What Your Budget Buys - $150 Edition

That's the exact coin I had in mind while typing....

Q

 

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In this price range I choose following coins:

140 eur - Severus Alexander Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 225. IMP CAES M AVR SEV ALEXANDER AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / PONTIF MAX TR P IIII COS PP, Emperor in military dress standing left, holding globe and inverted spear; S-C across fields.

150 eur - Caracalla Denarius Obv: ANTONINVSPIVS AVGGERM - Laureate head right. Rev: VENVSVICTRIX - Venus standing left, holding Victory and spear with shield. c.216 (Rome).

150 eur - Elagabalus Denarius Obv: IMPANTONINVSPIVSAVG - Laureate, draped bust right. Rev: LIBERTASAVG - Libertas standing left, holding pileus and scepter; star in right field. 220-221 (Rome). 3.1 gr

140 eur - Alexander Severus Denarius Obv: IMPCMAVRSEVALEXAND AVG - Laureate, draped bust right. Rev: PMTRPVICOSIIPP - Aequitas standing left, holding scales and cornucopia. 227 (Rome).

 

very good!

 

i've always been curious as to why there's ANTONIVS PIVS on several different emperors coins.

 

..comes with air conditioning?

 

I bought this rather rare Trajan Decius antoninianus off the Gemini XIII unsold lots list earlier this year, where it was being offered at less than the auction's starting bid price.

Dacia on the reverse holding a regular standard instead of the usual draco standard piqued my interest enough for me to have it join my other (regular and much cheaper) Dacia ants. It's from the collection of a Trajan Decius specialist, but I suppose sometimes we generalists like to feel "special" too... buys like these help .

TRAJAN DECIUS
Rare. AR Antoninianus. 4.26g, 22.8mm. Rome mint, AD 251. RIC 36a (R); Cohen 25. O: IMP CAE TRA DEC AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right. R: DACIA, Dacia standing left holding military standard.
Ex Behnen Collection (purchased from Jonathan Kern, 2 November 2001

 

Fully Loaded Landed Cost: $142
(1 of 3 similar but with different devices)

Bruttium, Carthaginian Occupation
AR Half-Shekel.
3.26g, 19mm, 12h.
Punic mint in Bruttium, circa 216-211 BC. Struck during the Second Punic War.
Obv: Wreathed head of Tanit left
Rev: Horse standing right; solar disk above, Punic letter 'ayin' below.
Ref: SNG Copenhagen 361-3; HN Italy 2016.
Very Fine.

Fully Loaded Landed Cost: $156

Campania, Capua AE Semuncia circa 216-211, Æ 18.4mm., 4.58g.Obv: Bust of Juno r., holding sceptre on shoulder. Rev: KAPV Two xoana draped. Ref: SNG ANS 215.
Ref: Historia Numorum Italy 495.
Comment: Rare. Green patina. Obv. Slighlty double struck; Very Fine/Good Very Fine.
Ex: From the E.E. Clain-Stefanelli collection.

 

Fully Loaded Landed Cost: Cost of coin, Plus: acquisition / auction fees, insurance, shipping / freight, customs / duties, and other costs directly attributed to capturing the Coin. Term is from Manufacturing / Procurement / Standard Costing of product and/or services.

And yes, option packages do include air conditioning.

 

November 2001 was quite likely a Baltimore show where I always made Jonathan Kern's table a first stop. I never had enough money to buy all he had that I wanted so there were things I left that I should not have. I hope the Behnen collection got there before I did so I don't have to feel bad leaving it. I suspect it cost $50 then. Mr. Kern always had bags of bulk coins priced for picking. My coin below came out of his $50 bag. It is the slightly less rare TRA DECIVS legend but it was overstruck on a Geta denarius so was not one that I had to think twice about. I bought it from Jonathan in 1998.


There must have been a find of what was then thought to be Milan mint coins (later shown to be Rome when a die link turned up). I bought two TRA DEC coins within a year of that show but not from Jonathan. I have not seen as many of these lately. Perhaps they all went to the Behnen collection???
$30

$44


These three are in what I would call my permanent collection. I'll keep them forever or die trying. Are these worth 3X 'normal' Decius coins? I say 'yes' for the middle one and 'more' for the other two. It is all a matter of opinion.

