away from slabs. However, if I were to find a slabbed coin at a reasonable market price and I wanted the coin, I would buy it despite being in a slab. I may crack it out though, but that's neither here nor there.

 

I completely agree. I suspect many collectors think like I do, that slabs are somewhat detrimental to the purchase of ancients. Take Heritage as an example. They are one of the biggest dealers in the world. They have tremendous resources available but they have some of the absolute worst photographs in the business! Add to this that slabs are not guaranteed and if you break them out to examine them closely you void any return privilege.

 

Thats a cool looking coin, and a sweet countermark.

Without going into too much about slabs. A coin like that deserves to be touched.

 

I have to admit curious how being slabbed would affect the realization/demand for a coin like the Commodus. For the most part, the target market would not appreciate what the coin has to offer over a bonus for being large (too large to slab?) and you would find as many potential buyers scared off as added if the coin had been encapsulated. The coin has a lot of legend remaining which would make it a lot more desirable to me than a similar coin with intact laurel wreath and fewer letters.
We could have a thread on coins that would be a waste to slab. Certainly this is one. I suspect being AE35 would make it attractive to more people than a hundred similarly interesting types 10mm smaller. I wonder how NGC would feel about a surface rating for a coin with damage (we call it a countermark and reverse flat spot) and uneven tone. Certainly we would not want a Gordian III antoninianus with these 'problems' but it goes without saying that this ain't no Gordian. The only problem I see with it is that I did not find it.

 

Doug, sometimes I have a real hard time figuring out what you mean! As to the above comment, we all know slabs affect the price of ALL coins. Like it or not, but its there. NOT for this coin, since it thankfully wasnt entombed in plastic!

I honestly dont know what the 'target market' might be, but only Heritage knows that (and I can certainly imagine, as all the rest of you, that its the modern market they are targeting).

Ah, hell no! But then I pretty much assume you are being sarcastic. Any collector would love these 'problems' on a Gordian!

That may be true, but from what I have seen I might take a respectful guess and say you likely would only have paid 10% or less than I did!