Just won 2 from Naville

Nice!! Both were on my initial bid list (LOL, almost all of the Roman Egyptian coins were ). I regretfully didn't bid on your Harpokrates because I was holding funds for coins at the end of that section. I badly wanted either of the Triptolemos tets but had to set a limit at some point. I was the immediate underbidder on the nicer of the two but suspect the winner would have gone to the moon. I dropped out of the second one fairly high and to my surprise it kept going and going and going. Oh well.

Your Diocletian has a very unusual and interesting portrait.

I did have some connection problems but thought it was just me. I'd moved to a different part of the house and thought it was my WiFi. The coin images were not showing but the bidding dialog seemed to keep pace.

 

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This one?


It closed at £220.

 

Yes, I agree that it's very unusual portrait style. I actually considered NOT bidding on it for that reason!

 

Thanks. I might have bid more. Curses on the bad server!

 

@Carausius

Those are wonderful acquisitions. I almost bid on the Diocletian because I love the portrait.

Unlike some I did not have any connection problems. Sorry for those who did.

 

I've come to the conclusion that the Dattari Diocletion actually looks like Sam Elliot, the actor.

 

It's the sad eyes.

 

No worries, it's inevitable! I'm glad our coin group got it! (I suppose we could message among ourselves to divvy out what we'll bid on? Might save us some bucks. Probably too complicated though.)

I also bid on that Diocletian (early going only)... not just the cool portrait, but also the last year in which the Alexandrian tet was produced. (Assuming that is indeed an "IB" and not an "IA".) There were other last-year productions in the auction too. Diocletian year 12, Maximian year 11, Constantius year 4, and Galerius year 4. Everyone should have at least one, amiright? Here's my Maximian year 11 (ex. Emmett):

 

Sorry to have bid against you SA. As you said, it's inevitable. The date on the Diocletion/Elliott tet actually appears re-engraved to me, from IA to IB - possibly a late IA die that was repurposed - but I'll know better when I see it in hand and look at other examples (maybe I can find an IA die match).

 

I unfortunately got blown out of the water on all my bids I tried at the Domitian Denarius among others but went above what I told myself I would stop at... being disciplined is no fun. Congrats to everyone who won sweet new coins especially @Orfew and @Carausius. Great additions!

 

Congratulations on your two new additions, Orfew.
That tetradrachm looks very nice!

 

I like both your wins, @Orfew - I briefly considered bidding on the Cato myself .

I don't fancy my chances of ever winning a Dattari coin, but I did come away with this nice Neandreia obol below from the Clain-Stefanelli collection. It adds to my small side collection of coins from Troas. I hope to eventually get at least one coin from every mint in the region - this one brings me up to 17 out of 25. It comes with an extensive pedigree that I haven't researched, but previous owners appear to include a 19th century English archaeologist and clergyman, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and Edward Perry Warren, a somewhat notorious "gentleman scholar" and collector of erotic artwork.


TROAS, Neandreia
AR Obol. 0.60g, 8mm. Circa 4th century BC. SNG Copenhagen 446; SNG von Aulock 7628; Warren 1046 = Boston MFA 1663 (this coin). O: Laureate head of Apollo right. R: NEA-N, ram standing right.
Ex E.E. Clain-Stefanelli Collection; Ex Hunt Collection (Sotheby's, 1992, lot 578); Ex Boston Museum of Fine Arts (NFA VIII, 1980, lot 218); Ex Edward Perry Warren Collection; Ex Canon William Greenwell Collection.

 

Great coins!

 

Thanks for the kind words. Yes the Cato the younger is an interesting coin. Of course his story is also very interesting.

I love your Obol. That is a great coin with a very interesting past. I wish you the best of luck in completing your quest.

 

@Carausius
@red_spork
@TIF
I have seen several corn ear KA overstrikes recently. I thought this one was interesting because it was a corn ear (no KA) over an uncia.
I targeted the over-type coin in an auction Saturday. I stopped bidding after a combined 15 bids & saved my money for Sunday.


The corn-ear over-strike was a really nice coin, but I did not want it as much as someone else.

I did find it interesting that NN did not mention the over-strike in the coin description. I guess Stefanelli collection reference was meant to be the coin's selling point.

Corn-ear (first) series Uncia Sicily circa 214-212, Æ 20.5mm., 5.31g. Head of Roma r., wearing Attic helmet; behind, pellet. Rev. ROMA Prow r.; above, corn-ear and below, pellet. Crawford 42/4 = 72/9.
nice dark green patina. Very Fine/Good Very Fine.
From the E.E. Clain Stefanelli collection.


NN did not mention the ghost riders on the coin I won either.
P. Paetus. Denarius circa 138, AR 20mm., 3.57g. Helmeted head of Roma r.; behind, X. Rev. The Dioscuri galloping r.; below, P·PAETVS and in exergue, ROMA. Babelon Aelia 3. Sydenham 455. Crawford 233/1.
Banker's marks on obv.; otherwise Very Fine.
From the E.E. Clain Stefanelli collection.

 

What have you got there @rrdenarius ? I'm not sure whether it's overstruck, double-struck or clashed.

 

I have an example of the earlier corn-ear uncia like the one shown, and it shows signs of overstriking but the undertype is not discernible. For some reason these earlier corn-ear coins tend to be better struck and much more difficult to ID the undertype on than the later corn-ear KA types.

My only win in the Naville auction was the denarius below, also from a Second Punic War-era Sicilian mint:

The coin is a rare variant of the Crawford 75 "C AL" denarius that is lacking the magistrate's name.

 

I am not sure yet.
My first guess is a flip-over double strike. You can see a clean example in my post of the coin -
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/whats-up-with-this-rr-denarius.291939/

I would guess that a clashed die pair would have more examples in circulation. I have not seen any in the 100 or so on I found on line. Also I do not see a ghost of Roma on the reverse that should be seen on clashed dies.