Share your rarest coin

All unique. I'll stick to the ancients section time bracket.

Edward the Confessor Trefoil/Quatrefoil penny of Winchcombe


William II type 4 penny of Tamworth


Edward the Confessor PACX penny of Guildford


Edward IV halfpenny of Canterbury with trefoils by the neck


Harthacnut Arm & Sceptre penny of Bridport


Edward the Elder 2 line penny by the moneyer Thurlac


Edward the Confessor Pointed Helmet penny of Langport


Henry I type 4 penny of Wallingford


William I Sword type penny of Dorchester with small crosses by the bust

 

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MA Legio IIII

 

Wow, I can't take my eyes off that pointy-hatted Eddie!! Whatever you paid for it it was worth it. The William II is another major score. Getting nice ones nowadays can be a budget buster.

It looks like you're putting together a set of the English monarchs. I started about a year ago and am halfway complete with some easy ones still missing (waiting for interesting ones) and then that deadly first row which might take many, many years to fill up :- )

Rasiel

 

Thanks. The Langport was a bargain in a Kunker sale 10 years ago, less than VF price for the mint and it extended the opening period for the mint by one issue and as such a no brainer.

William II types 2 to 5 and Henry I are probably the most problematic finding fully struck up and legible examples due to their relative scarcity as types, compared to say Stephen which is much commoner as a reign despite frequently grotty strikes.

Included in my collecting criteria, I'm going for one of each person in whose name a coin was struck, including episcopals and one of each mint, trying not to duplicate types to make it challenging. Some duplication is inevitable because some types account for the only examples known (or available) from more than one mint.

As for your gaps, half the top row are relatively easy to find something interesting at affordable prices. A good challenge would be a fully struck up Tealby for Henry II and for something harder, an uncirculated 1837 half farthing for William IV which is not easy to find in any presentable grade.

 

Kara Koyunlu Silver Tanka of Jahanshah (minted in Qom sometime between 1438 and 1467):

 

Do mint errors count? If so this is the rarest of the rare, the only one known (well actually it's 2 coins), and a truly unique error:


Characteristics: Unique rarity; an exceptionally rare blank mint error as both flans are a precise match when stacked with portraits facing outwards. The two individual flans were stuck together when they were trimmed, heated, and struck. Thus creating a single, perfectly aligned coin when stacked. When the coins are separated they each have a blank, unstruck, side. What's truly amazing is that these two coins survived together, intact, for over 1800 years.


Coin 1:
Province, City - Reign: Syria, Cyrrhestica. Beroea - Macrinus
Denomination: AR Tetradrachm
Mint: Cyrrhestica. Beroea (217–218 AD)
Obverse: AYT K MA OΠCE MAKPINOC CE, Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right
Reverse: Blank (unstruck mint error)

Coin 2:
Province, City - Reign: Syria, Cyrrhestica. Beroea - Macrinus
Denomination: AR Tetradrachm
Mint: Cyrrhestica. Beroea (217–218 AD)
Obverse: Blank (unstruck mint error)
Reverse: ΔHMΛPX EΞ YΠATOCΔ, Eagle standing facing, wings spread, head and tail left, holding wreath in beak; palm frond to left; between legs, winged animal facing
Exergue: B-E

 

I have a Constantine II struck with two flans stuck together.



Constantine II
A.D. 320
19mm 5.8g
D N CONSTANTINO IVN NOB C; laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
VICTORIAE LAET PRINC PERP; two Victories stg., facing one another, together holding wreath inscribed VOT PR on altar.
in ex. P two captives L
RIC VII Lyon 90

 

I have a few other coins that are similar to yours that were minted with two flans, but the flans are stuck together not separated. The one in my post are two separate coins that somehow remained together as a pair and not spent separately. It seems like the previous owners thru the centuries knew they were unique and kept them together.

 

Stephen Album says that this Zand Gold 1/2 Mohur of Karim Khan Zand (which I won at an auction today) may be unique:

 

FEL TEMP REPARATIO Series



Constantius, 351-355 A.D.
Thessalonica Mint
Obv: Diademed Constantius, facing Right
Rev: Emperor standing on singular captive, holding victory and Christogram banner
RIC VIII Thessalonica 178, R1

This variety of the FEL TEMP REPARATIO series was minted in response to Constantius' initial victory over Magnentius at the Battle of Mursa in the neighboring province of Pannonia. It is a variety of a broder series, and is unique through the fact that the emperor kneels on one captive rather than two.

