How Low Will You Stoop?

As some of you may know, I'm assembling what is possibly the most boring collection of ancient coins conceived by man. In my defense, it was Doug's idea - a mint set of the GLORIA EXERCITVS types of Constans with two standards. The two standard types were minted only very briefly for this emperor, before the mints transitioned to one standard.

Most of these coins are r4-r5 in RIC, and Aquileia is one of the most difficult. A certain Spanish dealer has a very nice one for $200 at the moment. I offered him $75, he countered with $185 and didn't bother counter-offering at that point. We were too far apart to make a deal. He is under the delusion that because of its rarity, it is worth $200. I'm probably the only collector on the planet assembling a mint set of these coins, and I refuse to pay that amount.

Anyway, I found this little dog for $20, arf arf, but it fits the bill. CONSTANS NOB C is nicely emblazoned over the top of the obverse, and you can see AQS on the reverse, although quite faintly. What confirms the mint is the F between the two standards - only varieties of Aquileia have this F.



Wow, what a crappy coin now that I look at it. I'm sure if I put it into one of my auctions for $20 you'd all have a good laugh. It just goes to show that coin collectors are not always of sound mind.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I need Lucilla with "Vota outside of wreath" reverse. I found one for $30 earlier this year but it had a huge gash on the obverse and the reverse was pretty worn. It's a fairly rare reverse compared to the "in wreath", but I passed and have no regrets. A better one will come along in time.

If you're happy with it, thats all that matters.

Maybe move it to the lower right corner so it isn't smack in the middle of the pic?

 

Well, the mints are in order from West to East, a la RIC. I'm good with it actually - the collection isn't about eye appeal. It's about assembling a mint set, for whatever peculiar existential reasons collectors assemble mint sets.

 

I've been known to stoop pretty low, my coin-friend ... I like you, JA

=> good luck in your coin-hunt

 

Why do we collect anything? Because we can! And why not? It seems to be inherent in most people, perhaps some leftover from primordial times. For most though, we tend to attempt a collection in which we can actually complete. We can point and say, 'here is a set'. I no longer have any collecting theme. I just simply buy whatever trips my trigger.

 

I just checked the 'Gloria' types of Constans I still have and both of mine are examples you already possess. Good luck JA finding the missing mints.

 

I appreciate hole-fillers like that coin. If you find a better one latter at a price you like than upgrade, otherwise that psychological need to fill every hole is filled, and that has more than $20 in value in my book!

 

I am so proud of you! I suspect this is the same dealer that sent me the wrong coin earlier this year but wouldn't send return postage so I kept the unwanted one. He is out of business to me.

A+

If you have two Constans two standard coins you don't want, Perhaps JA would take them at a reasonable price. Perhaps, I would. The operative word here is 'reasonable'. Some of them are cheap and easy.

I am slightly offended by the suggestion that this idea is even close to the most boring idea for a set. I could do worse. I will point out that a multi-billionaire could buy a nice set of 12 Caesars denarii in a week or two but all that money would be hard pressed to do what JA is attempting to do in a year. I'm just glad I didn't suggest he do a set of falling horsemen (~2200 coins). That would make me feel guilty. We both know someone who is trying for them (not me!).

I have told myself that before. Sometimes I was right; sometimes not. Please send one of these my way. I have been looking for a long time since I missed the first one I saw decades ago. Can anyone tell what makes it different?

I'd make the single on the top row and add a label that would say Constans / two standards in some way to fill the top. That would push it out of the center and explain why the coins were displayed as a set.

 

How low will I stoop? About this low (eek!):


Barcids of Spain, Carthago Nova
237-209 BCE
AR 1/4 shekel
Obv: laureate male head left (Herakles? Hannibal?); club over far shoulder
Rev: Elephant walking right.
Ref: MHC 47; CNH 15; SNG BM Spain 102


Boy I really want a better example of this coin, or any "Hannibal"/elephant shekel denomination.

 

There is another matter called family. For the longest time The coin below was my best of its RIC # but since I have upgraded with a die duplicate in better shape. I could sell it for next to nothing but have preferred to say I love my ugly children, too. Part of its appeal is that I remember being proud of knowing I wanted it in 1987.

 

here's a pretty poor coin that is barely recognizable, but it is a rare type with a workshop not listed in RIC

Constantine I
A.D. 320
18x19mm 2.9gm
CONST-ANTINVS AVG; laureate helmet and cuirassed bust.
REV: Laurel wreath enclosing VOT/ XV FEL / XX RT
RIC VII Rome 219

 

This is how I feel whenever someone posts a Constantinian bronze:


But seriously, whatever floats your boat. Half the joy in collecting, as far as I'm concerned, is in figuring out how to arrange and understand a series. The coins themselves are almost secondary.

 

Most of my low stooping is from my token collection. I would pay very good money for a holed/bent/scratched/corroded/whatever token from McChord or RAF Mildenhall...

 

I went so low as to buy a fake. But considering the price, rarity, and number of forgeries out there, I felt I was justified at the time.

 

You know, I dont always think fakes are as bad as some think. If a certain type is completely outside the realm of what one can afford or ever reasonably own but one really wants it, what is the harm if they have a fake/replica/fantasy? I know of course, fakes can cause financial harm to those who dont know better. Maybe if one marked the fake in some small unobtrusive way? It shouldnt be any harm to the collector present or future.

 

Great set of coins JA.

Here is my dog

Aemilian / Dacia Mint

 

I agree. Here's a great example of that philosophy. Owning the authentic coin is utterly outside the realm of possible. At least this copy has some historical interest in its own right since it was made by noted electrotypist Robert Ready, probably in the 1800s.

Previously posted in this thread: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/sometimes-a-copy-will-have-to-suffice.272376/


KYRENAIKA, Kyrene
modern copy by electrotypist Robert Ready
host coin, c. 410-400 BCE, acquired by the British Museum in 1872
AR "tetradrachm", 27 mm, 16.64 gm
Obv: Bearded head of Zeus-Ammon, wearing tainia with uraeus-like ornament at forehead, facing slightly left within laurel wreath
Rev: silphium plant; K V P A N A (split between fields, retrograde K)
Edge: initials R R
Ref: BMC 77 (host coin); B.V. Head. A guide to the principal coins of the Greeks, from circ. 700 B.C. to A.D. 270. London. 1965 pl. 20, 61 (host coin); host coin BM accession number 1872,0709.361; B.V. Head. A Guide to the Select Greek and Roman Coins Exhibited in Electrotype, London. 1880. Period III C #44.



The British Museum coin host coin:

 

Tell the truth, how many DO you have?

 

I didn't realize this would turn into a 'But(t) coin thread...and lord knows I have numerous examples (LOL), so instead I'll post my British Museum electroplate replica---a genuine example would've been way out my league and budget in 2015 and probably for the immediate future as well. I still haven't spent over $800.00 shipped for a single coin....although I tried to throw away a grand recently LOL (Tyrian Shekal). but it blew by my bid and sold for $1,500

@dougsmit : The two Constans/'Gloria' double standards types I have are from the Siscia mint and perhaps the Rome mint, missing the mint mark but appears to be stylistically Rome---perhaps not. If I had any of the missing mints that JA needed I would've sold them for little more than shipping...and/or for 'credit' as he deemed appropriate for any winning auction of his.

I really LIKE that fake A LOT @TIF

Lebedos, Ionia REPLICA Tetradrachm: