Over priced ancients

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I'd say that many Roman gold coins are overpriced considering their rarity. The problem is that Panzerman has cornered the market on these, leaving a smaller population available to the rest of us collectors.

Here's just a portion of his collection of Roman 1st & 2nd century aureii which I photographed.



Me with the collection. Unfortunately reflection from the glass made the coins too light but you can see them in the mirrored images.


Although Panzer doesn't specifically target bronze, he did manage to acquire a few late 3rd century folles.

Actually all of these coins are shown in the Trier, Germany, museum collection. This is where I am today, having also dragged my young son along.

It's called the Goldern Hoard collection of 2516 aureii. The were originally buried ca. 170 AD and then reburied around 195 AD. They were found in 1993. I didn't see any rare Emperors tho, but there were a lot of nice unusual reverses.

Leaving Germany tomorrow.

 

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All the bronzes rotting away - along with thousands in museum basements doing the same, or the silver just sitting there along with whatever else. There may be things that belong in a museum but ancient coins are not one of them

 

This has to be the most absurd and depressing thing I have seen all day. All of these coins just sitting there rotting away - instead of being sold to collectors who could research and catalog them. It is the curse of the Indiana Jones syndrome - that anything old belong in some museum. It started during the first Iraq when it suddenly became political - very depressing.

 

Unfortunately the museum curator was too busy to talk w/ me but I've the following surprising observations of the coinage display at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier in Trier, Germany. Wiki info is here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinisches_Landesmuseum_Trier

As far as the coins on display, they seem to do a superb job on display and conservation. For example they have on display a heavy milarense of Constantine or Constantine II (I forget which) ca. 320's or 340's AD. It is held up by 3 pins against a black background. This is a high purity silver coin. The coin appears to be brilliant UNC or ch AU. It shows no sign of tarnish or corrosion. They have a number of Roman Republican (J. Caesar) denarii displayed similarly. I can only imagine that the coin was treated with some sort of oxidation inhibitor to maintain it's brilliant color. I know I've a problem with silver ancients tarnishing to grey once I get them from coin dealers. I use silica gel for moisture control and keep everything as air tight as possible but have problems preventing tarnishing. I'd like to find out how they do this.

The coinage displays at this museum are very well done and are by far the most crowded part of the museum. Even when the rest of the museum is empty, often the coinage displays are crowded and people are looking at things. I've noticed the same, last year to a lesser extent, with the coinage displays in The British Museum, London.

This is good in that it mantains popular interest in ancient coinage.

Also I think they bring high school classes in to force the students to look at the ancient history displays and coinage. This is not the rule in the US as we instead focus on 'other issues' in instructing our youth.

 

Yes, it’s my understanding that there are many of these owl coins available. News hoards seem to popping up regularly. The one you posted has a full plume on the back of Athena’s helmet. That brings a premium.

Another thing that keeps prices high is dealing with customs, shipping and taxes when you import a coin to the U.S. from Europe. It always costs more than you think and often involves a hassle. I’ve learned that from first hand experience which is why I try to buy from U.S. dealers whenever I can.

 

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Great post - I will check it out. It is too bad, however, that museums do not sell their doubles or triples or instances where they have multiple examples or simply cannot afford to maintain the coins properly

 

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I once (many years ago) made an appointment to visit the ancient-coin collection of Washington University in St. Louis. The curator kindly showed it to me. Many coins were in flips in a safe, but some were in a hall display table below glass. Imagine a pile of Roman coins maybe 2-3 coins deep on a flat table four feet wide and two feet deep, below glass a few inches above them. In the pile I spotted about 50 Agrippa/Neptune asses. I asked if anything could be done about duplicates--like selling them--and he said, no, the bequest (from the early 1900's, I think) was on condition that nothing ever be sold, or else ownership would revert to his descendants. There were other onerous conditions, too, but the bequest was take it or leave it. They took it.

 

Hi All,

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- Broucheion

 

I believe I mentioned this once before but I once visited a museum and the curator showed me dustbins ( trash cans) full of World War One medal trios donated by relatives. There were several hundreds of sets of medals. He explained that there would never be room to display them. The excuse I was given was that the museum did not want to upset relatives by refusing donations. However, I articulated my disgust by saying that they were consigning proud memories into obscurity and they should explain to donors that the medals would never see the light of day again. in contrast a collector would research the recipient and perpetuate the memory and history of the medals recipient.
I have been a member of the OMRS ( Orders and Medals Research Society) of Britain for nearly 50 years and the aim of collectors is to research the history of the awards and even the most humble of medals can sometimes reveal the most fantastic history when a diligent researcher studies extant records and speaks to descendants. That does not happen when they are consigned to a trash can in a basement.