RIC VIII lists this type as R1 (11-15 pieces known), and while this population count isn't exact, it has been listed elsewhere as one of the rarest coins in the entire series. This makes it my rarest coin!

 

A scarce silver Didrachm of emperor Domitian minted in Cyprus. Its provenance is cited as being ex. Mike Bezayiff. 19 specimens of this type is recorded on RPC Online.


https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/2/1810

 

Roman A.D. 218 VERY RARE (possibly only known of type*) "erased emperor" as coin from his last months of life: shows the hated Emperor Macrinus who ruled just 15 months before being murdered and was then officially "erased" by the Senate ("damnatio memoriae" --damnation of the memory of him). In one of the earliest such rare un-personings by the Senate, most of his statues and coins were destroyed. Written mention of him (on scrolls, tablets, monuments) was erased. On this coin's reverse, the text in exergue is ЄT B which is a date mark showing his regnal year 2 (regnal year 1 would have been ЄT A), making this specimen even more rare since only around two months of coin production would have borne Macrinus' year 2 mark. (The regnal year's B does somewhat resemble a P, but there was no P used in the region's regnal year system.)

Obverse: laureate draped bust of Macrinus looking right and lettered legend.
Reverse: agalma (votive sculpture) of locally-sacred Mount Argaeus on garlanded altar, original legend text possibly MHTOΠO (or MHTPOΠ) KAICAPIA, in ex ЄT B.
Caesarea-in-Cappadocia mint.

*This might be the only known specimen of the Cappadocian agalma-of-Mount-Argaeus type (several emperors used it) to picture Macrinus himself; the other known specimens of Macrinus' brief era instead picture his son (and very briefly, co-emperor), the 9-year-old Diadumenian (who was also murdered and subject to damnatio memoriae).

Bronze 12.6 grams. 29mm.

Ref: (similar but picturing Diadumenian, see above) Sydenham 506a, 510; SNG Righetti 1794; (picturing others) Sydenham, Caesarea 500-1 var; Sear GICatv(1982ed) No 2890 var; Sydenham 527; RPC VI online 6736; SNG von Aulock 6510

 

Crispus as Caesar

Arelate mint c317 AD.

Follis, CRISPUS NOB CAES laureate, draped bust right / PRINCIPIA IUVENTUTIS Mars advan-cing right, with spear and shield; in fields: RS, in exergue:SARL.

RIC ?.

Diameter: 19mm

Weight: 3.73g

Ex. Roma Numismatics e-Sale 108 (2023)

Ex. Dutch Numismatic Auction, Auction 2

(2018), Lot 440 (misdescribed as having QARL in exergue)

Very fine. Acquired from Schulman in 1977.
Quite a scarce coin especially with officina S instead of Q

 

This was a pleasing catch:

 

Self-promotion is not allowed.

 

Wonderful AI generated description there at the bottom

 

Thanks for posting that 3/3 AV Obol! I just bought it for my collection!
John

 

I think the rarest coin I have would be this diassarion (or double as) I bought recently of Caligula, who's already pretty hard to get coins of in general. The product description says it's rare anyway.



Pontus. Comana. Gaius (Caligula), 37-41. Diassarion Orichalcum, 23 mm. 11.5 gm. CY 4 = 37/8. Obv: ΓΑΙΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑP, Laureate head of Gaius to right. Rev. ΚΟΜΑΝⲰΝ - ЄΤΟΥϹ / Δ Radiate and draped male bust to right, club before. Amandry-Rémy, Comana 3-7. RPC I 2158. Rare.

 

This sestertius of Vitellius with reverse Concordia is the rarest coin in my collection of Roman coins.

I have done a search of examples that exist in Museums, collections or auctions over the last 25 years and have found only 3 other examples.

One example is in the British Museum, another in the collection of the American Numismatic Society. A third example was sold by CNG in 2007.

My coin is in very low grade, much lower that the previously cited examples, but the emperors profile is clear as well as his name. For a coin found at an antique market for about 40 euros I"d say its not bad.

Vitellius. AD 69. Æ Sestertius. Rome mint. Laureate and draped bust right / Concordia seated left, holding branch and scepter. RIC I 133.

 

Ottoman Gold Sultani of Mehmed II (minted in Constantinople in 1454):