 

Fully Loaded Landed Cost: $155

RR AR Quinarius 16mm 1.77g P Sabinus Rome 99 BCE Jupiter r E 3 pellets - P SABINE Q in ex Victory trophy E 3 pellets Cr 331-1

Fully Loaded Landed Cost: $130

KINGS OF PARTHIA, Orodes II, c. 57-37 BC
AR drachm, 18mm, 3.3g, 6h; Ekbatana mint.
Obv.: Diademed bust left, stars and crescent above.
Rev.: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ APΣAKY EYEPΓETOY ΔIKAIOY EΠIΦANOYΣ ΦIΛEΛΛHNOΣ, Arsakes I seated right on throne, holding bow; anchor behind, monogram below bow.
Reference: Sellwood 48.9
The Royal Wart is delivered by @John Anthony

Fully Loaded Landed Cost: $145

RR AR Denarius 149 BCE Pinarius Natta Roma X - Victory Biga whip NATTA ROMA Cr 208-1 Syd 390

 

Hormizd II. $140 landed. Hard to beat that headdress. Maybe the Nezak huns get close.

 

Thanks for your insight and for posting those examples, Doug. In the context of this thread, it's interesting to see the pricing of some coins from 15 years ago for comparison. That overstruck piece you bought from Jonathan Kern is really interesting!

 

I really do not think the 15 years was the big difference here. My examples were just a few coins selected from hundreds in the stock of the dealers that supplied them. While I got quite a deal on them IMHO the other coins in those groups and hundreds of other groups that entered the market ten to fifty years ago sell today for prices not much more or even a little less than they did then. At the same show I bought special coins there were dealers with coins priced higher and worth less. Many of them are lost in my mind since they were not serious sources of coins or knowledge. The same day I bought the $50 overstrike from Jonathan Kern, I also bought ten other coins from his various groups ranging from $20 to $75 each. Each of those coins also came from bags with the same price but not worth buying in my opinion, on that day. None were identified. I doubt many of them sold for as much as I paid but went to dealers willing to take a hundred or a whole bag full. I do remember sellers who offered to grab at random ten coins, twenty coins or whatever from their bag - not my choice - for a lower price. I never bought coins that way. Today we see those same coins all written up, fully identified and priced like they were pick of the litter. I really miss those bags of coins from Jonathan and a few others who blurred the line between wholesale and retail.

 

My takeaway is that this is exactly where 15 years has made a difference. I don't doubt that most in the bags haven't moved much in value one way or the other, but I think these examples are showing that the way the market has changed, the best and the cherry-picked have. Again, I'm wishing I had been collecting 15 years ago!

 

We still cherry pick but now we decide whether we want a coin offered with no 'value added' service, another with scanty ID from a volume seller, one ex catalog auction or one that is certified and slabbed. The coins many be the same but the 'condiments' vary.

 

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That's an interesting perspective about "condiments" Doug!

 

Philip I Sestertius: $130-ish including shipping

 

~$150

Justinian I, Byzantine Empire
AE half-follis
Obv: D N IVSTI-NIANVS P P AVG, diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right
Rev: Large K, star to left, cross to right, all within wreath
Mint: Rome
Date: 537-542 AD
Ref: SB 301

 

My favourite Papius was what I consider a bargain at $160 from a German dealer in 2010.

L Papius Denarius Serratus

Obv:– Head of Juno Sospita right, wearing goat skin tied under chin. Behind head, Dolphin wrapped around anchor.
Rev:– Gryphon running right; in ex., L. PAPI.; in field, Hippocamp
Minted in Rome from . B.C. 79.
Reference(s) – RSC Papia 1. RRC 384/1. RCTV 311.
Symbol variety – RRC -. Babelon -. BMCRR -.

A previously unknown symbol pair and the only known example.

 

I agree. Well done, gorgeous piece at any fair price! The detail on the Anchor/Dolphin and the Hippocamp. I would love to have that one in my collection!