eBay Bargains - Recent Lot with Julia Domna, Queen Elizabeth I, etc.

I consider it being akin to a gambling addiction, but one of my favorite way to purchase ancients is to cruise eBay looking for poorly described and/or poorly photographed lots. Recently I chanced upon this for $39.99 Buy-It-Now and I thought I'd run it by the forum - for opinions and similar finds.

To be sure, I have been burnt by such lots in the past - lots that are poorly photographed can harbor fakes, crusty dog biscuits and other undesirable things (and yeah, I've bought a few). But for the most part, things have worked out okay, and help me keep within my very modest budget.

Anyway, the lot was described as "4 old ancient coins as described below" with a lot of black-and-white (!) photos, apparently taken with a phone; about half of them were out-of-focus. In no way do I want to criticize the seller - he packed them nicely and shipped promptly. But the listing could've been a bit spiffier (but then I probably couldn't have afforded it). Here is a sample of one of the seller's photos:



So what did I get? In descending order, here are the coins:






Julia Domna denarius, FORTVNAE FELICI reverse. Except for a slight planchet crack/delamination, this is, in my opinion, a lovely coin, probably worth the entire bid. It is certainly the nicest Julia Domna in my collection. I haven't researched this yet - not sure about the mint, etc.



Constantine II "Two Standards" small bronze from the Treveri (Trier, Germany) mint. Except for a bit of weakness in the legend, this too is a beauty in my opinion. It has a lovely jade green patina that was a real surprise (see seller's black and white photo above).


Great Britain Elizabeth I half groat (according to the paperwork that came with it - I don't know a lot about English hammered coins). No date, but apparently 1560-1561, crosslett mintmark (any attribution suggestions appreciated, as always). Not bad except two gargantuan bend marks. You could see one of Shakespeare's plays at The Globe and get a cushion for one of these!



Byzantine Follis - er, the paperwork says Phocas, but I have my doubts. The obverse is mostly crusted over, but it looks like two figures, which corresponds with some of the issues of Phocas, but the reverse looks wrong for him (wrong type of M). Heraclius? Any help would be appreciated. Pretty doggy, I admit.

How'd I do? Anybody else troll for lots like this?

 

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Nice denarius and E1. You more than got your money's worth, IMHO. I like to troll when I have time simply searching for "Roman coin," but it takes a lot of patience.

 

the luLia Domna coin is a very desirable coin with that hair style. good job on that hand mike

 

Nice catch!

Looks like a Justin II & Sophia follis.

 

Nice JD. It alone is worth the price you paid for the lot.

 

The Constantine II is a very common issue, yours is from the Trier, or as the Romans called it, Treveri mint. Nice coin, worth somewhere around $20. It has the virtue of a centered strike that captures the entire reverse legend and mint mark.

The Julia Domna is an excellent example of the type - it looks authentic at first glance. Maybe you could give us the dimensions, weight and diameter? For some reason, a lot of these types have flan cracks. Was there something awry with the alloy or annealing during the run of these coins? I wouldn't expect to pay less than $50 for it on a good day, more like $75 at full retail. It has abundant detail and excellent surfaces.

I know nothing about the half groat, so I'll let others comment on that.

The last coin is a cull that appears to have bronze disease to boot. Market value = 0.

 

The Julia Domna denarius is 19-20mm and weighs 3.08 grams.

Thank you all for your comments!

 

Nice! I've given up on eBay, but that JD is lovely and worth the price of the lot IMHO. Agree on the Elizabeth I. Mintmark usually described as 'cross crosslet', which together with absence of rose in the obverse field identifies it as second issue, 1560-1, Spink 2557, £40 in fine in last year's catalog and prices risen since then, so arguably also worth price of the lot!

 

what everyone else said!

i do this sometimes, but it does take quite a bit of patience..which i haven't had as of late.

here's a nice ebay coin i scored in part because of a poor pic for the listing...




of course, sometimes ugly pics are just pics of ugly coins....



my pic of this coin doesn't look any better than the sellers blurry pic (it may be worse since you can see it better)!

 

Thank you for the attribution help on the ha'rf groat.

 

Nice Carinus! And yeah, I've got some ugly coins that "in hand" looked no better than the ugly pics. Win some lose some, they say.

 

I only buy lots when I see something in the lot I want - not just "4 ancient coins". Usually there is a coin in the lot that made it a 'must have' rather than a 'decent group'. In this case, the Domna seems worth the price or more but only if you wanted a Domna. I like her coins so it seems like a reasonable buy. The Constantine II is also a keeper IMO. I would agree with the other values mentioned except I am very hard on bent coins. The Elizabeth has a lot less wear than many of these we see but that bend can not be undone. I do not have a half groat but do have a 3d which has another fault - double striking - that makes it a lot less appealing to me. We each will have to answer which faults are deal breakers and which are not.

 

Thanks for your insights Doug. The Julia D. was the reason I bid on the lot - what makes this sort of find appealing (addictive) to me is the lack of description - I am indeed seeking Julia Domna coins (that I can afford) and like finding stuff on the cheap. Which is why I bought this lot. My garage sale mentality at work!

Perhaps a topic for another thread, but I have a perverse love for ugly coins. But I am rather (weirdly) picky about ugly - for instance holes don't bother me, but I dislike grainy planchets. Damaged coins become for me affordable coins - not a good investment strategy, but I am not really investing. I just like 'em.

Not an ancient, but here is an example of the kind of stuff I love to buy - an 1812 Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy 5 Lire (crown size, 25 grams) with a hole, graffiti, and only $8.59 (eBay 2013) - around $12 melt today. A cheap thrill...or an example of my poor collecting habits!

 

If you can be thrilled for $8.59, then that's a real bargain. And no need for penicillin.

 

And that ain't nothin' to clap about ( don't worry @Marsyas Mike. This has nothing to do with your coin. Just an old joke I doubt very many here will understand). But yeah, the price is more than right.

 

..the gift that keeps on giving^^

 

A neat haul.

 

Very cool. I used to speculate on poorly described coins on eBay. I used to search for "unknown" and "unidentified" in the coins section, and I came up with a few bargains: a 1797 cartwheel twopence, and a James II crown being my best finds for only a few bucks.

However, eBay is now absolutely loaded with pages and pages of pure garbage. Unfortunately i don't have the time or the patience to sift through it all, and I only buy on eBay from my small list of trusted sellers.

By the way, my new favourite dealer is Numiscorner - where did they come from? I bought my Basiliscus solidus from them, and they have suddenly appeared and are offering thousands and thousands of cool coins on eBay.