The renewal of my membership to the Bottom Feeders Club was due, and I think I just earned my renewal with this puppy. Tiberius, AD 14-37 AR Denarius, 3.6g, 19mm, 5h; Lugdunum, 36-37 AD. Obv.: [TI CAESAR DIVI] AVG F AVGVSTVS; Laureate bust right. Rev.: [PON]TIF MAXIM; Livia (as Pax) seated right on throne with ornate legs, holding long sceptre and olive branch. Reference: RIC I 30, p. 95. By Tiberius standards this one was very very cheap. Its a little off center on the reverse and a little bit of a weak strike, but it doesn't bother me. I think the portrait of Tiberius is worth what I paid for it and more. I now have the following for my 12 Caesars Set: Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. So, does this qualify me for the Bottom Feeders Club again? Show of your Tiberius coinage.
The toning is great and it has a pleasing portrait. Not a bad coin at all. Here's mine. In hand it has a lovely toning and isn't as pitted as the pic looks:
I briefly owned this, maybe the world's worst Tribute Penny - a fourrée which came with two other coins for $35 for all three in a Rudnik auction in 2012. There wasn't any photo' in the lot description, so I didn't expect much but it was certainly worth ~$12. I donated it and two other (nicer!) coins to an auction for someone whose house had burned down and it sold for $19. I still have three, one a modern fake, one broken & crystallised and the other OKish, but maybe this was the most interesting of the four. Here's a miserable Tiberius sestertius, only interesting because of the NCAPR counterstamp:
My worst are the official ones. I love the patterens and style of the fourree and the Indian barbarous copy is one of my favorite coins. I will never own a 'nice' TP. They sell for more than I am willing to pay for a coin I have seen in a bag containing several hundred. Deposits on surfaces: Ugly style: Fourree: Indian (good silver):
Perhaps a checklist of necessary attributes needs to be drafted to clarify the lack of qualities required to descend into the murky depths of the Bottom Feeders Club.
I know this coin didn't sit well with you the first time around @Sallent but I feel I can't miss any opportunity to post it
Embarrassingly typical, but a tribute penny got me hooked on ancient coins. You're probably sick of seeing it, too, as you see it on every post I make! This one is the one with the inverted spear, legs of chair ornate, triple line below, feet on footstool: Tiberius, AD 14-37 Roman AR denarius, 3.87 g, 18.5 mm Lugdunum, AD 16-37 Obv: TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head right Rev: PONTIF MAXIM, Livia, as Pax, seated right, holding olive branch and inverted spear; legs of chair ornate, triple line below, feet on footstool. Refs: RIC 28; BMCRE 45; RCV-1763 var.
Neat snag, @Sallent. The portrait's a nice one. Mine wasn't a classic bottom-feeder buy, but it did come from a large group lot.
Sweet. Eventually I hope to upgrade to one half as nice as yours, but for now I'm completing my 12 Caesars on a budget as I don't want to take money away from my 3rd Century Roman Imperials buying spree. However, coins like mine can always be resold in a few years if I ever decide to focus more on the 1st and 2nd centuries and make a sweet downpayment towards any upgrade. Those early emperors are always super popular and sell well.
I'll see your hand and raise you one: could this possibly be the world's lowest grade Tribute Penny? Barely recognizable on the reverse, but boy were we happy when we found it!