Last night I won this solidus of Heraclius. Since I began collecting a few Byzantine gold coins, I have been interested in these small solidii of Carthage. This one has issue with one of the portraits but is still in very nice condition imho. I also got it for what I think was an excellent price. I paid 207.00 plus shipping but including the BP. Please post your solidii or any coins of Heraclius. Heraclius (AD 610-641) & Heraclius Constantine (AD 613-641). AV solidus (4.46 gm). XF. Carthage, Indictional Year 9, 1st cycle (AD 620/1). D N ЄRACLIO ЄT ЄRACOS P P Θ, facing busts of Heraclius, with short beard (on left) and Heraclius Constantine, smaller and beardless (on right), each wearing chlamys and crown, cross in field above / VICTORI-A AVGG Θ, cross potent on three steps; CONOB in exergue. Sear 867.
WOW, JUST the gold value ALONE is approaching what you paid for the coin! CONGRATS on your capture. 1400 years of History, a piece of Gold, and a great coin... You won the Triple-Crown. Nailed it Dude! @Orfew : ROUGH Estimate: Gold $1310/TOZ = ~$42/g; Ergo: 4.46g AV = $187 Gold Value... At $207 purchase: YOU PAID $20 for 1400 years of History and a gorgeous coin! YOU ARE A THIEF!!!
Congrats @Orfew that is a lovely solidus at a really great price. I don't have any coins of Heraclius, though I would like tip add him to my collection.
Nice. I still only have 1 gold byzantine. heritage is pretty bad for shipping to Canada though.. last time I asked they said it was around $45 USD to ship to Canada and they want to use fed ex (meaning a very high import fee).. I also asked if they could ship another method and they said they could ship USPS for around $30 if you fill out a form
Nice solidus of Justinian! As for the shipping charges, it is just part of the process. Even figuring in the shipping I got a very good buy on the coin so no worries here. Also, when shipping gold I prefer fedex. At least I know it will not be stolen along the way. It helps that the Canadian dollar is relatively high at the moment.
I dunno... $207 sounds great, but if you add $45 for shipping, GST, provincial sales tax, Fedex "processing" fees, and the 3.5% your credit card company will ding you on the exchange rate, you're looking at, what, around CAD $380? That starts to sound less good. You could try getting the tax back (and maybe the processing fee) because it's gold. When I asked Heritage about using U.S. Post, they said no.
As I said above, I am quite happy with what I paid. BTW I do not get dinged for the US exchange because I have an American credit card. I will pay 380.00 CAD for an ancient gold solidus any day of the week.
Great move with the credit card, and I agree it is still a good price. Heritage just doesn't help make it even better, and certainly gives American bidders a big advantage over us when they are uncooperative about shipping. Back to the coin, though, which is what really matters... awesome score!